This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone. #BDayOnBudget #CollectiveBias ~ Our Star Wars Rebels Party Ideas will keep boys and girls laughing and playing all day long! We’ve included tons of great ideas for outdoor summer parties! ~
My son’s birthday is right smack dab in the middle of summer which means that his birthday parties are always outdoor events. As such, we put a lot of thought into the day’s activities because you just never know how hot it will be or if a sudden rainstorm will come your way. As a Mom, I never like to be caught off guard with the weather because the last thing I want is to have is an unhappy birthday boy.
I also think that a birthday party should never be about what we, as parents, want for our children. Instead, I feel that the ideas should come from the children and as long as they aren’t asking for anything too unreasonable, we should do our best to make it happen. Aside from the request for a trip to Fiji one year — which didn’t happen — my children have never asked for anything unreasonable, so we’ve always let them pick their themes.
My husband and I are huge Star Wars fans, so naturally, we’re pretty happy that our children are big fans too. Although their take on Star Wars is quite different from our own, we love being able to talk about the characters and episodes together; sometimes, it’s hard to relate to your children’s interests and Star Wars makes it easier for us.
Recently, our children have fallen in love with Star Wars Rebels. It’s on too late for our children to watch at night (Monday Nights at 9p/8c on Disney XD), so we record it and spend Saturday mornings catching up on what we missed that week. Nothing starts a weekend off better than snuggling with your kids in bed watching tv together.
So when it came time to pick a theme for my son’s birthday, I wasn’t all that surprised when he asked for a Star Wars Rebels theme. It’s the one party idea that we haven’t done yet and he was dying to have an epic Lightsaber battle with his friends outside.
STAR WARS REBELS PARTY IDEAS
DECORATING & PLANNING
Tablescapes and party decorations don’t have to cost a fortune to look good. As I’ve mentioned on our other party posts (Winter White Baby Shower, Nickelodeon Kids Choice Awards, and Waffle Bar), we like to have a steady supply of basics on hand. You’ll often see Mom’s permanently borrowed white tablecloth featured in our tablescapes because it’s incredibly versatile and always looks great. We also own an array of white platters and stands because they easily fit into any theme we create.
Sometimes, the simplest things have the most impact. This is why I like combining store bought supplies, like the great selection of Star Wars Rebels party supplies at Walmart, with our homemade elements to keep the party feeling warm and personal.
FOOD & DRINK IDEAS
My son wanted to help plan the menu and since we both have a quirky sense of humor, we wanted to come up with some food ideas that would pay homage to the characters in the show. When it comes to menu planning for my children’s birthdays, I never tell them what they “should have” on the menu. Instead, I simply ask them to include a variety of food so that everyone has something to choose from. But in terms of whether it all “goes together” – well, boys could care less about that. As long as it tastes good, they’re happy.
Our menu consisted mostly of finger foods that could be eaten easily and on-the-go. With all of the fun activities we had planned, I knew they wouldn’t want to stop for more than a few seconds to eat.
Jedi Juice: I am madly in love with my water infuser jug and my children love that it lets them be as creative as they want to be with the flavor. My son is really into limes lately, so he asked for a medley of sliced oranges, lemons and limes. I have to say, even my reluctant-water-drinking-daughter inhaled several glasses of it. Yay! We like serving water, ahem, Jedi Juice, at parties because it keeps the sugar high to a minimum.
Darth’s Dip & Trooper Treats: This family favorite is requested at every single birthday party. I crack up each time they ask for it because it requires no effort from me. Just place some potato chips and pretzels in a bowl, and mix up some onion dip. The end.
Chopper’s Popper Corn: Popcorn is great. It’s incredibly portable, it’s a nice alternative to chips, and kids love it. Okay, fine. I love popcorn and my hips really prefer me to stay away from the dip, so I nosh on popcorn instead. 😉
Ezra’s Street Smart Heros: My son loves heros, especially homemade ones. And, no, I didn’t mean “heroes” — although he loves “heroes” too. If you’re not from Long Island, I’m talking about the big ‘ole sandwich that other people call grinders, hoagies, subs, poor boys and who knows what else.
Anyways, homemade heros are great because you get to make them however you want without spending a fortune at the deli. I love that you can slice them into bite-sited pieces and you can cover an array of dietary needs just by swapping out a few ingredients. For our guests, my son requested two types of heros:
- Ezra’s “Don’t Be A Chicken” Hero: loaded with chicken breast, cheese, sliced avocado and shredded lettuce, this healthy hero is packed with protein and Omega-3.
- Ezra’s “I’m Going Bananas” Hero: loaded with natural peanut butter, homemade strawberry jam and sliced bananas, this hearty take on a favorite sandwich is packed with protein and potassium.
Hera’s House Salad & Zeb’s Zesty Dips: In our home, we’re don’t care how our children choose to eat their veggies as long as they’re eating them. Our children prefer to eat their salad “veggie spear” style, with little dipping containers of dressing. We sliced up their favorite veggies — cucumbers, carrots and celery — and provided different dressings for them to dip them into. Since our kids get really grossed out by “double dippers” (seriously, I could go on and on and on about this topic), each child got their own container to fill with the dressing of their choosing.
Kanan’s Kookies & Sabine’s Sundae Bar: My son threw me for a loop when he proclaimed that he wasn’t having a birthday cake this year. Apparently, he was tired of cake and wanted to do something different instead. We bounced around some ideas, and in the end, he decided that he wanted to make epic sundaes with his friends and top them off with cookies and milk. Sundae bars are great because you can just lay out the ingredients and let the kids show off their mad decorating skills.
GAMES & ACTIVITIES
Since it can get really hot and humid in our neck of the woods, I am always mindful to balance lots of rambunctious running around with proper hydration and water activities to keep everyone cool. There were lots of great games going on, but some of our favorites included:
Darth Vader Slip-N-Slide: We have a large swing set in our backyard and we like to incorporate it into our homemade Spartan Races during the summer. My son loves this one obstacle where my husband connects the big slide to the Slip-N-Slide and he wanted to make this a part of his party. We brainstormed some ideas about how we could tie this activity into his Star Wars Rebels theme and we decided to fill up tons of black water balloons and placed them all over the Slip-N-Slide. The object of this game is to slide down the slide and knock off as many Darth Vader water balloons as you could.
Storm Trooper Baseball: I really don’t want to admit how many random light sabers we have hiding down in our basement, but let’s just say we have a few too many. Who knew they would come in handy for this really funny game? My son plays league baseball and loves getting up at bat. So we took loads of white water balloons and turned them into Storm Trooper faces. An adult pitched the Storm Trooper balls at the children and the object of the game was to burst open a balloon with a lightsaber.
Darth Vader Bombs: Last, but certainly not least, we divided the guests into two teams and filled up a whole mess of black water balloons. The object of this game was for each side to get as many people from the other side wet. The team with the most remaining dry players wins!
Whew! Did I mention how exhausted we all are right now? Judging by the happy, exhausted smiles on everyone’s face, we’re calling this DIY Star Wars Rebels Party a success! Do you have any ideas that we may have missed? Tell us about it below!
May the force be with you always,
Denine
