ONE STOP STAR WARS PARTY SHOP

Right here in this post you will find ideas, pictures, free tutorials and printables to make your party a memorable & adorable one!

I thought I'd do a post similar to something I was hoping I'd find while preparing this last minute Star Wars party for our two littles in two days.  I had no idea what I was venturing into... but nothing I found was light colored or the look I was going for.  So I made my own and figured someone else may be in the same boat wondering if it was possible to have a Star Wars theme and a cute party not be mutually exclusive.  Granted the party took place at night so the party photos don't really do the "fun-ness" justice but you'll get the idea and this post will hopefully be a launch pad for your own ideas!  These were the invites to our shin-dig but there are two printable invitation options for your printing pleasure down below.

Our Party's Itinerary:

Entertainment was purely that!  We had a special visit from Star Wars Characters!  Rey taught all our young ones Jedi training and they all got to test their new skills with their dollar store light sabers on Kylo Ren!  Our friends Ian and Christina Jensen's costumes & acting were AMAZING!

The other games they played involved two sets of teams using two noodle light sabers each (from Target) and getting whiffle balls across the lawn.  Whoever got most won!  They loved this one.

Another game played (in addition to the impromptu light saber battles throughout the party:) was the classic Darth Vader piñata which I also got at Target.

The main event was watching Star Wars on the big screen outdoors with all the fun fixings to munch on that they each put in their white paper bags to take outside and then home with them.

This party was an absolute blast to plan and even more fun to watch the kiddos enjoy!

As always, this is not a sponsored post but I wanted to throw out a special thanks to AZCookieCorner for the adorably delicious cookies and SurpriseCakes for making this scrumptiously delectable one!  Could NOT believe they were able to do this with such short notice.  These ladies are BEYOND CREATIVE and TALENTED.

Click the image below to enlarge our party's pictures and get some ideas for your own!

Here's a preview of what your printables will look like!

TO PRINT YOUR FREE HIGH RESOLUTION STARWARS PRINTABLES JUST 

CLICK WORDS OF WHAT YOU'D LIKE TO PRINT BELOW!

FOOD LABELS

DRINK SIGNS

VADERADE

JEDI BAG TAGS

JEDI COSTUME SIGN

JEDI DRINK / NAME TAGS

PRINCESS BAG TAGS

PRINCESS COSTUME SIGN

PRINCESS DRINK / NAME TAGS

STAR WARS PRINTABLE POSTER

BLANK STAR WARS INVITES

FILL IN STAR WARS INVITES

THANK YOU CARDS

PARTY BANNER

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BANNER

STAR WARS CHARACTER BANNER

LIGHT SABER HANDLES (see below)

Here is the downloadable STAR WARS font that I used.

THESE ARE FOR PRIVATE USE ONLY.  Please feel free to share and direct people to updikeupdates.com to print their own!  Disclaimer: I am in no way affiliated with Star Wars or Disney and these are just artist's renditions of the characters put onto printables that I have created and am now SHARING WITH YOU!  The character's pictures I purchased for private and commercial use from ClipArtopia and LightBreezeBoutique.  Click on their names to view their cute shops!

FUN DECOR TIP!  To make what I used for the backdrop I just taped two strips of streamers together to make them wider and then folded them up so I could cut fringe more quickly along the sides.  Unravel, tape up, and complete them with the printable handles below to finish your light sabers!

BELOW YOU WILL FIND TUTORIALS TO MAKE THE EASIEST, QUICKEST AND CHEAPEST COSTUMES FOR YOUR LITTLEST JEDI'S!

PLEASE COMMENT BELOW IF YOU FOUND THIS POST HELPFUL!

I love getting feedback and it's nice knowing this was time well spent putting this together if it meant it helped you!  THANKS FRIENDS!

Watch Me Whip...

Help your little people get into the spirit of Christmas this season and have a few chuckles while you're at it!  I've added lots of fun ideas and printables over the years: just search the blog for the word elfia or go to Instagram and look under the hashtag #elfiaupdike or follow my children's mommy @shavonneupdike for daily ideas till Christmas!  Your elves are sure to find lots of inspiration for quick & fun morning surprises!  Wishing you a Merry Christmas filled with lots of sleep!

