We pulled off a Star Wars Day birthday party for our six-year-old in under six hours

I sprained my ankle on my son's birthday (March 17) — which basically axed plans for his birthday party that day. Well, it only took us a month-and-a-half, but we finally got around to celebrating the day with his friends around.

The Internet was ablaze with Star Wars Day references on May 4. At first I was bummed — why didn't I think of it as a possible date? Then it hit me: if Luca's friends were available, why not throw a last minute party? After a flurry of phone calls, I secured attendance from most of the invitees by noon.

Setting it up

We dug around online and discovered Yoda Sodas. These are pretty easy to make (you only need limes, sugar, sparkling water, and lime sherbet or sorbet).

I had the idea to use a dry-erase marker so the boys could keep track of their drinking glasses. They also loved having personalized glasses from which to sip!

Decorating

Luckily, we already had plenty of Star Wars-related memorabilia lying around: mini-Darth Vader & co. and lightsabers are all over this place!

Entertainment

We turned the party into a movie night with a copy of The Clone Wars. We knew going into it we didn't have time to plan a whole evening's worth of activities and games. I also cruised the Target dollar aisle and scored plastic popcorn boxes — after the movie we washed them out, and they doubled as a favor box.

Desserts

I made brownie and mint ice cream sandwiches upon Luca's request (green for Yoda, of course!). I downloaded a Star Wars-esque font from dafont.com and used it to make a simple birthday banner that we then taped to the mirror.

We ended up with a very happy Padawan at the end of the day. This last-minute party definitely counts as a success in my book.