Six years ago, in a hospital far far away… (cue the orchestral music) Our nephew Gryphon David Maddox Varney was born. While not actually possessing the “Force” and not really being the “go to” dude ofany Rebel Alliance, he still manages to bring smiles to the face’s of his mother, father, and the rest of the family. So when it came time to celebrate his sixth birthday, some choices had to be made. His first choice was surprisingly not Clone Wars, but instead, Kung-Fu Panda. While indeed a funny movie, his original choice presented somewhat of a challenge design wise, which is totally fine. I think the best of us shine when presented with a challenge. However, about a week into researching props and styles for a Kung-Fu Pandaesque spread, we received news that Gryphon had changed his mind. OMG! Remembering that they were family, we welcomed the change of themes to a Star Wars/Clone Wars style table.
It was about that time that Heather looked over at me with a look that pretty much conveyed “You’re handling this one, as I have no clue what to even do for a Star Wars themed party.” In fact the next words out of her mouth were exactly that. Being a connoisseur of all things science fiction, one of my earliest memories was of watching an episode of the classic Star Trek with my father, I was elated to get a chance to put my sci-fi skills to the test.
After looking at attempts by other planners and dessert table designers, I wanted to go for a somewhat monotone color palette for the décor and the printables themselves. Heather created an awesome Star Wars themed printable set which fit perfectly into the grand scheme of the table. (Look for them in our Etsy store if you are planning a Star Wars party of your own! The printables set includes tons of great stuff to make your party authentic.) The grand scheme being tones of grey and silver, with some black thrown in for good measure. I mean, black has to be in there somewhere, it IS set in outer space. All of those bold, solid dark colors made the gold text of the printables really pop out and make a statement. The Star Wars font seemed to helped as well.
All in all, we can safely say that the party was a big success. Our son (who is 2) was sneaking the “Light Saber Pretzel Rods” off of the table at an alarming rate and then just eating the candy part. His face was an interesting mixture of both red and green goo, ewww! Not to mention the speed with which the “Han Burgers” flew off of the table…?! Did you know that he made the Kessel Run in less than 12 parsecs right? Even the birthday boy chimed in with his favorite…”Leia’s Buns.” Really, who DIDN’T like Leia’s buns…admit it.
*Absolutely no Death Stars, Sith, or Ewoks were harmed in this celebration*
This party has been updated and we have included many more awesome party decorations! See the brand spanking new and improved version!
I just have to say that quite possibly without the knowledge and spectacular ideas of Jenn from JustJENN Recipes, that this table would’ve never gotten out of the brainstorming phase of planning. After reading her entire blog post about a similar Star Wars themed spread she had done, which can be seen here. It gave me a really awesome jumping off point about what I wanted to do to make this a spectacular event for everyone. While some ideas we didn’t modify, such as the witty “Han Burgers”, others we added our special touches to. Another great resource for anyone that might be planning a similar party is Wookie Cookies: A Star Wars Cook Book, found here. Indeed the title of the book also became one of the sweet treats on the table.
The final menu included:
- Han Burgers - Mini Burgers on Buns with cheese + usual veggies
- Thermal Detonators - ours were Whopper Malt Balls
- Wookie Cookies - ours were Coconut Cookies
- Yoda Soda - ours was a 2-liter of Sierra Mist and a pint of Lime Sherbert (do this last minute to have the foam fresh for the party)
- Bantha Blue Milk -ours was 2% Milk with a few drops of blue food coloring
- Endor Trail Mix - ours was Mini Goldfish Crackers, Craisins and Pretzel Sticks
- Light Sabers - ours were Pretzel Rods dipped in Red or Green Candy Melt
- Qui-Gon Jin Ger Snaps - ours were old fashioned Ginger Snaps
- Palpatine Pizza - ours were Bagel Bites
- Leia’s Buns - ours were individually wrapped Mini Honey Buns
- Hoth Chocolate Cakes - ours were homemade Chocolate Cupcakes with Chocolate Frosting
You could easily rotate in any number of other food choices instead of what we did of course!