Love, Elfia Updike ❤️

These images have been formatted and are ready to print onto 8.5 X 11 paper or cardstock.  To print on a mobile device just save the image first or if you're on a computer just click and print!  This is a quick one friends!

13 IMAGES THAT SPEAK TO PARIS AND THE WORLD

What do you say in a moment like this?  In case you've also been in a quandary grasping for words to say in light of our world's current events,  here's a collection of photos that SPEAK FOR THEMSELVES.  I'm posting them with the hope that at least one of them may speak to you as well.  Though we're thousands of miles away this was a small way I thought we could help spread love around our world, albeit digitally. These are a compilation of photos I've adjusted or put together from things I've found, though I do not claim ownership of them, as the quoted authors & artists are listed on each.  The updikeupdates watermark is simply there so that others may be able to more easily grab the higher resolution copies right here to share them, for as we all know copies of copies end up becoming contorted and hard to read. :)  Love to you all.  ❤️

"GENUINE GOODNESS IS THREATENING TO THOSE AT THE OPPOSITE END OF THE SPECTRUM."

-CHARLES SPENCER

"BLESSED ARE YE WHEN MEN SHALL REVILE YOU, PERSECUTE YOU, AND FALSELY SAY ALL KINDS OF EVIL AGAINST YOU FALSELY, FOR MY SAKE."

-MATTHEW 5:11

"THE MAN WHO CRIES OUT AGAINST EVIL MEN, BUT DOES NOT PRAY FOR THEM WILL NEVER KNOW THE GRACE OF GOD."

-ST. SILOUAN THE ANTHONITE

"RESOLVE TO NOT BE OVERCOME BY EVIL, BUT TO COMBAT EVIL WITH GOOD." -POPE FRANCIS

"IF YOU THINK YOU ARE TOO SMALL TO MAKE A DIFFERENCE, TRY SLEEPING IN A CLOSED ROOM WITH A MOSQUITO."  -AFRICAN PROVERB

"KNEEL DOWN TO PRAY.

STEP UP TO SERVE.

REACH OUT TO RESCUE."

-THOMAS S. MONSON

HE SAID, "ABOVE ALL WATCH WITH GLITTERING EYES THE WHOLE WORLD AROUND YOU BECAUSE THE GREATEST SECRETS ARE ALWAYS HIDDEN IN THE MOST UNLIKELY PLACES.  THOSE WHO DON'T BELIEVE IN MAGIC WILL NEVER FIND IT."

-ROALD DAHL

"NO CONCERN OF OURS IS TOO SMALL OR INSIGNIFICANT.  THE LORD IS IN THE DETAILS OF OUR LIVES." --THOMAS S. MONSON

"WE MUST NEVER GIVE UP.

WE NUST NOT BECOME DISCOURAGED.

WE NUST NEVER SURRENDER TO THE FORCES OF EVIL... IF IT MEANS STANDING ALONE, WE MUST DO IT.  BUT WE SHALL NOT BE ALONE."

-GORDON B. HINKLEY

"WHEN EVIL MEN PLOT, GOOD MEN MUST PLAN.

WHEN EVIL MEN BURN AND BOMB, GOOD MEN MUST BUILD AND BIND.

WHEN EVIL MEN SHOUT WORDS UGLY WORDS OF HATRED,

GOOD MEN MUST COMMIT THEMSELVES TO THE GLORIES OF LOVE."

-MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR.

"THOUGH MY SOUL 

MAY SIT IN DARKNESS

IT WILL RISE IN 

HIS PERFECT LIGHT

I HAVE LOVED THE STARS TOO FONDLY

TO BE FEARFUL OF THE NIGHT."

-SARAH WILLIAMS

It's E-W-F-I-A! No L cause L's are EW!

Elfia obviously knew how much our littles loved Jimmy Fallon's EW! episode when he had Taylor Swift as a guest... 'Cause they were so excited to see Elfia dressed as SARA!  Hopefully yours will be too!  

The following pic is formatted to print on an 8.5x11 sheet of paper...and yes in the spirit of Christmas Elfia even turned Taylor Swift's pegicorn into a reindeer.

