STAR WARS - My son loves everything Star Wars, so for his 5th birthday we rented out the Adventure Zone for 2 hours, at our local YMCA. They let you have the playroom, which is full of climbing tubes and slides, and a party room for food and crafts. This was perfect, because we had kids, ranging from 2 to 6 years old. I used some great ideas from this site. INVITES  I cut banana yellow cardstock to 4 1/4 by 5 ½ as the base, then matted it with navy blue space paper that had stars and space ships on it, then matted a piece of vellum that I printed the party info onto: In a galaxy far,  far away...a  boy of destiny was born. The Jedi Council named him xxxx and they knew he was the Chosen One. In the five years that has followed his birth, he has been learning the powers of the Force. Master Yoda is urging the younglings to complete their Jedi training and take part in the upcoming trials at the YMCA Adventure Zone on Sunday, June 25 Padawan xxxx's presence is requested to complete his Jedi Training. Transport to the Jedi Temple on Coruscant will be departing promptly at 2:30 p.m. Please advice the Jedi Council at xxxxx  as to whether your Padawan will accept the challenge.  I used two large silver star brads to adhere the vellum to the invitation. The invitations definitely set the tone because all the parents thought they were so cool! ACTIVITIES Because this was a location party, the kids spent most of their time climbing and playing in the Adventure Zone. We had the Star Wars Episode I, and IV-VI soundtracks playing in the background. (only because I could not find Episode III). Because of the age range of the kids, I had Star Wars coloring sheets for the toddler set, and for the older kids, we made a fun craft called Universe in a Jar. We used cleaned baby food jars that had their lids painted black with an overlay of silver glitter. I had a pitcher of blue tinted water ready.  Guests poured in a tablespoon of baby oil into their jar, and added star confetti and small sequins. I had 1 square pieces of aluminum foil that they rolled a few pieces into small balls and added those to their jar.  They filled up their jars with the blue water, tightly closed their jars and put tiny star stickers on their lids.  With a few good shakes, the kids loved watching everything swirl around in their jars!  DECORATIONS Because of the size and layout, I could only minimally decorate the party room.  The main table was covered with a Star Wars plastic cover and the other tables with plain red and yellow plastic covers. I used plain black plates and Star Wars napkins for the kids, black napkins for the adults, and clear spoons.  I sprinkled star confetti on the red and yellow covered tables, and set the tables with the black plates and Star Wars napkins.  I used my son's Star Wars toys as decorations down the center of the tables, and I taped them down so they would not go missing.  There was only one type of Star Wars Mylar balloon at our local party store, so I purchased two Mylar balloons clusters- each had one Star Wars with several star-shaped Mylar balloons.  I also purchased two latex balloon clusters of red, yellow, and black balloons, to pass out at the end of the party. FOOD I had to keep everything simple for transport and cleanup, so my all-time favorite is cupcakes. We ordered cupcakes with Star Wars cupcake rings the kids went wild for them, they were Darth Vader, C-3PO and R2-D2. The cupcakes were also decorated with red and blue sprinkles, and we had plain cupcakes for the adults. Ice-cream cups made perfect serving sizes for the kids.  I set out star-shaped bowls full of Jedi Mix a.k.a Chex Mix and fruit sabers popsicle sticks with cantaloupe, strawberries and grapes skewered onto them.  For refreshments, a variety of juice boxes and water bottles in a cooler. GOODY BAGS I purchased candy star molds and made white candy stars. I placed 2 stars into a small candy bag, and made a bag topper for each bag, from the leftover cardstock and space paper from the invitations.  In the Star Wars treat bags, along with the candy stars, their cupcake rings and jars was a Star Wars sticker sheet for boys, a star sticker sheet for girls, a space ship kazoo, a swirled bouncy ball, Star Wars M&Ms, a space pencil, and a blowout. For the toddlers, they had water squeeze toys, a container of play-dough, and big sticks of sidewalk chalk.  The party wound down right after we opened presents, and it was perfect, because our 2 hours were up. My son and his friends had so much fun, and he thought his party last year was a blast, so to be able to top it was awesome!