Finn's Lego Star Wars Birthday Party

Each year, Finn enjoys deciding on his birthday theme and helping me to plan the details. This year the theme was Lego Star Wars. If you have seen my posts about our Halloween pumpkins or our Halloween costumes, you will know that Star Wars is a hot topic in our home these days. But, when Finn told me he wanted a Lego Star Wars birthday party, I was a little nervous because it seemed really specific.
Well, let me tell you, I had no need to worry. Apparently, Lego Star Wars birthday parties are so common that not only was I able to find (and splurge for) Lego Star Wars cake plates, but there are also about a million ideas on pinterest for a Lego Star Wars party. Who knew? So, needless to say, I "borrowed" many of these awesome ideas created by Lego Star Wars party planners before me, and got to work.

First off, for a countdown to the party, I created a Yoda (with some help from Finn) that would live on our coat closet door. Each day, Finn got to remove a star.

Now, for the details of the party.

As always, I made Finn a birthday bunting. I figured this may be my last year of making him one before he decides they are too babyish. But, I found a ton of Star Wars fabric, so I think this one was a winner.

After seeing this cute cake, I wanted to make Finn's cake look like a Lego also. Except that I didn't use fondant (because it tastes terrible) so mine is not nearly as cute. But, considering that it just gets demolished anyways, no biggie. All I did was make a rectangular cake and then put 6 upside down cupcakes on top before I frosted it. Added a few of Finn's Lego Star Wars figures and a few lightsaber cupcakes toppers that I ordered and we were all set. I also made a few maple cupcakes (with and without bacon) for the older crew.

To keep the kids busy, we thought of a few fun activities. First I printed out some Star Wars coloring sheets and put them out with a bunch of markers. Everyone likes to color, right? Next, I found some print-your-own Star Wars masks here. I printed them out on card stock, cut out eye holes and attached elastic. We then had glitter glue available for decorating them. The kids loved it, but since they had to wait for the glue to dry, they didn't actually get to wear them. I probably just should have used markers instead. Oh well. The last activity was spin-art and it was a HUGE hit. I bought 2 spin art machines for Finn for his birthday for $10 each, and there was a line of kids the entire time. These were a great value for the money and I am definitely going to use them out for Phoebe's birthday in March.

Finn also requested a Death Star pinata. I thought, hmmmm... how will I ever make that. On a whim, I decided to google "how to make a death star pinata" and there are about 20 entries specifically on how to do that. Clearly, Star Wars parties are pretty hip these days! Well, I didn't have any circular balloons, so my Death Star looked more like a Death Blimp. But, I made that crater part and decorated it with silver glitter and it looked halfway decent (the lighting is terrible in my husband's office, where we had the party, so these pictures are pretty awful). Anyways, I decided to do a ribbon pinata, where there are a bunch of ribbons to pull, instead of bashing the pinata with a stick. Safer, you know? Problem was, Finn pulled the correct ribbon on the first try, and it opened, but not all the way and nothing fell out. So, Todd had to rip it open more and pull the stuff out. Totally anti-climactic. But, there were bouncy balls and stickers and wall crawlers and everyone was happy anyways.

I wanted to give out goodie bags, but I didn't want to give out a bunch of candy or junk that would become quick trash. But, with 20 kids coming, I also had to try and budget. So, the contents of the gift bags were simple. A store bought Lego mystery pack (with a mystery figure) and a home-made lightsaber. To make the lightsabers, I just ordered some glowsticks and covered the base with duct tape and electrical tape. I found my inspiration for those here. They were a huge hit. We handed the goodie bags out about 30 minutes before the party was over and there was a giant lightsaber war. The kids thought it was awesome!

And, when I saw these Lego-inspired gift bags, I just knew I had to make some for Finn's party.. way too cute, right? They were a little time consuming, but not too hard. I just bought card stock the same color as the bags and borrowed a friend's circular punch to cut out circles. I used a piece of foam that was sticky on one side, cut out small squares, and adhered them to the bag where I wanted the circles to go. Then I used a hot glue gun to glue the circles to the foam pieces. This made the circles raised up, just like a real Lego. To make the gift tags, I had to download Lego font (which I didn't even know existed prior to this), but I thought they came out super cute.

So, the party was a success. We had about 60 people. Everyone had fun, there were no major injuries or meltdowns, and the birthday boy was happy. Planning these parties and watching Finn have so much fun with his friends is such a joy, but man, I will say that I breathed a huge sigh of relief as soon as it was over. Birthday mission accomplished, so now I can move on to Christmas preparations!