"The Mandolorian" 12th Birthday Party Theme

For my brother Will's twelfth birthday party, he wanted a Mandolorian theme. I have done many Star Wars birthday parties before, but since this was kind of a different theme and that was what he asked for, that is the theme I went with. I used a very metallic color scheme with gold and silver as well as browns, black and white. My grandparents got the amazing balloon and cake at our local Ingles. I threw this together the day of using whatever I had on hand along with supplies I picked up at Dollar Tree (the first time I went there since February!). The mini star balloons were from a pack I ordered on Amazon years ago and have used for lots of events since. The other stars (with helium) were from Dollar Tree, as well as the gold balloons and tablecloth. I painted the poster with the Mandolorian symbol and instead of "This is the way", I wrote "This is the 12th birthday." I made the wooden Yoda in a sculpture course, and it was actually a mess-up that I never finished (suffice it to say the weird hat-thing was not supposed to be there and the head is all wrong), but it matched and I wanted to get some use from it. I found an online printable for free Mandolorian cupcake toppers here that I printed onto gold and silver card-stock and made into a banner. I painted and taped on the light-saber handles to the bubble wands. For the other favors, I just stuck glow-sticks and pens with a wood design into Star Wars/Mandolorian packets I made with the same card-stock and drew on with pen. Those favors were from Dollar Tree, too. 

 Thank you for visiting! I look forward to sharing more with you soon! 

-Lauryn

Star Wars Gift in a Bag (DIY) Gift

Hi everyone! Today I'd like to share a quick gift tutorial from this past Easter that I made for my brother: a Star Wars 'Gift in a Bag'. Usually you see 'gift in a box', 'gift in a jar' and such, but I was in a situation where I had to use what I had, and I didn't have jars, baskets, or good boxes, but I had paper bags. This can, of course, be adapted into a jar gift, gift box or gift basket. Although this was made for Easter, this would make a great birthday gift, and could even be turned into a Christmas 'Star Wars in a Stocking' gift. This is super easy to out together. I literally ended up creating all of my gifts on Easter morning, using what I had. 

Basically, to create this you need a collection of Star Wars items you know the recipient will enjoy. These could be bought or handmade. If you have Easter eggs, you can put items inside them and create character faces with them. I made Yoda, C3PO, and Darth Vader. I hot-glued tissue paper on my eggs, added cardboard for the ears on Yoda and a cardboard helmet piece on Darth Vader with hot-glue, and painted them with layers of acrylic paint. I also used markers on top of the paint when it dried for details I think (I may have also painted those, though, I really don't remember), and used a metallic silver on Darth Vader. What you include in your gift depends, but if you are making the gift for somebody who enjoys art, you could include art supplies. I filled the eggs with homemade clay, and the sack in the photos below held acrylic paint tubes. I hand-painted a baby Yoda tee-shirt as well, but if you make this gift for somebody older clothes can be tricky and I tend to avoid clothing gifts. I actually don't know if the shirt would fit in a paper bag, although I think it would, because mine was still drying when I presented it. Like I said, it was very last minute. I would have liked to include more, but I was using what I had and didn't order online in advance. Some ideas might be Star Wars books (stories, parodies, puzzles, tutorial books and so on), accessories or socks, candy molds that you could use to make either treats or crayons with, notebooks, cooking gadgets, and countless other items. When you have all of your items, the last step is to create a label by printing out the Star Wars logo (which is easy to find on Google), glue it on a folded or cutout piece of card-stock with hot glue or a glue-stick, and write "Gift in a ____" ("Gift in a Bag" in my case), and attach the label on (I stapled mine onto the bag, but in a gift basket it would be tucked in, and in a jar it would be tied around the jar or glued onto the lid). That's all there is to it! If you create a similar gift, I encourage you to get creative and turn things you know that the recipient would love into Star-Wars-themed items. Remember, make everything cohesive and stick to a simple color palette.

I hope you enjoyed! I am not sure when I will be able to post in the coming few weeks due to my school workload, but I hope to continue posting weekly. I can't guarantee that, though. Thank you for visiting!

-Lauryn

Starwars Fourth of July Party

Hello! Sorry it's been so long! I am thrilled to share a recent Phantom Tollbooth birthday party, as well as a rose-themed birthday party, but first I would like to share this Fourth of July party before I forget to post it. I wanted to do a unique theme for the Fourth of July, but still use traditional, patriotic colors. I'd seen the Starwars pun "May the Fourth be with you" many times, and I was watching the sagas for the first time; so it hit me that that could be the theme! I wanted the party to be vibrant, fun and punny but still patriotic. I drew the poster, colored stars on balloons and threw a banner up from a past party. It's very simple because it was super last-minute, as usual (like the day of), but let's say I was aiming for a clean, minimalist party. Yes, let's go with that. Anyway, here it is:

Thank you for visiting! Come back soon for more party and gift ideas! 

-Lauryn

Modern Colorful Starwars Party

Hey guys! Here's the second Starwars party I mentioned. I wanted it to be unique, so I did black and white with pops of color. The poster was, again, handmade, along with the banner. The cake was from Ingles. All of the puns were found online.

Unfortunately, I didn't get to photograph the dinner, which was cookout food. I have one more mini party to share, and a lot of tutorials coming up! Thanks for visiting!

-Lauryn