Monthly Archives: July 2023
Planning a Star Wars Themed Birthday Party
If you’re looking to throw an out-of-this-world celebration for your Star Wars fans and young Padawans, a Star Wars themed party is the way to go.
With lightsabers, droids, and the Force, this party will transport kids to a galaxy far, far away. Here’s a step-by-step guide on how to plan an unforgettable Star Wars themed party for kids!
By the way, the photos in this post are from a Star Wars themed birthday party we threw for my youngest son in 2019 on his 10th birthday.
His next birthday, in late March, took place just after the pandemic lockdown of 2020, so no birthday party was forthcoming. The next year, in March, the pandemic continued, and we didn’t have a party that year either.
The year after that, 2022, was the Rough Year.
In short, we haven’t had a themed birthday party for a while, so I’m glad we had this one. And it’s one of the few times I actually remembered to take photos as proof of the party we had. (Usually, I forget.)
1. Choose the Date, Time, and Location:
Select a date and time that works best for both you and your young guests. If it’s a birthday party for one of your kids, you’ll want to have it as close to their actual birthday as possible. Weekends often work best for parties if you want full attendance, especially during the school year.
Consider hosting the party at your home, a park, or a party venue with enough space for activities and decorations that scream Star Wars.
2. Send Out Star Wars Party Invitations:
Create unique Star Wars themed invitations to set the tone for the party. Use iconic characters like Luke Skywalker, Princess Leia, or Darth Vader, and include phrases like “Join the Rebellion!” or “Come to the Dark Side!”
If you don’t have time to make your own invitations, Star Wars party invitations are easy to find online. Don’t forget to mention any dress code if you’re encouraging costumes.
3. Decorate Your Home with Star Wars Stuff!
Use Star Wars decorations to transform your home into a galaxy filled with Star Wars magic. Use black, silver, and blue as the primary colors. Hang up Star Wars banners, posters, and balloons featuring characters and spaceships.
You can, of course, create your own decorations, such as a Star Wars style birthday banner. But if you’re short on time, there are plenty of Star Wars decorations you can buy on Amazon. You can even place glow-in-the-dark stars on the ceiling to mimic a starry night sky!
4. Choose a Dress Code and Costumes:
Encourage the kids to dress up as their favorite Star Wars characters! A few favorite Star Wars outfits are the Mandalorian, Darth Vader, Obi Wan Kenobi, a Jedi knight, and of course, stormtroopers. Provide simple accessories like lightsabers or robes for those who might not come in full costumes.
5. Set Up a Jedi Training Academy!
Set up a fun “Jedi Training Academy” where the young Padawans can learn the ways of the Force. Create an obstacle course with hoops to jump through, balance beams, and tunnels to crawl through. At the end of the course, they can receive a certificate proclaiming them as certified Jedi Knights!
6. Plan a Few Lightsaber Duels:
No Star Wars party is complete without lightsaber duels! Organize friendly duels using foam or inflatable lightsabers for a safe and exciting experience. Kids can practice their best moves and reenact epic lightsaber battles from the movies.
7. Make Some Star Wars Crafts:
Prepare some Star Wars-themed crafts to keep the young ones entertained. They can make their own paper droids, Yoda masks, or design their aircrafts or spaceships. You could also organize a station for coloring Star Wars stickers and coloring pages.
8. Use Hologram Messages and Activities:
Get creative with hologram-inspired activities. Use an iPad or tablet to record short hologram-like messages from characters like Yoda or C-3PO, welcoming the kids to the party. You could also show clips from Star Wars movies or animated series, or even have a Star Wars movie marathon.
9. Have Fun with Star Wars Snacks!
Create a menu of Star Wars-inspired snacks and treats. Use cookie cutters to make snacks in the shapes of Star Wars characters or spaceships. Serve Jedi Juice (Capri-Suns) or Yoda Soda (lime soda), Wookiee cookies (chewy cookies) or Edible Ewoks (teddy grahams), lightsaber pretzel rods, Tie-Fighters (Cheez-Its with cheese inside), Death Star popcorn, and Thermal Detonators (cheese puffs).
