(Also, it still makes me a little giddy every time I have to distinguish between which of the boys I am talking about, or just saying boyS or kidS...it's so exciting.)
We had long planned on throwing him a party for turning five. Every year we've done a small-ish party for his grand and godparents but at five we were going to invite kids (as if the 4-6 kids who have come with his godmother aren't enough). We've literally been planning this almost as long as he's been alive. I first bought things for the goodie bags about 4 years ago and we've been seriously talking about it for a good six months. These plans included multiple things we were going to make ourselves, because, of course. We like over-exerting ourselves to complicate things.
Then about a month before the party we got a baby. And when you have a newborn is an EXCELLENT time to invite 10+ kids to your house and spend hours prepping for a party. We talked about simplifying things. And then, somehow, didn't. Why not stress about this?
BUT, things all worked out, our son had a great time, and it was really good to celebrate him after most of a month dedicated to celebrating and surviving a new baby.
Here's what we did for our largely Star Wars but also Lego and superhero themed party. Why those? Because those are all among his favorite things.
Activities
I had plans to sew more elaborate super hero masks (from here) but then, baby, and we went simple. I used the template from here, cut them out of felt (used 5 pieces, bought for about a quarter each at Jo-Anns), and sewed on the elastic. We had kids decorate these with glitter glue (this set) as they arrived. It was nice to give them an easy activity since, obviously, they didn't all show up at our door at the same time. The only problem was 4-6 year olds are pretty heavy handed with the glitter glue and none of them were dry when it was time to go home 2 hours later...
Luke came up with about a dozen different versions of this, all Star Wars related. "Pin the shooter on the Han Solo", "Pin the button on the droid", etc. but this is the one that stuck. My artsy husband drew and painted the Luke Skywalker (OR COURSE the Jedi was going to be Luke) and I made light sabers from scrapbook paper and packing tape. We let the kids each pick a color, wrote their names on it, blindfolded them with scrap fabric from my stash, and pinned. Super easy and classic game, it just should have taken longer.
Make a Light Saber
We bought pool noodles from the dollar store and my husband cut them all down and curved the tip. Then we had a bunch of different tapes - duct, electrical, sparkle, and had the kids decorate the handle end. This one was good to have some extra adults on hand to held tear tape and give wrapping help as needed. I think we got 2 light sabers from each pool noodle. And then they used these for...
We do not want to admit how much time and stress this darn thing took. My husband got it in his head that the pinata should be a Taun Taun (which is a Star Wars thing). When we got the baby we discussed just buying one...but somehow he still ended up making it. A lot of planning drawings, a lot of balloons, a lot of newspapers, and a lot of paper mache-ing. I would HIGHLY recommend not ever making one of these, at least Taun Taun shaped. Matt's already said that Sam will be getting a BB-8 or Death Star pinata for his 5th birthday party (because, obviously, it's going to be Star Wars). BUT it was pretty hilarious to see the finished result.
Since it was about 30° and snow flurries on the party day (in early April) we had to do the pinata inside (instead out outside like we had hoped). So we had the kids hit it with their pool noodle light sabers which took awhile but was definitely the safer option in the house, near the tv and tons of breakables. We had 9 little boys yelling "Kill it!!" which was funny and a little horrifying to hear. Then there was a lot of candy and everyone was happy.
Beat Each Other With Light Sabers
None of the activities took as long as we had planned and so by 45 minutes into the two hour party we had burned through most of them. So then we had the kids have a light saber battle in the house. It's hard to really hurt anyone with a dry pool noodle and they were all plenty happy to beat on each other.
Let Them Eat Cake
I made box mix cupcakes and then homemade frosting (this, this, and this). Sang happy birthday, fed them a ton of sugar, and then, since it was sunny and 40°ish, we sent them outside for more light sabering. Which saved my house a little bit.
We had planned to make punch, and feed them more "healthy" food, BUT these were all 4-6 year olds...we didn't think any of them would choose "healthy" food along side their cupcakes so that got scrapped. I guess we also gave them cheese balls. SUPER healthy.
The goodie bags came from the dollar store (two packs) and I added circles (with the circle punch from this project) to make them look like Legos. Then we gave each kid a small Lego set and Star Wars notebooks, largely purchased 4 years ago on clearance (contrary to how this sounds, we did spend more than $20 on this party). Then they also went home with their decorated super hero mask, light saber, and pinata candy.
Guest List
The guest list was pretty easy, since Luke has EIGHT cousins within about a year of him older/younger. Then we invited three other friends for a total of 12 kids. Two couldn't come due to being sick/having sick family members so 10 kids in attendance which worked well. Twelve would have been fine too but I don't think I would go higher than that, especially since we were largely indoors.
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| Felt LetterBoard |
We learned a few things for Sam's (like, never make a Taun Taun pinata ever again) but overall the day(s) went really well. It was a relief to have it over but also know that our boy had a great time. Then a week later we threw a baptism party for 80ish people. Then vowed to never throw another party ever again.
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