Do you have a hard time pulling your little guys away from The Empire Strikes Back orThe Clone Wars?

Why not embrace their love of Jedis and lightsabers and throw them a Star Wars birthday party? I went to amazingmoms.com to learn a few tips of the trade!

PLANNING YOUR STAR WARS PARTY
You don’t need the powers of “the force” to host a memorable party, but time planning and the ideas in this guide will help. If possible, 4-6 weeks is the perfect no-stress time line. Begin with Star Wars party supplies. Then, use this birthday guide to prepare your Star Wars party games and activities.

Star Wars Partyware from Birthday In a Box

Build a Star Wars party box with everything you need for a fabulous party or purchase a la carte items.

STAR WARS PARTY GAMES AND ACTIVITIES
Star Wars Badges:
Get your guests in the spirit of the latest Star Wars saga with this fun craft project. Before the party, cut out badges from construction paper. Provide the kids with Star Wars stickers, extra paper, glue, scissors, glitter, markers, crayons, magazine pictures, etc., and encourage creative expression. During the party, hand out extra badges as favors while playing games. When giving out the badges, honor the kids with special awards, i.e., Best Yoda Impression, Best Team Player, Most Infectious Giggle, or Biggest Smile.

Asteroid Hunt:
Purchase small treats or gifts and wrap them in aluminum foil. Hide them in a sandbox, around the house or in the yard. At the party, let the children dig in the sand, or search throughout your “planet” to find their “moon rocks.” The kids will love the excitement of opening their rocks and finding treasures!

Light Saber Training Course:
Before the party make some light sabers with foam pipe insulation or skinny swimming “noodles”. Wrap 4-6 inches from the end with colored electrical tape to make a handle. One red, one black, blue etc. To play, divide the kids into teams to go through a challenge course. Each team will get one “Light Saber”. Create tasks for each potential Jedi to accomplish (not too hard) with the light saber in hand. For example: Hit ping pong balls with the light saber, crawl under a chair tunnel, go down a slide, roll under a tarp, pop bubbles with the light saber — you get the idea.

Alien Face Painting:
Purchase a set of face paints and give each guest a unique alien “look.” Let each child make up an alien name for himself or create a few of your own and let the kids draw names randomly. Use movie names or your own, such as “Zork,” “Murblap,” or “Gondar.”

STAR WARS PARTY FAVORS
Make your own party favors by filling plastic party cups decorated with Star Wars Stickers. Write each guests name with glitter glue and fill with glow in the dark items, flashlights, glow-balls, small Star Wars toys and treats. Save time with complete Star Wars party favor kits, an easy and special way to say “thank you for coming to my party!”

Happy birthday, Shaq!

Standing at over 7’1, Shaq is one of the biggest players to ever play professional basketball — not to mention one of the most talented.

An overall 1st draft pick in the 1992 NBA Draft, he quickly became one of the most dominant post players in the league. Some of his accolades include: 1992-1993 Rookie of the Year, 1999-2000 MVP, 3 All-Star Game MVPs, 2 scoring titles and 4 NBA Championships. Not bad!

The NBA’s big man has been playing professional basketball for 17 years, but he shows no signs of slowing down! He is now a Cleveland Cavalier, playing alongside NBA superstar LeBron James. With those 2 on the same court — who knows — there could be a 5th NBA Championship on the way!

Happy 38th Shaq! Here’s to many more!

You never forget birthdays that are special to you… for me it was my 7th birthday and my mom orchestrated a surprise party in our garage. She did it with such secrecy and pizazz and that I will never forget… It was a typical Saturday at our house.  I had a soccer game in the morning and my mom had made cupcakes for the team instead of the usual orange slices.  I had told my mom I wanted a party but it was a week or so away so I wasn’t really thinking about anything happening until then… After the game was over, we headed home and as my mom opened the garage door, there were my friends and family waiting to say, “SURPRISE!” Indeed I was suprised.  My mom had pulled off an unbelievable birthday celebration for me and managed to keep both of my older brothers from spilling the beans!

