Throw a Star Wars Party {Beehive-Deacon Day}

star wars party 22We love Star Wars!  (In case you were wondering, hahahahah!!!)  I helped out with our Stake’s Beehive-Deacon Day and we choose a Star Wars Theme!  It was super fun!  Click HERE to download all the files pictured in this post.star wars party

When the kids arrived, we had them fill out these name tags.  They wrote their “Earth Name” and then determined their “Jedi Name”

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Then we asked them some silly questions involving numbers and pretended to do some hi-tech calculations to determine their Medi-Chlorian level.  This is how we divided the youth into 3 groups.

Screen Shot 2015-10-28 at 7.32.14 PMWe had 3 mini classes on friendship, social media, and etiquette.  At the end all the youth ended up in the gym where we had a Star Wars Buffet.  The main course was “Bantha Burgers” which was smoked pulled pork sandwiches.

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The Sarlacc Cake was a hit!  I made this Magic Swirl Bundt Cake recipe which is one of my favorite cake recipes.  I call it the Dark Side vs. the Light Side cake.  The chocolate and vanilla are battling it out!!  I covered the entire cake in chocolate ganache and put graham cracker crumbs over top for the sand.  I cut 2 graham crackers to look like a mouth and piped some white frosting for “teeth”.

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star wars party 12The Jawa Juice was a HIT!!!!  Teenagers + Dry Ice 🙂

1 container Blue Hawaiian Punch

(1)  2-litre bottle Lemonade

(1) 2-litre 7-up

Dry Ice

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They also loved the Yoda Soda

(1) 2-litre 7 Up

(1) half gallon Lime Sherbet

5 limes juiced

Lime slices star wars party 16Kids don’t really want water when  you have Jawa Juice and Yoda Soda!  But I still like the Anakin Sky-Water label 🙂

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We had Star Wars music playing and the Party Rocker was blasting colored lights onto the ceiling.  The kids loved it! star wars party 20       star wars party

Taylor Swift 1989 Launch Party

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October 27th 2014 could not come fast enough in our house!  We are big time Taylor Swift Fans!!!  To celebrate the much anticipated day, we threw a 1989 Launch Party with all our friends.  It was fun to come together and celebrate our favorite artist Taylor Swift!

We had everyone come dressed in 1989 inspired outfits.  When the girls arrived, we put fluffy bows in their hair.  We watched a special message from Taylor Swift then put on the Shake It Off video and danced around.

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1989 TRACK SCAVENGER HUNT

Then we went outside where and had a scavenger hunt.  I had printed off a paper that listed each track on the 1989 album and we had previously hid an items representing the track.  The girls had to figure out which item went with which track.  Here is the list:

Track #1  Welcome to New York – I Heart NY T-Shirt

Track #2  Blank Space – White piece of paper

Track #3  Style – Make Up

Track #4  Out of the Woods – Large Stuffed Deer

Track #5  All You Had To Do Was Stay – Stuffed “sitting” dog

Track #6  Shake It Off – Salt & Pepper Shakers

Track #7  I Wish You Would – Birthday Candles

Track #8  Bad Blood – Syringe from toy doctor set

Track #9  Wildest Dreams – Tiger in a baby bed

Track #10  How You Get the Girl – a small doll in a net

Track #11  This Love – Heart Doily

Track #12  I Know Places – Road Map

Track #13  Clean – glass cleaner

We put all the papers in a basket and drew a winner and she got a prize.

After the scavenger hunt, we had Welcome To New York refreshments, Out of the Woods cookie decorating, and Shake it Off shirt painting.

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WELCOME TO NEW YORK

NY Pizza Dip, recipe HERE – my husband declared this his new favorite food, served with bagel ships and baguettes

NY Cheesecake

Jewish Rye Deli Sandshiches

York Peppermint Patties

Yankee Stadium Popcorn Balls

Black and White Cookies, recipe HERE

The Big Apple apple dip, recipe HERE

 

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OUT OF THE WOODS

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We made sugar cookies inspired by the woods: acorns and leaves.  The girls decorated them.1989 taylor swift_19

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SHAKE IT OFF

I cut stencils on the Cricut that said “Shake It Off” and the girls painted shirts.  They turned out super cute.  We just used acrylic paint and a stencil brush.

