A Star Wars Birthday Party

We had Nicholas's first birthday party last month, and it was so much fun to put together!  When we found out the release date of the new Star Wars movie was on his actual birthday, we had to choose Star Wars as his party theme, even though we had the actual party a couple of days later.  Here are some of the things we did, in case anyone wants to use these ideas for their own Star Wars birthday party!  I'll be doing a separate post on how to make the awesome R2-D2 cake.

So picture time! 

The table.  R2-D2 cake, food with Star Wars puns, and a decorating kit I bought at Party City.

We love themed food!  These two were Jon's idea. Shards of Alderaan and Hoth Chocolate.  Our location-themed items.

We made light sabers with pretzel rods and candy melts.  We also made some themed candy with molds from ThinkGeek.

A close-up of the candy from the ThinkGeek candy molds.  There are chocolate ones and colored vanilla ones.

No Star Wars party is complete without the Princess - and no party is complete without Lay's potato chips.  ;)

Fruit kabobs!  I think Obi-Wan would approve of these.  Nathan helped us skewer the fruit. He's obsessed with kabobs.

Darth Veggies!  This was me cheating because I didn't have time to cut up a bunch of veggies.  Enter the convenient veggie tray!  I was going to put them in my own tray so at least they would look nicer, but we ran out of time.

Smash cake.  I made this using two small ramekins, so it has two layers.  It's the perfect size for a smash cake.  The Vader head on top was from a Pez dispenser that Nathan had previously destroyed, so I repurposed it.  The candle is his light saber.

A taller shot of the party table.  I purchased all the decorations from Party City, including plates, napkins, the decoration kit with the storm trooper and BB-8, and a TIE fighter that we hung up on the other side of the aquarium, as well as balloons.  I usually like to make my own decorations, but these were great, and so much easier!

Here's his birthday sign.  I made it in Photoshop and had it printed at Wal-Mart's Photo center.  We then mounted it on a piece of foam board from Hobby Lobby.  We have one for each of our boys.  I'm going to hang them on their wall one day.

A closer look at R2-D2.  It took many hours to complete and I cried a little when they cut into it.

Star Wars is a great theme for a party!  Have you done a Star Wars birthday party?  I want to see yours!  Link in the comments and I'll check it out!

Oh, and a final picture...

He loved his cake.  :)

Decluttering Challenge: Week 1

I've committed to doing this decluttering challenge this year.  Clutter is the bane of my existence and it's starting to really affect my satisfaction with our home.  And since I'm here about 90% of my time, being dissatisfied is a BAD thing.  Enter this home organization and decluttering challenge!

I'm using the two together, as they are intended to be used, but I can see how you could just use the weekly challenges and do your own daily missions to complete the weekly challenge.  I really like the daily missions, though, because they give me something very specific to do.  For example, one day the mission was to organize the silverware drawer.  Well, we have about four drawers that could qualify because everything was just that spread out.  I did all of them that day and now I can find everything I need as soon as I need it!

This week's challenge is kitchen counters and sink.  The daily missions mostly support this goal.  Yesterday, I got started with the "organize utensils" goal and just ended up doing a couple of other daily missions at the same time.  I've never been happier with my kitchen than I am right now!

All it took for me to become a believer in this organizational and decluttering system was a few days.  I'm a convert.  I can't wait to do the rest of my house!  I threw a TON of stuff away while decluttering my countertops and silverware drawers.  Broken items, very cheap silverware I bought when I was poor (lol) and that had started to rust, and just junk that we had in drawers that we had no reason to keep.  Next week is cabinets and remaining drawers.  I can't even tell you how much of a relief it's going to be to get that done.  

I'm looking forward to keeping my kitchen this nice and neat permanently - and to making the rest of my house look just like this - organized, functional, and pretty.  :)

What about you?  How do you organize and keep things the way you like them?  It's a constant struggle here, and I would love to see how others handle it!