Our house is a shrine to all things Star Wars. My eldest son absolutely loves it, so it was inevitable that his seventh birthday would have a Star Wars theme of some sort. Seven is a nice age – they still want the fun and magic of a party, but can cope well with slightly trickier crafts and games.
This year, we scaled things down a lot compared to previous years when we’ve hosted big parties at a village hall. We invited four friends, and held the party at home. The basic theme was Star Wars. Star Wars crafts, Star Wars films and Star Wars pizza. I managed to convince Gabriel that watching a whole film was a bit much, and instead we broke the party down into a few simple steps: crafts, games, pizza and a film-based quiz. It was simple and really easy to set up. Here’s what we did…
The Crafts: paper plate BB8s and chromatography planets
BB8 is one of the stars of the new film. I spotted this fun idea on Pinterest and thought it was the perfect thing for seven year olds. I cut everything out in advance, so all they had to do was glue things together and then give their BB8s a bit of character with felt tips and crayons. They all managed this really well on their own. My five year old loved it too, although needed a little help.
Next up were chromatography planets. These really couldn’t be simper – all you need is water, filter paper, felt tip pens and pipettes. I bought some filter paper and pipettes very cheaply on Amazon, and cut out lots of little circles. Colour in your planets with felt tip pens, being quite sparing with the ink. Use your pipettes to drop tiny amounts of water onto your filter paper and watch your planet come to life.
The boys at our party really enjoyed trying to make Star Wars inspired planets – and even a Death Star. Just remember you need to remind them not to use too much water. We did these at the beginning of the party and they were dry by the end (put then on a radiators or cooling rack).
The Games: a memory tray and a fun quiz
Our first game was a Star Wars memory tray. Before the party I gathered some Star Wars toys and arranged them on a tray. Keep this hidden away until you’re ready to play. Gather the children round it and let them look at the objects for 20 seconds. After that, cover the tray and see how many items everyone can remember.
The memory game was a nice little warm up for our main activity, which was a quiz based on watching a segment of the Empire Strikes Back. We gave each child a printed quiz sheet with questions based on the things they’d be watching. If you’d like to try our quiz at home you can download it here plus the the answers here. It is based around the DVD of the Empire Strikes Back – scene 17 “Escape aboard the Falcon”… up to the point that R2D2 gets spat out across the swamp. It’s about ten minutes in all.
Food: pizza and cake
This year we took a break from the traditional party food of previous years (sausage rolls, sandwiches, jelly…) and had a pile of pizzas delivered by Dominos. It worked out really well – I ordered them a couple of hours before the party and chose my delivery time. The boys loved the excitement of it all and it made things very simple for us as there was no preparation.
I took another break from normality with the cake and bought one rather than making it. I spotted this R2D2 cake in Sainsbury’s for £10, and it is infinitely better than any droid I could have attempted. The boys all had a slice of this, plus a homemade rice crispie square. We kept things very simple, but you could really go to town with Star Wars-inspired food – just check out the ideas on Pinterest. Han Solo in Carbonite jelly, anyone?
Party bags: Ewoks and Lightsabers
Everyone got a little bag of Edible Ewoks (jelly teddies from the Pick & Mix in Wilko’s). This was inspired by something I’d seen on Pinterest and I made these simple packages with some cellophane and a paper label printed at home. We also gave everyone a light-up lightsaber keyring which I bought from our local toyshop.
All in all, we all had a great time. Especially Gabriel, who wore his fabulous new Obi Wan Kenobe costume from George all weekend.
If you’d like some more inspiration do check out my Pinterest board. Follow Marmalade Pie’s board Star Wars crafts on Pinterest.
What a fantastic party your young Padawan had! M wants a Star Wars themed birthday party too and I have been starting to get a few ideas together. I will definitely be taking a look at your pinterest board for inspiration. Xxx
Thanks Catherine! There really are some amazing ideas out there. We kept this one pretty simple, but if you were hiring out a venue you could set up some amazing things!
Thanks for all the details of your party – it sounds great! Gives me some ideas for my little one as he gets older. I like the way you cut corners in some areas and not others. Perfect!
Thanks Anna! Cutting corners when I can is something I’ve definitely learnt over the years. I’ve stayed up late many times trying to make difficult cakes and it’s often really not worth it as they have a wonderful time anyway!
Brilliant, and inventive, as ever, Lizzie! How about a secondary business acting as a children’s party consultant?? Love from Ruth XXXX
Ha ha! No way – twice a year is definitely enough for me!
So cool!! You know I’m stealing all your ideas come October when it’s my eldest’s birthday. He’ll want a complete replica of this x
There are some really cool ideas out there – there was so much I could have done, but we deliberately wanted to keep things low-key as they’re getting older!
Perfect! Looks amazing and how cool? Love the Star Wars is fashionable and in again – makes me happy!! xx
Thanks Jess! It’s only a matter of time before it starts to creep into your house too!