Category Archives: Special Days
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?
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.
In Honor of Labor Day, a Thank You to Parents
Labor Day falls within a week of my daughter’s birthday, sometimes on the day itself. This year, on September first, my daughter turned 16, and just like that, I have become the mother of a sixteen-year-old teenager.
But as much as it feels like this milestone has snuck up on me, I guess it wasn’t “just like that” after all. Sixteen years of motherhood have come between that day I first held my baby in my arms and today … when I find myself the mother of two teens (16 and 14) and the youngest, 11, who it seems is catching up fast with his siblings.
Sixteen years, or 192 months, or roughly 5,840 days as a mother … meaning, days of labor. Because let’s face it, parenting is work. It’s hard work. It’s time-consuming work. At the same time, it is fulfilling work.
It is labor that parents generally would not trade for anything else.
Yet on this day, Labor Day, when we honor the labor of the working force of past and present, let’s also honor the unseen and unpaid labor of mothers and fathers. The years and months, the seasons and days, of so many activities that go into raising a child.
Waking up to a crying baby and walking, shushing, singing her back to sleep, night after night.
Holding two little hands that grasp tightly to yours while those first steps are taken.
The honor, the labor, of raising a child.
Kissing foreheads goodbye when you have to go to work, even though you would rather stay home with your little one.
Or making a life out of making a home, out of laundry and dishes and cooking and homework, of listening to your child’s stories when they return from school.
The honor, the labor, of raising a child.
Chasing down the “I’m not tired” and “I don’t want to go to sleep” for brushing teeth and taking baths and turning down the covers and climbing into bed.
Singing the lullabies or telling the stories (or, if you’re like me, cheating by reading stories because you just can’t think them up off the top of your head) tucking them in and kissing them goodnight one last time.
Day after day after day.
And this year, due to COVID-19, many parents are facing up close more than ever before the labor of day-to-day motherhood and fatherhood. I saw a meme that perfectly encapsulates parenting during this time (photo by Laurika Claasen, posted to the Facebook group “Parents in Quarantine”).
In addition to personally dealing with the physical and financial and mental/emotional challenges during the coronavirus pandemic, parents have the double task of helping their kids and teens deal with the same.
Hopefully, for the most part, we’ve tried to do so positively and with some imagination. However, we’ve likely all had days (and perhaps weeks) when the thing we most look forward to when we wake up in the morning is crawling into bed at night or for a quick nap midday.
Today is Labor Day
… a day to honor laborers of all kinds … the cashiers and mail carriers, the stockers, the baristas, the janitors, the firefighters and teachers and construction workers.
And the parents, whose unseen and unsung labor is day by day raising the workers and the world-changers of tomorrow.
I came across this quote about parenting by one of my favorite authors, Frederick Buechner. I love the quote because it rings true about not just the joy of parenting but the shadows of it as well … the shadows of one’s own childhood that all to often turn into the shadows we carry into our own parenting.
And yet, regardless of the mistakes and the shadows, this place where we stand—as mothers, as fathers—is a place where we might want to take off our shoes from time to time … to understand that these children and teens—their hearts and souls—are holy ground.
And sometimes, what we might need to do is understand the same of our own heart and soul—to honor the role and the burden, to tread lightly, and not to feel guilty if we need a nap every once in a while (or every day, as the case may be).
“HONOR YOUR FATHER and your mother,” says the Fifth Commandment (Exodus 20:12). Honor them for having taken care of you before you were old enough to take care of yourself. Honor them for the sacrifices they made on your behalf, including the ones you would have kept them from making if you’d had the chance. Honor them for having loved you.
But how do you honor them when, well-intentioned as they may have been, they made terrible mistakes with you that have shadowed your life ever since? How do you honor them when, far from loving you or taking care of you, they literally or otherwise abandoned you?
The answer seems to be that you are to honor them even so. Honor them for the pain that made them what they were and kept them from being what they might otherwise have become. Honor them because there were times when, even at their worst, they were doing the best they knew how to do.
Honor them for the roles they were appointed to play—father and mother—because even when they played them abominably or didn’t play them at all, the roles themselves are holy. Honor them because, however unthinkingly or irresponsibly, they gave you your life.
-Originally published in Wishful Thinking: A Theological Lexicon and later in Beyond Words: Daily Readings in the ABC’s of Faith.
Parents, may you find rest and joy this Labor Day.
[Image by © LWA-Dann Tardif/zefa/Corbis]
Mother’s Day Writing Contest Winners
Congratulations to our winners: Gaby (73 likes), Helen (72 likes), and Charlotte (71 likes)! It was so close! I wish everyone could have won something because every story is so special. Every memory. Every moment.
Every mother!
I so enjoyed reading these memories and reflections on mothers and memories from childhood that I’m thinking about writing some posts with memories of my childhood.
The idea also developed with an assignment from my photography class. For the final assignment, my professor said we can choose one subject and take 20 photos on that theme. My immediate choice (naturally) was my children. Then I began to wonder, “What kind of pictures should I take?”