10. Make a Cake and Treats:
The cake should be the highlight of the party. Have a Star Wars themed cake or cupcakes featuring characters or iconic symbols from the franchise. You could make cupcakes of two main colors – blue and red – and make them look like two light sabers meeting in battle.
Consider serving ice cream in flavors named after planets from the Star Wars universe.
Conclusion:
With the Force as your ally, planning a Star Wars themed party for kids can be a thrilling and memorable experience. From dressing up as characters to mastering lightsaber skills, the young Jedi will have a blast in a galaxy far, far away.
May your party be filled with adventure, laughter, and, of course, may the Force be with you!
So, why this post when we had this party years ago?
My son is currently watching Star Wars: Rebels with my husband and they were talking about it, which made me think of the party we had back in the day. So, I looked through my old photo folders to see if I could find the photos, and sure enough, there they were.
Our Star Wars themed birthday party wasn’t perfect; the decorations wren’t professional or anything.
But it was fun and memorable.
And that’s what’s important, right?
Moms – the Elemental Gear
If one “gear” in the average family makes the whole thing work, it’s most likely Mom.
Moms are predictable, dependable, stable. She’s the first face to smile at us when we’re born, and she’s often the last face we see when we’re tucked in at night. She’ll kiss our skinned knees, cook us chicken noodle soup when we’re sick, and help us with our homework (but never do it for us).
Mama polar bears fast for eight months while they feed their cubs in their dens; mama orangutans never lose physical touch with their babies for four months. But when it comes to love and a willingness to give, nothing in the animal kingdom holds a candle to what our moms do for us.
There’s a reason that athletes or people in a crowd always seem to say, “Hi, Mom,” when they’re staring into a camera. There’s a reason that Americans spend nearly $20 billion every Mother’s Day. …
In many ways, moms make us who we are, for better or worse. Studies suggest that moms have more influence on us than anyone else, and their influence is particularly strong when we’re young and our brains are still incredibly pliable. They help determine what we think is right or wrong, healthy or unhealthy. …
And even when we’re no longer holding their hands to cross the street, mothers still, in many respects, point the way forward.
Jim Daly, in When Parenting Isn’t Perfect
Nine Lessons of Motherhood
On my 22nd birthday, I was 8 1/2 months pregnant, huge, not sure how ready I was to become a mother. Two weeks later, my daughter was born, and my life was never the same again.
On my 24th birthday, I had a nine-day-old son in my arms when my friends sang “Happy Birthday.” My son had been due on my birthday but came early. Thoughtful as always, I supposed he didn’t want me to miss my own party by being in labor.
On my 26th birthday, I’d recently discovered I was pregnant with baby number three. He arrived on March 25th, at 4:55 in the morning, and has loved waking us up early ever since.
I’ve recently been looking over older writings of mine and discovered this, something I wrote on my 31st birthday, my ninth birthday as a mother. Nine motherhood lessons to mark that time.
That was 2013, nearly ten years ago. I think of everything that has changed. I think of the mom I am now. Looking back, some aspects of parenting seemed so simple ten years ago. The questions my children had and the problems they faced seemed smaller, more manageable.
But looking over the lessons on motherhood I had gleaned at that time, I realized that they all bear up ten years later. They make sense and there’s none about which I would say, that motherhood lesson no longer applies.
Have I learned more things about motherhood since then? I should hope so, and maybe, when my 41st birthday rolls around next month, I’ll gather a few to share.
But for now, here are the motherhood lessons I’d “learned” or at least begun to recognize, when I wrote this post as a relatively young mother of three relatively young children. (The material has been edited somewhat and I’ve added a few photos from those earlier times.)
Motherhood Lesson #1: I’ll never be a perfect mom.
When I was little, I loved the movie Milo and Otis, about an orange kitten who got lost and his best friend, the pug-nosed puppy, that searched until he found him.
The movie begins in the hayloft, where Milo, the kitten, is just born.