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DRAW MEREDITH AND OLIVIA

We had to get Taylor’s kitties involved in the party, so each girl was given a sharpie and a paper plate.  They were to draw a picture of Taylor’s cats by holding the plate on their head and not looking at it.  3 of the moms were the judges and the winner got a prize.
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LYRIC CHALLENGE

Throughout the night we stopped the music and had 3 girls come up for a Lyric Challenge.  I read a line from one of Taylor’s newest 3 singles and they had to correctly say the line that followed.  This was super fun and the girls totally know all the words to the songs!

For the prizes I got the latest InStyle magazine with Taylor on the cover, some cute infinity scarves, knee socks, and a few other items.

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PHOTO BOOTH

No party is complete with out a photo booth.  We used Taylor’s Subway app to “Take a Selfie with Taylor”:1989 taylor swift_22

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We also used the #1989 Photo Booth to create these fun photos inspired by the 1989 Album Artwork.


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Taylor, we LOVE you and your 1989 Album is so AMAZING!  THANK YOU!!!!!

Fancy Halloween Soiree

I just finished helping with my church’s annual Halloween Party.  It is such a big undertaking – but so much fun!!!!  The theme was “Frightfully Fancy”.  Here are the invitations – I printed them on burlap colored paper:
This is the finished cultural hall – it turned out amazing especially considering we didn’t really have a decorations budget!!

This is a little vignette by the front entrenace
Groups of paper bats guiding people down the hall – spooky!!
A spooky collection of old art and vintage frames.
(A little before picture of putting up all the lights)
My friends and I emptied our houses and pulled all our decor accents together.  It was a little shocking to see all we had – this is just a sampling!
One morning my friend and I were at an estate sale and the estate’s owner had an intense doll-making hobby.  They were selling all her doll-head molds.  They wanted $10 a mold, then they said $8, then said $5 if we bought a bunch of them.  When we went to leave I offered $3 a head and they took it!  I am now the proud owner of 10 spooky doll-head molds.  They were absolutely perfect accents to the centerpieces on the tables!
Each table was decorated differently – vases, candle sticks, crows, birdcages, owls, clocks, vintage pictures, black pumpkins, etc.  Then we put a spider web treatment on it all and it looked amazing!  Everyone kept asking where we got all the decorations!  It was a little embarrassing admitting that we owned it all!!  You should see my garage!!
During dinner we had all the piano students play halloween piano pieces for the background music. 
This is the long serving table where we served the food.
And the food was AMAZING!!!  This guy spent the entire day smoking ribs in a smoker he built just for the party.  He also made his famous BBQ chicken.
Best ribs EVER!!!!

We had a photo booth where families could get their pictures taken.  We also had 6 different carnival-type games, a cake walk, and trunk-or-treat!

Our annual pie contest:

My daughter made this key lime pie and won an award!

Then we had a spook alley – and not just any spook alley.  Our Young Men age 12-18 arrived at the church at 8am with lumber and tools and began constructing walls for the spook alley.  They stayed and worked the entire day – best spook alley ever!

 They framed walls then attached black plastic.  There was an outer maze for older kids and an inside maze that was less scary for the younger kids.

I think the boys had a little too much fun!  It was too hard to photograph when it was finished because it was pretty dark!
 It was ALOT of work but so worth it.  Everyone had such a great time!!!  

Amanda

Fishy Fourteen Birthday Party

This weekend I threw a surprise party for my daughter – we totally got her and she was totally surprised!!!!  It was worth all the stress and planning for sure!  She LOVES fish so the party had a fish theme.

 I ordered all these funny blow up fish to float in the pool.  My dear friend let us use her back yard for the party – it was perfect!  It feels like a resort!

The fountains and the pool lights change colors!

We had a nacho bar for dinner.

 And our FAVORITE “Nothing Bundt Cake” for the cake.

For the party favors, I sewed 15 of these little fishy zipper pouches.
I filled the zipper pouches with Swedish Fish, Aqua Blossoms B&BW hand sanitizer, a piece of fish jewelry, a fish keychain, and a blue elastic ponytail holder.
I think all the girls liked them.  It was a fun party!!

Amanda