Lego Star Wars Birthday Party for Superman

Just recently Superman celebrated his 5th birthday.  I guess I should call him Luke Skywalker or Han Solo or something like that since the theme was Lego Star Wars but he's stuck with Superman so he'll have to deal with it.

This time last year I was about 11 months pregnant with Sidekick so his 4th birthday party consisted of me throwing a sheet cake on the picnic table of a local park and parking my muumuu-ed butt in the shade until we could pack up and go home.  I may have taped some balloons to the picnic table but I can't remember.  I was too busy wiping sweat off my body from the sweltering Louisiana heat.  And the humidity.  Oh, the humidity.

I was smiling because I was in air conditioning.

Needless to say this year I felt I owed him a bit more effort and I was actually excited to plan a great party. As parents know, kids' interests change with the wind so when I discovered that he had stayed a Lego Star Wars fan for longer than 10 minutes I knew we had our theme.  I  then went on-line searching for supplies and ideas to help me host the best kickin' five year old party this side of the Mississippi.

This picture was made at the Audubon Zoo in New Orleans just for fun.  We decided to use it on the favor table.  I laugh every time I look at it.

As soon as I began my search on-line I quickly found Aimee Austin of Aimee Austin Designs who creates custom Lego Stars birthday invitations, thank you cards and has a lot of great party ideas.  I used her printable Lego Stars Wars birthday invitation which comes as a PDF file which meant it was less expensive than paying for individual invitations for each child.  I also used some of her great party ideas.

Have fun at my party you will.

No Lego Star Wars party is complete without a light saber but I didn't want to be liable for any serious injuries.  So to create kid-friendly (read: no lawsuit) light sabers I spent $12 on 12 pool noodles in the colors of red, green and blue.  I cut the noodles in half and used black and silver electrical tape to create the look of a handle on one end of each noodle and voila!  Awesome light sabers which also turned into awesome take-home gifts for the guests.

We led the kids through a series of "Jedi Training Procedures" which included a lot of running around cones, fighting each other and various trees around the backyard and taking turns whacking any adult males who happened to be standing too closely to the training area.  Once we felt the children were sufficiently trained in all things Jedi we moved to the driveway for a little game of "Destroy The Deathstar."

My husband had drawn the Deathstar on the driveway and we let the kids take turns throwing water balloons to try and erase, or destroy, the Deathstar.  This turned out to be fun for both the kids and the adults and was a fun water activity to help cool off the kids.

Georgia Boy wasn't too jazzed about having to use the only colors of sidewalk chalk I had available - purple, yellow and white - but he did a great job anyway.

We then celebrated our victory over the Deathstar by eating some delicious cake and ice cream!
I was going to have a friend of mine who specializes in unique cakes and cupcakes make some custom Lego Star Wars cupcakes but it turned out that she would be out of town during our party weekend.  Instead I purchased a Star Wars sheet cake from Wal Mart and discovered that kids are happy as long as there is frosting involved.

On the way out each guest received a Star Wars cup with some stickers and an official certificate certifying that they had completed all necessary training to become a Jedi Knight.  Jedi Master Yoda signed each certificate so you know they're official and all.  As far as party favors, I have found that a cup can actually be a useful party favor in place of all of those throw-away toys that usually end up in the trash can anyway.

I had so much fun with this party that we're already planning next year's theme.  I'm not quite sure what the theme will be but shiver me timbers, I think pirates may be involved.

Superman at 3 years old as the world's cutest pirate.

How a Cheap Mama does Children's Birthday Parties

This past weekend I took my 4 year old son to the birthday party of one of his classmates.  I have to say that I'm not usually thrilled to attend the birthday parties of young children.  If I'm honest, even throwing my own child's parties is exhausting so I don't pick favorites when saying I don't exactly love attending kids' birthday parties.  Although I may come across as an unbelievably witty gal who would have no shortage of dazzling small-talk, I am a little shy on the inside.  This means that unless the other parents are good friends of mine I have to spend two hours on a Saturday forcing myself to chit chat with people I won't see until the same party next year.  The only thing that keeps me coming is the cake.  I love cake.  However, my son loves to attend these parties and so I usually end up loading him up in the car with gift in hand and zooming off to the local park, gymnasium or some other bouncy heaven.

My goal in birthday-party-attending is to bring a gift that the receiver will love but that won't break my Cheap Mama bank account.  My secret Cheap Mama trick is a little thing I call the Toy Basket.  The Toy Basket is a basket that I keep high up in the laundry room (so my son can't see the goodies inside) that I stock throughout the year with toys that I find on clearance or in those wonderful $1 bins at the store-with-the-red-bullseye.  My goal is to never spend more than $10 on a gift but that doesn't mean that the gift has to look like I only spent $10!  In fact, if I buy things on clearance I can usually buy a gift at least 50% off the original price which means the actual value of the gift is around $15 or $20 when I only spent $7-$10.  To do this successfully, it means that each time I'm in a store with great toy sales I have to remember to go take a look and see what's available.  If I wait until I need a present I usually have to pay more.  As long as I stay on top of the Toy Basket making sure that there are both girl and boy appropriate presents, I'm always ready when Superman comes home with another invitation.  Using the Cheap Mama Toy Basket means that I can get away with being a cheapskate without actually looking like one.  As long as the gift is age appropriate and looks like something that my child would enjoy himself, the price doesn't have to define how great the present will be.

Another Cheap Mama trick that I also employ to save money on birthday parties is to save each and every gift bag and sheet of tissue paper that comes in the gifts that my family receives.  Unless the bag or tissue paper is torn up beyond repair, most of these can be reused at least once if not more.  Smoothing out and refolding used tissue paper isn't exactly my idea of a good time but each time I do it, I remind myself how ridiculously overpriced those items are at the store and it motivates me to keep salvaging them for future parties.  And, when those parties do inevitably roll around I'm always glad that I have my stash in the closet instead of having to run by the store on the way to the party because I don't have any at home.

My final Cheap Mama trick for parties is something that I use to save on those very expensive birthday cards.  I think it is outright highway robbery to charge $2 and $3 for a birthday card that a child is going to toss aside at the party and throw in the trash can at home so I have started using a little Cheap Mama method for these as well.  I bought a pack of unlined 3x5 index cards and I use these in place of traditional birthday cards.  I get a great colored Sharpie marker and write something like "Happy Birthday Ava!  Your friend, Superman!"  The birthday kid gets a personalized message, the mom can keep track of who gave the gift for thank you notes (I live in the south, remember - not sending thank you notes will get you cut out of the next play date) and I don't have to pay for an overpriced birthday card!  Win-win-win!

Just today Superman came home with yet another invitation to a birthday party.  Off to the Toy Basket I go...