The narrator states that the mother cat, who just had her first litter, vowed she would never raise her voice or lose her temper. Ten seconds later, the mother cat is shouting at Milo, who is crawling dangerously close to the edge of the hayloft.
Kids aren’t static creations. They are dynamic (sometimes very dynamic) — always thinking, moving, changing, learning, and growing. And so are we, as parents. As long as we come to terms with that, we won’t be perfect moms, but we will be real ones.
Motherhood Lesson #2: I will forget to pray for my kids.
I’ve read in parenting books such as Praying the Scriptures for Your Children and The Power of a Praying Mom that, yes, we’ll make mistakes, but at least we moms can pray for our kids every day of their lives.
Another miserable fail, was my thought about that. These are great books and I recommend them, but sometimes I forget to pray for my children.
Sometimes I go through a phase where I wake up early every morning and read a great book on parenting and pray for my kids before they’re even awake; other mornings I get dragged out of bed by my kids and all I want is a few more moments of shut-eye.
Somehow I don’t think God is saying, “Well, since she hasn’t prayed for her children consistently every day of their lives, I’ll curse them and their children’s children from this time forth and even forevermore.”
That’s not the way it works. And with this little motherhood lesson, what I need to do is drop the guilt.
Motherhood Lesson #3: I will make the wrong call sometimes.
Before I became a mom, I vowed that when my kids fought, I would always listen carefully to both sides and make a patient and equitable decision on the matter.
I do that … sometimes. But often I don’t, and I’ll just do whatever makes the arguing stop most quickly, even if it’s not fair.
I’m not as wise as Solomon … but seriously, even Solomon wasn’t as wise as Solomon if you read about the decisions he made later in life.
Nor am I as patient as Job … but Job also sounded a bit dramatic when he made the case that he should have never been born.
What I mean to say is, when we struggle, we make the wrong call. We walk the wrong road. But maybe that’s a good thing because it helps our kids see we’re not perfect and helps them realize they don’t have to be perfect either.
Motherhood Lesson #4: Saying sorry is a good thing.
And because I’m not perfect, I won’t always do or say the best thing in any given situation.
But when I mess up, apologizing works wonders. Some of the sweetest and most heartwarming times with my kids have happened after I just said, “I’m sorry. I should have been more patient,” or “I should have let you finish what you were saying.”
There is nothing like hearing a four-year-old say, “I forgive you, Mommy.”
Motherhood Lesson #5: Kids can (and should) work.
I’m generally the type of person who likes to get a job done on my own. I know how I want it done, and I can do it pretty quickly.
But working side by side with my kids, and teaching them how to do a job not only lightens my workload when they learn to do it themselves, but it builds their confidence and skills like nothing else can.
Lately, I’ve let my older two children choose the cleanup jobs they want to do, and have expected them to follow through, and they’ve done great. I can’t exactly retire from housecleaning just yet, but they’re on their way, and it feels good not to do everything “All by myself.”
Motherhood Lesson #6: It’s never a bad time to say, “I love you.”
My son was sitting at the table doing artwork and I told him I loved him.
He looked up and asked, “Where are you going?”
I suddenly felt guilty; do I really tell my children I love them that infrequently?
I still don’t say it as often as I should … but I’m working on it.
Motherhood Lesson #7: Kids need quiet time too.
My youngest child is the most energetic of the three … by far. He’ll jump from activity to activity and is a people person; he loves it when I’m jumping from activity to activity with him.
Unfortunately, jumping became out of character for me a long time ago. One day I was tired and didn’t know how I would keep up with his amazing energy.
We have a hammock on our back patio and he wanted to play in the backyard, so I reclined on the hammock. He clambered up next to me and was still, listening, for nearly half an hour.
He talked a little bit – about the things we can hear when it’s quiet.
Times of peace and quiet, stillness and listening, are growing rarer in this world of multimedia and multitasking. Learning to be still is an art, one that we mothers need and often overlook. But it’s something that cultivates peace, reflection, and calmness … even in children.
Motherhood Lesson #8: Things never go exactly as planned.
