Saturday, June 4th, 2005. This was the day that we celebrated my 27th birthday, even though my actual birthday is on the 7th of June. For my party, I decided to do something I hadn't done much before - a costume party. As 2005 would be the year the final Star Wars movie ever would come out, I chose to have a Star Wars themed party to celebrate both my love of the series and the release of the final film. If my memory serves me correctly, I made this decision about the time of my birthday last year so we had plenty of time to prepare. Or so we thought... For both Kirsten and I (and almost everyone else who came as it turns out), we were getting our costumes ready right up until the week of the party (even the day of the party in my case). I think it also prudent at this point to mention that this is the only time (Grade 2 school costume parade not withstanding) that I have dressed up in a Star Wars costume, and will likely be the last unless we get invited to a costume party somewhere else and I need a costume cheaply and in a hurry. I can't speak for the rest of the attendees...The day of the party came and Kirsten and I got the place ready for a party of galactic proportions! Well perhaps not galactic, but it looked great anyway.
(You may have noticed a little drop down menu in the top right-hand corner of this page. I decided to do something a little different and cool for fun. If you choose one of the characters from the menu, the page will update with a different character and colours. As there are a couple of pictures involved in this, you will probably get best results if you have a broadband connection. If you're using Internet Explorer you may get a message about restricting active content. If this happens, right-click the message and choose 'Allow Blocked Content', then click 'Yes' in the confirmation box that appears. You should then be able to switch styles at your leisure.)
"This is where the fun begins."The party was a fairly small affair with only 7 people present. There would have been an eighth, but due to a number of reasons, unfortunately Matty Backer couldn't make it. Our thoughts (if not the Force) were with Matty that night, and we all missed his humour, energy, and gold bikini that night. Partygoers started turning up at about 6:30 as planned. Except for one (who shall remain nameless) that turned up about an hour or so after everyone else. The excuse was 'something about work', but I think it was really just slackness :)
Right, on to some pictures. Below are some individual shots of everyone in their costumes. Click on the thumbnails to view bigger images in a new window (if you're using Internet Explorer the borders around the images will be blue or purple, depending on if you've clicked on them before. If you're using Firefox or another Mozilla based browser, you'll see them in the colours I intended).
Here is yours truly sporting the mullet from hell dressed as Anakin Skywalker from Episode III. Finding wigs (cheaply) is hard to do. While I'm proud of how the costume turned out - there are lots of pouches and belt stuff going on, and you can't see the boots properly - it was a mini-nightmare getting it all together. But it was worth it. And, no the lightsaber is not real. Though I wish it was.
My wonderful fiancee as Padme Amidala from Episode II. I think K's costume turned out great, even if we couldn't get a leather corset. I'm sure Kirsten didn't mind not having to wear a real corset. The hardest part of this costume was dying the lacy curtain used on the outside of the skirt. Dying things black, especially synthetic materials, can be a bit difficult.
Here's Dan as everyone's favourite stuck up, half-witted, scruffy-looking nerf herder, Han Solo from Episode IV. Or does he prefer smuggler and scoundrel to nerf-herder? Great job by Dan on the gun belt in particular (more info on Dan's blog) and many hours spent putting Corellian Blood Stripes on those pants. I admire the dedication to detail If only the gun could have had that boxy bit!
Jules looking perhaps a tad uncertain, but still ready for action as Princess Leia from Episode VI (no gold bikini here). Jules' poncho was hand-made in Tasmania and specially shipped up here just for the party.
Daniel came as Luke Skywalker from Episode IV. Daniel strikes quite the pose as the farm boy from Tatooine. No whining from this farm boy though. Thought he may possibly have whined to get his mum to stitch his costume for him. Or he might have just asked nicely :)
No, his lightsaber isn't real either.
Our second Leia for the night, this is Nat dressed as Princess Leia from Episode IV. Episode IV was a popular choice for costumes it seems. Nat whipped this one up herself, and already had a reputation for interesting hair-dos for costume purposes. I don't remember the Colt M177 Commando in a galaxy far, far away, but then you take what you can get from toy stores these days :)
Our final guest for the night was Geoff, who came as Obi-Wan Kenobi from Episode I. Geoff broke with the standard everyone else set and took the easy way out by hiring his costume. Though it's understandable as Geoff is a busy man. Or so he tells us. Oh, and Geoff's lightsaber is real. Or so he tells us.
"A gift? What gift?"
After everyone had arrived and had a bit of a chat, as well as something to eat and drink, it was time to open the gifts that everyone had so generously given me. Due to the popular endorsement of a half-serious statement I made to some people at our engagement party, I set up a 'birthday registry' of sorts where my friends could see a list of a number of different items that I would like if they wished to give me something for my birthday. Needless to say I was very happy with the whole bunch of Star Wars related gifts (and a couple non-Star Wars) I received. Thank you again to everyone for your wonderful presents. Below are a few photos of some 'select' moments from the gift-opening:
Here I am happy to have another ('another one' I hear Kirsten sigh...) figure to add to my collection. When we have our own house and a theatre room, these will all be on display for people to either look at or make fun of me for, whichever takes their fancy.