The concept began to form: take pictures that coincide with my own childhood memories. Images began flooding into my mind. Eating ice cream while sitting on the back of a station wagon with my siblings, running through sprinklers, playing shadow tag, moving the lawn with a push-mower, pillow fights and raking leaves, fishing, jumping on a trampoline. So many iconic flashes. I hope I can capture them all.
More than that, I hope that my children are developing images of their own. I pray that special memories are forming in their minds, things they can carry with them always. To remind them of being loved.
Because no matter what else I might have to offer, or might not have … one thing I can unequivocally give my children, one thing we can all offer our children, is love.
The love of a parent. Imperfect, yes. But somehow unconditional. Somehow transcendent and beautiful and enduring. Even if it’s all we have to offer our children … it is enough.
Ambitions for a Perfect Motherhood
Read the full post here
The First Day of Preschool – Mother’s Day Contest Entry
The First Day of Preschool
By Sharada
When I was pregnant with my daughter, I would surf the internet for information on babies and children and what to expect from motherhood. I came across an interesting article that explained that the importance of early learning especially for infants and had flash cards for numeracy and reading skills. I was thrilled to come upon this information and started building high hopes and expectations of what I was going to do for my child. I was going to be this super mom, who would do flash cards right from infancy, never use disposable diapers, only feed her organic homemade food and basically be a perfect, flawless parent – creating a perfect, flawless babyhood and childhood for my soon-to-be-born baby.
Enter reality with childbirth and all my high aspirations went flying out of the window. My determination to not use disposable diapers didn’t last more than a few days. I couldn’t remember where the flash cards were, and used that as an excuse to not do them. And although my daughter’s first solid meals were all homemade, I relied on store-bought baby food later. I had settled to what I thought was mediocre parenting.
Then came the biggest and most painful decision of my life; I had to go back to work, leaving my nine-month-old baby at daycare. My ambitions for a perfect motherhood were crushed. What was worse was that those aspirations, dreams, and ambitions lingered in my mind and heart as failures. Although my beautiful daughter was friendly and cheerful and adjusted very quickly to daycare and the kids there, I constantly battled motherhood with feelings of incapacity, inadequacy and failure.
Two years passed and my little girl was ready to join preschool. I was confident that she would have no problems going to a new place and meeting new kids. She was always friendly and excited to see new people and never really showed separation anxiety. On the big day, in her new uniform and school bag and school shoes, her dad and I proudly walked with her to the new school.
When we kissed her and said bye she began to … CRY! We tried telling her about the fun things she would do and the new friends she would make. She calmed down a little but was still clearly upset. I couldn’t believe it and was heartbroken. The teacher asked us to say bye again and leave calmly so we did. As miserable as I was leaving her at daycare, I had a tiny consolation that she wasn’t going through separation anxiety and was happy. Now that she was upset and crying made it all the more difficult and painful for me.
But as I walked out of the gates, something happened. Seeing my daughter cry on her first day of preschool pushed something in me to be strong, not just for her but myself too. I realized this was life. I cannot predict or control everything. I could go to work feeling worried and upset for her, or I could go to work praying for her and feeling proud that my daughter has entered preschool. I could choose to be strong and positive instead of weak and sad.
That one change in thought brought a whole new outlook to my parenting and my view of me as a mother. I might not have had the opportunity to be with her at home fulfilling all those super mom dreams. But I made the most I could with every minute I had with her. I wasn’t able to do flash cards or other great early learning programs, but I managed to read to my baby every night. I taught her colors, numbers, shapes and the alphabet while juggling a full-time job and housework. I might not have taught my child to read by age two but I did imbibe in her an important love for learning. I did not have quantity but I did give her quality.
That day, as I walked out of the gates of that pre-school I realized I was a supermom! I just had to let myself feel it!
P.S. Six months after starting preschool, my daughter is well adjusted and happy!
About Sharada: I am a mother of a three-and-a-half year old girl. I am married to a caring and loving man and live in the UAE. I work as a Teaching Assistant in an American school and I love my job, but I love being a mom the most.
[Like this story on our Facebook page to help the author win Positive Parenting’s Mother’s Day Writing Contest! (You’re welcome to “like” it here too! :)]
My Lifetime Friend: My Mother – Mother’s Day Contest Entry Bonus
My Lifetime Friend: My Mother
By Wendy Lee Klenetsky: Proud Daughter Of Cecile Seigal
Throughout childhood and adolescent days,
She was my staunchest supporter,
And through teen years and young adulthood
I was glad to be her daughter.
As a mother-in-law and grandma,
She’s there whenever/wherever she’s needed,
And if this was to be her lot in life,
She’s definitely succeeded.
But whatever she is to other folks;
A friend, sister or other,
She is to me, and will always be
MY LIFETIME FRIEND: MY MOTHER!
About Wendy: I’m a 63-year-old wife of a great guy (40 years), and mom of two wonderful girls (both of whom married 11 weeks apart in 2013). Until old age hit, I was a 20-year league bowler. Now I’m a freelance writer, sweepstaker, knitter and crocheter. That’s me…in a NUTSHELL!
[Like this story on our Facebook page to help the author win Positive Parenting’s Mother’s Day Writing Contest!(You’re welcome to “like” it here too! :)]
Positive Parenting Blog 