Last year, my daughter was turning eight. I knew the perfect gift for her, a hamster.
Once my husband was convinced, we bought a cage and a hamster and brought them both home the evening before her birthday. We surprised her with it that evening, and she was so thrilled. Early the next morning, before the birthday girl woke up, I checked on the hamster.
It hadn’t survived the night.
I didn’t want this to happen on my daughter’s birthday, when she had only just gotten “The best birthday present ever.” I placed it in a box and told the kids it wasn’t feeling well and needed its rest.
My husband picked up another hamster on his way home from work, with similar markings. Buttercup the Hamster has been with us for nearly a year now.
Jessica’s ninth birthday is coming up and she’s asking for a dog. I think we’ll wait on that.
Motherhood Lesson #9: Parenting is a privilege.
Little people will grow up to be big people, each one unique with their own strengths and weaknesses, their own interests and skills. Each one has marvelous potential, and we moms can help them toward those paths they will take by reinforcing to them how unique and special they are, and cultivating their interests and talents.
I don’t know the future, or what is in store for my children.
But I know that for this little while, I have been blessed to love, teach, and be a mother to three amazing humans. The best gifts ever.
Find Your Rectangle Space
I recently mentioned on Substack that I’m reading a book called liturgy of the ordinary by Tish Harrison Warren. The theme of ordinary is cropping up in my life; I hadn’t even realized the title of the book had the word “ordinary” in it until after I’d started reading it.
It’s meaningful to me because my Substack newsletter is titled Limning the Ordinary.
I really enjoyed reading the first chapter of the book, which is about waking. Then I saw the title of the second chapter: “Making the Bed.” My first thought was, Oh no, is she going to suggest some weird practice where you’re supposed to be praying or meditating while you’re making the bed every morning?
But I started reading the chapter and it really resonated with me.
Tish Harrison Warren started the chapter with curiosity about bedmaking. She considered the fact that adults made their beds shocking because she never made hers. She states,
“In my mind, bedmaking was something we all collectively shed as soon as we could, like wearing a retainer or doing algebra homework.”
Tish Harrison Warren
I get the idea of not wanting to do something that you have to do over and over again. I enjoy the routine or ritual of some chores. Washing dishes, putting dry dishes away in the morning, putting a load of laundry in the washer, transferring it to the dryer. Usually, these things give me joy because I’m working towards order in the chaos. And I like things being orderly.
But lately, I’ve really not been in the mood to fold clean clothes. It’s just felt really … I don’t know how to describe it other than undesirable.
It could be that it’s been harder to find a clean surface to fold the clothes because of all the clutter in the house (and the fact that we have several cats shedding on the bedcovers).
Or it could be that it’s getting harder to decipher what clothes belong to whom because my boys are all as tall as (or taller than) my husband and with my daughter home, too, sometimes the kids have matching T-shirts from Camp etc. So, I’m like, “Okay, who wore their rocky railroad shirt this week?”
In short, I understand getting tired of repetitive stuff.
The part that really resonated with me, though, was the author’s description of her mornings:
At that time, my typical morning routine was that shortly after waking, I’d grab my smartphone. Like digital caffeine, it would prod my foggy brain into coherence and activity. Before getting out of bed, I’d check my email, scroll through the news, glance at Facebook or Twitter.
If humans rescue a baby in the wild, the animal is said to be imprinted. It accepts the human as its mother. From that point on, it will believe that all good things come from people. It is no longer wild and it cannot live on its own. …
My morning smartphone ritual was brief, no more than 5 or 10 minutes. But I was imprinted. My day was imprinted by technology. And like a mountain lion cub attached to her humans, I’d look for all good things to come from glowing screens.
Technology began to fill every empty moment in the day. Just before breakfast, I’d quickly scroll through email, Facebook, Twitter, a blog. Then again an hour later. I’d ignore my kids’ persistent calls for milk and snacks with a distracted “hold on” as I vaguely skimmed an article. I’d sneak in five minutes online as they ate lunch. I’d return from an errand and sit in the driveway with the car running, scrolling through news on my phone, and then I’d check my screen again before bedtime.
