Darth Aesop's party on the death star . MEGA post.

Aesop decided, a year ago, that for his fifth birthday he would have a Star wars party.

From the moment his first episode of Star wars began, he was hooked. The weapons! The battles! And the baddies! Oh! The baddies were sooo cool. (Aesop, a little worryingly, always likes the villains more than the heroes.)

He loved every single one of the movies (except one of them was a bit boring because there was too much 'pashing it up', apparently.) and for a few months EVERYTHING revolved around Star wars. He got Star wars Lego and light sabers and every make-believe game involved battle scenes and droids and all that other good stuff.

So, when his birthday finally seemed to be nearing we confirmed the theme and began the mission for the ultimate 5-yr-old Star wars/ dark side party! This meant a fair amount of time on the net, looking up craft tutorials, costume ideas, pictures, and things to buy on Trademe.

In the end we decided to keep main bits fairly simple: three games, provide only the cake/s and a small amount of food and have everyone bring a plate, decorate only with balloons, flags and streamers and keep the (good quality) take home gifts to a minimum (who needs another bag full of junk in their house?).

The games were a death star pinata, pin the light saber on the storm trooper (which I have no photos of due to me being the one guiding the kids. Bummer! It was awesome though, Abraham made both games and did an amazing job.) and a huge balloon light saber battle. The balloon sabers were a great idea because, as I thought, some of the kids who had brought light sabers as part of their costumes were already whacking everything and everyone in site. These made for much less damage to people and things! None of the games had 'prizes' as such and the kids did not seem to mind at all.

I made a chocolate mud cake, covered in grey butter icing (well, technically margarine.. I bake dairy free.) and drew details on it with black glitter icing, to resemble the death star. And made vanilla cupcakes with the same grey icing and bought cupcakes rings online. The rings were brilliant, they acted as a decoration and then became a take home toy for the kids. Other than the one kid, who insisted only girls wear rings, they were very well received!

I also made Darth Vader dolls for the kids to take home, using this tutorial by the ever-talented Mypapercrane. They were a bit fiddly but so, so worth it. I loved sending the kids off with something handmade and all, except the same little boy who insisted the dolls were also only for girls, the kids loved them.

Our costumes were the most fun part.

Abraham made his own, and it was incredible. He went as his own made up character, part human, part robot. He donned a robe, half a mask and an awesome glove wrapped in cords and lights.

Otto was, of course, an ewok. Unfortunately I don't have the proper pictures of his full costume yet, they are on Mum's camera. But he slept for half of the party and he did not leave his costume on for long, he has an ear infection in either ear and was not in the mood to be wrapped up in half a teddy bear!

Aesop's costume was based around the amazing mask we were given. All I had to do was find him some black jeans, a black t-shirt and make him a cape, and he was set.

My costumes was also fairly simple. I was given a piece of satin that someone had sewn into a rectangle with a neck hole, and I purchased a wig online. Then I made a belt, using an obi style belt I had as the base, and glued some tin foil covered card on the front. Oh, and a gun from the $2 shop completed it!

Abraham's Dad needs a mention here too. He definitely wins for most amazing costume. The boys were both terrified and amazed when he arrived. It took Aesop a few minutes to even figure out who it was! Such an incredible effort.

Also, Lucy turned up with not only the soundtrack for the day, but these gob-smackingly awesome Chewbacca cookies. They win in the food stakes, for sure. Her and adorable little Isla made such a great addition to the party, so happy they came. Yay for real life bloggy friends!

I can't believe how much effort everyone put it, thank you to everyone who came! And everyone who gave advice via the net, too. 'Twas a great time had by all!