Merry Christmas friends! 

give thanks, get gobblin'

Want to feel young again?  Go doorbell ditching.  You know you want to... and if you don't, I bet you know some kids who do.  Here my husband and I thought we were going to leave the deliveries to the kids as we supervised from the car.  Little did we anticipate that within minutes Greg and I would turn stealth-mode with our little accomplices as he became our getaway driver while we dropped, dashed and scampered into the car before they got the door.  Few things in life can match the thrill of racing away as you surprise your neighbors with an unexpected treat... all while they're left wondering who door bell ditched the sweet sentiment.   It's the perfect family home evening or FRIENDly activity.  Guaranteed to not only bring your family & friends closer but leaving your neighborhood feeling the love as well.  Happiness is contagious!  Start a fun tradition that will make someone's day and you'll find it made yours brighter along the way!  

I caught the gobblin bug from a delivery made across the country to my sister in South Carolina who sent me a picture of what they received and told me how well it was received by their kids... then we got gobbled ourselves and it made my kids day!!!  I figured something like this was too fun not to keep going so I came up with these simple printables on Rhonna Farrar's app and used some of Over The Big Moon's ideas here to create them!

Deliveries can be as simple, decadent or as personal as you'd like them to be!  Depending on your what your budget or time allows, you can leave a baked goodie, friendly turkey hands, or just the printable note to make their day and let them know they're thought of!

The following image has been formatted and is ready to print on a 8.5 x 11 sheet of cardstock or paper.  Be sure to print off one extra per person that you'll be gobbling so they can have one to make a copy of so they can keep the greatful gobblin going!

Discalimer: if you do know us on a personal level and recieved something that looked like the aforephoto'd goodies... it is merely conincidental and we plead the fifth on making said deliveries. 

Seeing Isn't Believing

 The outline of today's Sunday school lesson  in sharing time can be found here.

I began by choosing a reverent child and asked them to stand outside the door, supervised. ;)

With them out of sight I pulled out an apple and showed it to the rest of the kids.  I invited them to look at it, to touch it, and to even smell it to make sure that it was in fact a real apple.  I made sure that kids from all sides of the room got to make sure it was a real.  I then sealed it and put it away, just out of sight and invited the child back into the room.  The other children then told them what they saw.  The kids all echoed that "there was a real apple."  I played along and said "...but I don't see an apple, do you?"  The child then looked around for the apple to no avail.  I then asked those special witnesses from around the room who had touched it, to give them their word that there was in fact an apple, even though they didn't see it anymore.  Luckily he believed them.

I related this to our Savior Jesus Christ.  Though I personally have never seen him, I know that He lives.   Our very measurement of time bears witness to His existence.  News this week reported that more sea scrolls have been found... and what do you think they will say?  Do you think they will tell about their authors' own lives?  Probably not.  They didn't have Facebook to blast everyone they knew with the exciting news, or a microphone to shout it out to a dissipating audience.  They only knew of one way to ensure that their lasting words would not only be found by those who would be looking for it, but also that their words would withstand the test of time.   Often people wouldn't write about themselves, but of something much bigger and more far-reaching.  They would write their own testimonies of the miracles they witnessed, in hopes that the dry desert and their clay pots would help to preserve this message for generations to come.  

Jesus atoned for everyone, why then would he only have appeared to a select few around Jerusalem after his death?  He didn't.  We know that He appeared to the people of the American Continent at that time because they too felt inspired to preserve their written testimony of it as well, though instead of papyrus they wrote them on metal plates.  It amazes me that even today with all the modern technology we have and scientific theories that try to disprove His existence... we are still discovering and uncovering others' promises that stand as their undeniable and dying word as though they are crying out from the dust that He lives!   

As outlined in the lesson I then had some adult brothers and sisters portray people who knew Jesus and got to see him after His death in His resurrected state.  My friend Brandy spoke as though she was "Mary Magdalene" and summarize John 20:1-18 who was awestruck when she found Jesus' body was missing from the tomb only to turn around and see Him alive and well!  Then Thomas who summarized John 20:19-29 and how he was gone when the rest of the apostles had seen Jesus Christ and that he didn't believe that Jesus could have been alive despite the other's testimony of His existence.  Thomas earned his nickname by doubting Jesus' resurrection until just over a week later, when Jesus returned and Thomas saw Him in the flesh and literally felt His wounds in his hands, feet, and side.  I then unsealed the apple from it's hiding place and gave it to the child who hadn't gotten to see the apple, so that like Thomas, he could have a physical manifestation thus dispelling all doubt.