The reason this story is so memorable is because this was the last time I remember my mother healthy… shortly after this, she was diagnosed with breast cancer and although she was a fighter, she gave up her battle on June 14, just 2 1/2 years after her diagnosis.  She was 41. She died 1 week before her 42nd birthday…

So you see, birthdays are not just special, they create lasting memories when there are no more birthdays to celebrate with loved ones gone before us…

Treasure each birthday and treasure each day… remember someone, somewhere is making a memorable birthday today.

This weekend, my 12-year old daughter and her friends are hosting a surprise birthday sleepover for one of their friends whose mother lost her very short battle with lung cancer this past July.  Each year, her Mom would have a huge sleepover birthday party for her  which all the girls looked forward to.  This will be the first birthday she will have without her Mom and it will probably be difficult for her and her Dad and brothers.

I am so touched by the extraordinary compassion and sensitivity displayed by my daughter and her friends.  While they are just 12 years old, they instinctively knew what to do for their friend.  So, Saturday evening, think about the 10 twelve year olds who understand the meaning of more birthdays!

Birthdays…for some it’s a special day to acknowledge another year of life and for others it’s just another day. For me, something always comes up on a birthday whether it be my own or that of someone I know…

In the summer of 2002 birthdays took on a whole new meaning. For 7 months I was sick on and off. I had suffered from fevers of 102, 103, and sometimes 104 degrees. I had drenching night sweats to the point that I would wet my clothes and the sheets of my bed. My lymph nodes were enlarged and in less than a couple of months I had shed a little over 20 pounds. These symptoms would come and go during the 7 months and when summer came I knew this all couldn’t be, “just another cold.”

In July, my mom who is a nurse had me stop by her clinic to see the doctor that she had worked for. There I told him my symptoms and he had examined me. When he was done he told me that I had Lymphoma. At 23 years old I had no clue what that meant. He had left the room to tell my mom the news. When she returned to the room it was clear she had been crying. I thought to myself, “Oh God, I am dying…” I asked my mom, “What is Lymphoma?”

On July 24, 2002 which is my dad’s birthday I was officially diagnosed with Hodgkin’s Lymphoma Stage 3. From there I underwent chemotherapy for 6 months and my cancer went into remission. Four short months later while randomly scratching my neck I found a lump. The cancer had returned. For my 2nd battle with cancer my oncologist suggested that we do an Autologus Stem Cell Transplant. It’s a transplant procedure where they harvest your own stem cells and re-infuse them back into your body. It’s like taking apart an old car, getting rid of the bad parts and rebuilding it with new parts. So, since the cancer didn’t hit my bone marrow, I was able to be the donor and recipient of my own stem cells.

On June 21, 2003, my 23rd birthday I sat in a chair for several hours with an IV drip of various chemo drugs instead of behind a table with a birthday cake. For several weeks after that there was more preparation for the transplant. In August I was admitted to the hospital for more chemo and to complete the transplant process. I was scheduled to be there for 30 days straight.

On August 18th, my oncologist’s birthday; he re-infused me with my stem cells and I also had 5 blood transfusions that week. Weeks later, I was released from the hospital on August 31st, the day before my son’s 3rd birthday. Jacob was born on September 1st which was also my OBGYN’s birthday. I made her miss dinner with her family that day due to Jacob’s arrival which was actually 3 days late. I have been in remission since October of 2003!

As you can see birthdays are not just another day for me…even if it’s not my own. Prior to my transplant my friends and co-workers celebrated my several times in the month of June to make up for having chemo on my special day. Every day of life is precious! Celebrate the birthdays in your life because you never know what someone else is going through that day. This year is my 30th birthday and 6 year cancer free anniversary. It’s also the 25th anniversary of the American Cancer Society’s Relay For Life. So, how am I celebrating all these special events? I am attending 25+ Relay For Life events this summer from March through August. I’m a 2 time cancer survivor so what better way to live out the rest of my life than to… CELEBRATE, REMEMBER, FIGHT BACK!