Today we had Colin's birthday party at the house. Back when it was time to decide on a theme he insisted on Star Wars and there was no talking him out of it. Pinterest was my best friend all month for planning since I had no idea where to start with a Star Wars theme. I was proud of my efforts and pleased with the results. I spent far too much time hand cutting circles for cupcake picks (I really need a Cricut!) and made cute little labels for all the foods on the food table. I really wanted to make invitations with Colin's picture, but I was running out of time and decided if I wanted guests to show up I better use the Star Wars card invites I had on hand and save the picture idea for the party. I ended up using this image I put together and had it framed on the gift table, it looked great!
The weather cooperated nicely today, it was warm...but the wind and rain were kind to us during the party hours. Tomorrow we are expecting Tropical Storm Gordon to blow by, though I'm sure it will be much like any other day here on the island. We decorated the yard and we rented two bouncy castles for the kids to play on. Little did we know that pool noodles cut and made into light sabers would be the biggest hit of all. The kids bounced some, but they seemed to have the most fun beating the snot out of each other with their party favors. The party package I purchased came with two bounce houses of my choice, a piñata, and two friendly little men who came to set it all up, look after it, and take it away after the party. I thought that alone was a deal. When the kids were not bouncing the friendly men were playing light sabers with them. Poor guy took quite a beating and the kids had him sweating up a storm and I thought he might have an asthma attack at one point. I'm not sure who wore out who the most. Money well, WELL spent! After some food the kids had fun whacking the piñata, and then it was time for cupcakes and presents.
Sticking with the Star Wars theme we served Force Fruit, Vader Veggies with Death Star Dip, Yoda Soda, Wookie Cookies, Light Sabers, Jedi Juice, and Padawan Pizza. I wanted to do it all from scratch being the crazy lady that I am. I found
this homemade ranch dip recipe, which I am told was pretty tasty. I despise all things ranch, so I am no judge at all if it is decent or not, but I was told it was good. I also made white chocolate dipped pretzel rods, aka light sabers. All that was easy, it was the cupcakes I was worried about. I don't particularly care to eat cake and I've never been good at baking it. I can make some seriously devilish desserts, but cakes are just not my thing. Thank you Pinterest for leading me to
Glorious Treats, this chick is amazing!She has easy recipes and breaks it down step by step (WITH PICTURES!) for the cake baking challenged like myself. I chose the chocolate cupcakes with the American buttercream frosting, which I added half a brick of cream cheese to. Earlier in the week I did a trial run to calm my fears and those turned out great. The second batch I whipped up for the party turned out equally as amazing. I know they were good because Colin only ever eats the icing off cakes/cupcakes. When he sat down with one of the test run cupcakes he not only devoured the icing, he ate almost the entire cupcake too! I thought maybe it was a fluke and I had just forgotten to feed my child that day, but the next day he did the same thing. Score! Maybe I'm not the world's worst cake baker. Maybe I might be brave enough to attempt these
bits of delicious looking goodness in the near future. :)
All the kids seemed to have a ball and Colin was so exhausted. He went right up to take a nap after all his guests left. When he woke up he had no interest in going to the pool for swim lessons, he just wanted to play with his new toys. I don't think he's ever not jumped at the chance to go to the pool! He had a great day and as I tucked him in I asked if he liked his Star Wars Party and he said "It was so big! Can we do it again tomorrow?!"