Throughout the day, I fed on a near constant stream of news, entertainment, stimulation, likes, and retweets. Without realizing it, I had slowly built a habit: a steady resistance to and dread of boredom.
Tish Harrison Warren
In liturgy of the ordinary, Tish Harrison Warren mentions that she did an informal survey of people on social media and learned that a lot of people actually do make their beds, which she found surprising. She decided to exchange her morning social media routine for a morning bed-making routine.
It wasn’t anything weird or overly spiritual like I thought it might be.
She just made her bed. And then she spent a few minutes sitting on her bed in silence. Sometimes she prayed. Sometimes she read Scripture. She said, “Mostly, I’d invite God into the day and just sit. Silent. Sort of listening. Sort of just sitting.”
She also said, “My new routine didn’t make me wildly successful or cheerfully buoyant as some had promised, but I began to notice, very subtly, that my day was imprinted differently.” Tish referred to having “a little space, an ordered rectangle in my messy home. And that rectangle somehow carved out a small, ordered space in my messy, distracted mind.”
The Perfect Space
My husband and I recently did a project in our house, ripping up the carpet in the living room and laying down hard flooring. It’s linoleum but looks like wood. I really like it because it matches with the wooden look of all my unmatching bookshelves and the piano that the kids used to be forced to play when they were learning piano but pretty much sits silent now.
I also bought a wooden mantle for three bucks at an estate sale. It’s big and heavy and I had no idea where to put it, so it was in the garage for about a year, but when we were putting the living room back in order and I was organizing hundreds of books on the shelves, I pulled that mantle into the living room and my husband put it up and it fits perfectly.
So, I have this space and I really like it.
I totally get what the author mentioned about having her little rectangle. If I have that little spot, that little space, I feel at peace and like I can focus on whatever task I have at hand—even if it’s not a task but reading a book or sitting and reflecting about a blog post.
Over the years, I’ve learned I don’t need the perfect space.
But perhaps that’s why I really enjoy it when I have my little rectangle of order.
I’ve lived in places where I had no such peaceful spaces.
For example, it was difficult to find peaceful spots during many of my years in India. I lived in the cities there, where there were lots of people. A hard thing for an introvert and a highly sensitive person—the noise and the press. Especially also being a foreigner.
Finding a peaceful spot was a little easier when I moved back to America. It was so busy being a mother of three kids under the age of six, but sometimes my boys and I would go on walks and we would find little peaceful spots.
For instance, there was a period of a year and a half when we lived in an apartment on a busy cross street. There was always traffic. One time we went for a walk and turned into a quiet street at the end of which was a bench leading into a gated community. We sat on that bench outside and it was just such a nice thing.
We called it the peaceful corner, kind of like Pooh’s little thinking spot.
Since I know what it’s like not to have such spaces, it’s been kind of a subconscious project of mine to build or create peaceful places. In nearly every room in my house, there’s somewhere that I think (I hope) people would feel comfortable sitting with a book and a cup of tea or coffee or hot cocoa or even with their laptop or phone in hand. Just able to relax.
Some of those spots are more successful than others. About four years ago, I bought a chair swing for an anniversary gift and my husband and son put it together; it’s been sitting out in the backyard and I can count on one hand the times my husband and I actually sat there together.
But not everybody is wired like that.
Not everybody seeks out peaceful places.
But we do all need them.
Especially if you’re the mother of young children or just a woman who has a house to take care of—even if you don’t have young children at home.
You need that little space where you can unwind. You need your “thinking spot” in the words of Pooh. You need your little rectangle of order, in the words of Tish Harrison Warren.
And don’t be afraid to find that place.
Maybe it’s not even at home. Maybe your home really is too small to create that place, so you need to go to a nearby coffee shop or a park to find peace.
That’s okay, too. It’s allowed.
Hopefully, you can find a space of your own, a rectangle of order where you can reflect, read, sip some beverage of your choice, and find a few moments of peace and respite.
Positive Parenting Blog 