I love my books, and I love my glossy Dorling Kindersley books especially. When they are Star Wars DK books, well it doesn't get much better. As far as Star Wars books are concerned. Just thought I should clarify that.
While Matt is very happy to add a cool deluxe figure to his collection, Anakin doesn't look too happy about finding out what he's going to look like after he battles Geoff, err, I mean Obi-Wan.
"For the Jedi it is time to eat as well!"
Speaking of food, we had a number of Star Wars-themed food and drink on the menu for the party. For snacking we had some 'lightsabers' (mini breadsticks) with dip. The more substantial food came in the form of Obi-Wontons (crab & prawn, and chicken varieties) and Death Stars (mini pizzas styled to look like a certain space battle station). Dessert was some Jango Mango Frozen Yogurt, and although we bought Darth Maul-tesers we forgot to eat them! There was also some 'Jawa Juice' (non-alcoholic punch) in addition to the standard beer and champers. The highlight of the galactic gastronomique was a Mustafar lava birthday cake that Kirsten created for me. A standard chocolate cake was transformed into a fantastic looking lake of lava, complete with battling action figures. Below are pictures of the 'lightsabers' in their special holders, the dining table (sans food unfortunately) and the cake masterpiece!
"You're making fun of me!"
There was a lot of fun had during the night. A particular stand-out seemed to be a certain cake-dropping incident. While I didn't (and still quite don't) get why it was so funny, everyone else was splitting their sides laughing at me. I'm just glad everyone had such a good time :) Below are a couple of 'family photos' (in the Star Wars universe): husband and wife; brother and sister (well after they finally found out and stopped kissing each other. The characters, not Jules and Daniel!); and husband and wife (they get married after Return of the Jedi).
Here are a few other photos that deserve special mention of their own:
Heroes of the Republic and the Rebellion. We managed to get everyone into the shot, despite a poorly improvised camera stand and everyone jostling around to get their poses and positions right :)
By the end of the night the party had taken it's toll on young Anakin Skywalker. He had really let himself go... The mullet also came with a beard - they formed a 'caveman' set - so I decided to give it a try, much to everyone's amusement (including my own this time!)
Obi-Wan looks far too happy being stabbed through the stomach by his apprentice in this shot. Geoff - you finance the picture, I'll direct and find the actors. Don't know if drama is your thing :)
"You can get it tipping a Bith, or killing a Sith. Matter of fact, we've got it now." Two Jedi and one smuggler with hard earned thirsts enjoy some big cold beers. And the best cold beer is ... whatever you've got in your hand. Especially if it's free :)
"Yoda, you seek Yoda!"
I had originally planned to play a few Star Wars related games during the night, but a lack of Internet access for half of the day meant I didn't really get anything done. However, we did Star Wars-ify the concept of Celebrity Head. We played a few rounds, varying the contestants (I didn't play of course as I came up with the 'celebrities' to guess. Plus everyone tells me I would have won anyway. I don't know...) and having a laugh. Below are a few snaps from the 'action':
Here are our contestants Nat, Jules, and Daniel, all looking reasonably pleased about a) being forced to endure Star Wars Celebrity Head; and b) having their photo taken while doing it. Seriously, everyone was a good sport and (I think) genuinely enjoyed playing.
Jules again. How appropriate the choice of poncho colour was here. "Human, am I? I Jedi, I am? Hmmm, Master Yoda I think I am." And correct you are Jules. Well done :)
Daniel was 'lucky' enough to end up with everyone's favourite Star Wars character on his head. We hate Jar-Jar. We don't hate Daniel. But I enjoyed giving him the Jar-Jar headband :) Daniel would later get a more kick-ass headband...
... as General Grievous, the droid general villian from Episode III. If I remember correctly, Daniel won this round, and rather quickly. Not bad guessing a character who has only been in one film, and that he had only seen once too. Top job dude.
Now this is amusing. Nat is just about as far from a giant, corpulent, slug creature as you could possibly get, so the choice of headband was a nice juxtaposition (there's a big word for, well, any time of the day) between fantasy and reality. Strangely enough, Nat couldn't remember who Jabba was, but she got there with a little help from everyone :)
From the party goers Dan probably knows the most about Star Wars after me. I deliberatly loaded him up with a couple of toughies, and this was the only one he couldn't get by name. Probably because she isn't referenced by name in the films (but in the credits she is!). Still he looks far too smug.
And that about brings us to the end of the party. I had a great time, I was overwhelmed by everyone's generosity, and it will be a day that I will remember for a long, long time. I hope that everyone who came and celebrated with me had a fun time as well (I know you did!) and I'd like to thank all again for being such good friends that you would all go to the trouble of coming dressed up as Star Wars characters just for me. It means a lot that you put yourselves through such embarrassment to make my day special :) I hope everyone enjoyed reading this page as well. Don't forget to leave a comment back on my blog page. And...
May the Force be with you!