Another sweet friend read the account of those living on the other side of the Earth at that time.  The civilization who called themselves the Nephites, witnessed the same Earthly manifestations of Christ's death, identical to those as depicted in the Bible, and their physical witness of His visit to them on the American Continent.  I related that back to the apple and reminded them that physical witnesses of the apple weren't only on one side of the room but that people from all parts of the room got to experience it's validity for themselves.  

My husband Greg was a sweetie and spoke though he was the young 14 year old boy who couldn't understand why there were so many different religions when there was only one God.  He then quoted James 1:5 "if any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him." He then told how the young boy felt prompted to pray about his quandary and upon doing so, after much toil and tribulation that the adversary wrought upon him, he saw a pillar of light exactly over his head, above the brightness of the sun, which descended gradually until in it he beheld  two personages whose brightness "defy all description" and who called him by name.  He physically saw our Heavenly Father and elder brother Jesus Christ.  He heard His calm yet powerful voice say, "This is my beloved Son.  Hear him!"  Though taken back by the magnitude of this experience, Joseph Smith managed to formulate the question that had been the purpose of his supposition, and asked them which of all the churches was right.  He was told that he shouldn't join any of them, as all the churches at that time had semblances of truth but had fallen away from His correct principles.  Thus the restoration of Christ's true church began.  

Lastly, I had the children close their eyes and imagine that a police officer had ran in and told them that there was a murderer just outside of the building and to wait there until it was safe.  Although a bit abrupt, I asked them if they would believe the police officer, as he had been given authority and stewardship to protect each of them and 

 keep them safe.  I related this to those who have been given similar responsibility over them (ie. parents, prophets, and teachers), who they too can believe and trust.  If people in Biblical times had a prophet to lead and guide them, would Heavenly Father leave us misguided in perilous times such as these?  Of course not.  I can say with assurity that I believe the words of our prophet and the inspired leaders of our church, as well as the infinite accounts of people throughout time who also bear witness of Christ's existence and resurrection.

As handouts, I made each of them an envelope, placed a jellybean inside, printed the following words on them, and sealed them individually.  I then said that although I can't see the jelly bean in its' entirety I can feel it, I can see the color of the jellybean when I hold it up to the light, how it has the ability to move it's surroundings (by shaping the paper that surrounds it), and I can even smell it's sweetness if I'm close enough to it.  Although its' a childlike metaphore it is a very fundamental summary of my testimony of our Savior, Jesus Christ.  There have been times that I've wished that my soul's memory, like the envelope, wasn't sealed, so that I might remember the preexistence and the loving faces of our Heavenly Father, Mother, and our elder brother Jesus Christ.  Though I don't need to see them or Him to believe that He lives.  I have felt His sweet spirit.  I can see His light through others and I can feel His spirit move me when I hear a testimony of Him given, a beautiful melody or even when I just take the time to notice the "little" miracles I pass by daily.  Jesus Christ was born, He lived, He died, and was resurrected and it is in His name that I share this with gratitude and love.

-Shavonne

 Printables for Handouts:

The following image is formatted to print on a standard business sized envelope.

To pin or share:

Elfia's Toaster Car Printable

Totes Ma Goats

Sorry friends... I only TOTES MA GOATS but I'd be happy to share another printable with you!  Love, Elfia

Super simple to make.  Just print, cut, and tape or glue.  (I liked the way mine printed on card stock to hold my sturdy goat friends.)  Then attach washi tape, string, or ribbon to add stylish straps.  Hope it brings a smile to your little ones faces!

What Does The Fox Say?

Elfia finally figured it out and decided to share the love with a 4x6 printable to help your elf on the shelf deck the halls! 

Free Conference Printables

Better late than never, right?

 These can be cut and used as baggie toppers

for the yummy "gems" that the kids
can use as markers.  When they get bingo
they can then eat them as their
reward for listening!

There are 12 different cards to mix things up!

Thanks to Rachel Bruner for creating the bingo cards. 

You can get a simplified version here. 

Hope these help your littles enjoy conference a little more!