Braden's 9th Birthday Party...Star Wars!

Braden knew after his party last year that he wanted the next one to be Star Wars.  My boy is a planner and LOVES a theme!  This mama loves making that dream come true.  I got a GREAT deal on a giant poster ($2) that has every Star Wars character in it and he was so excited and surprised by it.  I hung it behind the table along with some of Brian's Star Wars toys from when he was a kid.  Brian made me labels with the Star Wars font for all of the food.  We had hutt dogs, bow-ba fett pasta, light sabers (made from pretzel rods dipped in blue and red chocolate), vader veggies in the shape of a death star, obi wan kabobies, padawan popcorn, thermal detonators (whoppers), Han Rolos, tie fighters (both he and Brian LOVED these because they thought they looked so realistic!), carbonite jello that Han Solo was trapped in, and a light saber cake. For drinks we had yoda soda, vader ade, and jawa juice. 

My THREE excited boys! Brian has never really gotten into the party planning before but was VERY excited about this one and even searched for a Darth Vader costume so he could wear it to battle the kids:).  He also hung up more Star Wars toys that greeted me when I came down that morning.

Braden and his friends before dinner

chow time!! they loved it all! braden said he was surprised that they ate the fruits and veggies when their moms weren't there...but they did:).

dueling with edible light sabers

next up it was time to rescue han solo from the carbonite!! The boys were each given a spoon and you can tell by their faces that this was serious business to them.  i was cracking up!  The jello was frozen AND had a layer of ice on top of it.

after a bit Braeden rescued him!

As soon as he was out they all wanted to eat the frozen jello...lol!  Boys will be boys!

Braden planned all the games and activities. Next up was several rounds of Star Wars Bingo.

and then the great scavenger hunt.  they had a TON of clues that sent them from room to room until they finally found their 'treasure'

light sabers for everyone!! brian made these too:)

I was instructed (by Brian) to tell them that once they found the light sabers they were to go to the backyard because there would be an evil Sith Lord waiting for them. (this is why Brian wanted the costume).  He sprayed them with blue silly string as they tried to battle.

this many boys hitting you in the head over and over was not a great idea...even if it was with something soft. poor brian felt terrible the rest of the night but he loved every second 'during' the battle:).

cake time!  this was braden's request and i couldn't be happier! so easy and he was happy:)

apparently two of the candles were trick...though it was NOT planned and i had no idea. the boys really got a kick out of that.

after cake it was time to battle darth vader (aka black balloons).  they had to keep them up in the air with their light sabers and if darth vader hit the ground then they would 'die'.  they had a lot of fun with this game and played for quite a while before partnering up and passing 'Darth' back and forth.  Last they had to defeat Darth Vader using their light sabers outside.  (Aka beat darth until he popped). Ephram loved this as much as the other boys!

 sweet gifts from friends!  Kyle, Reece

 Bryce and Matthew

 Braeden and Caden

Braden told me afterwards that this was his BEST birthday ever.  I'm pretty sure he says that every year but it makes this mama happy to see him so excited. He had a great time is ALREADY planning his next theme...right now it's a Carolina party. We'll see if it sticks until next year:)