A Star Wars birthday party -- for Jeff

For my birthday earlier this month, Bethany surprised me with a Star Wars themed birthday party that I thought was rather ingenious. The party was just for the four of us, and LittleBear had a lot of fun while in many ways getting his introduction to the world of Star Wars. Here's how it went...

I came home from work, and the front living room was blocked off with black tablecloths hanging from the ceiling (I'd learn why later). After dinner, LittleBear, LadyBear and I were led into LittleBear's room. My padawan learners and I were instructed that, as Jedi, the first thing we needed was to build our lightsabers. Bethany had put duct tape on pool noodles for us; we had to "build" them by decorating the hilts with black electrical tape.

(Here we are after the party showing off our handiwork.)

Once we had our lightsabers ready, we were allowed out into the hallway, where we had to weave our way through a series of "lasers" (streamers that were taped across the hallway) without getting lasered.

(LadyBear actually was the best of any of us at this one!)

After that, Bethany pulled down the black cloths to reveal a living room full of "Stormtroopers" -- balloons hanging from the ceiling at various heights that Bethany had painstakingly drawn Stormtrooper faces on. We used our lightsabers to cut down all the "troops."

Lastly, we had to defeat the "Death Star" -- a paper mache pinata Bethany had made up to look like its namesake. I didn't think my lightsaber (pool noodle) would do the trick, but I went to town on it, and sure enough, out came candy!


All the while, Bethany had Star Wars music playing (the main theme at the start, the throne room finale at the end, etc.), and even the gifts from LittleBear (Star Wars soundtrack) and LadyBear (a book called Vader's Little Princess) were Star Wars themed.

A very fun party that Bethany worked very hard to bring to fruition. Thank you, dear!!!!!!

(Bethany suggested that I make clear she didn't come up with all these ideas; she got many of them from this site. I'm still impressed.)