Yesterday we celebrated our son Isaac's seventh birthday, and my wife arranged for a massive Jedi war amongst the kids attending the party. Each child was given a small, inflatable, illuminated light saber. Then the lights were turned out, and the Star Wars theme was blasted through the speakers.
It was among the most chaotic scenes I've ever witnessed - over 20 kids battling it out while strobe lights illuminated an otherwise pitch black room. Kids were dueling all over the place, and while a few brave parents jumped into the fray with their own light sabers, most just hung around the edges hoping nobody would lose an eye in the mêlée.
A number of the kids decided it was less fun to whack each other than it was to whack as many adults as possible, so they ran around smacking the adults with their tiny light sabers (grinning like crazed monkeys the whole time). No joke, I couldn't cross the room without being bashed at least a dozen times.
This went on for 30 minutes without any break. It was hands down the most insane thing I've seen since that Sevendust concert I mentioned a couple months ago.
Everyone, of course, had a wildly great time. The kids went away knowing they'd been to the best birthday party of their lives, while the parents went away knowing their kids would be so exhausted from the dueling that they'd fall asleep early. I might even do the same thing for my next birthday :)
Jedi Knight 3 multiplayer gives you that feeling. You'll see like 20 dudes with saberz spinning in circles, sparks and grunts everywhere, dudes running up walls... it's great! Definate LAN party for your birthday party. It's an older game, too, so should run decent on age'd comps.
http://www.lucasarts.com/products/jediacademy/
Posted by: JesterXL | Tuesday, July 11, 2006 at 12:07 AM
Excellent Idea!! I'm always looking for new ideas for my kids bdays.
Thanks for sharing.
Posted by: Edddy | Tuesday, July 11, 2006 at 09:40 AM
I'm blessed with two little girls, but along with that blessing comes the lowest of low chances my wife would let me do that for their parties :(
Sounds fun though!
Posted by: Randy Peterman | Tuesday, July 11, 2006 at 10:12 AM
*adds this post to my new "Nick, On Parenting" newsbin* ;-)
Posted by: John Stanforth | Tuesday, July 11, 2006 at 03:28 PM
As an attendee at the uprising, just a quick note to inform you that I'll be sending you my doctor bill next week ;) J/K... I had a "blast."
Posted by: alan | Tuesday, July 11, 2006 at 05:01 PM
Awesome. Now I have one more thing to look forward to with my son!
Posted by: Jack Brewster | Tuesday, July 11, 2006 at 10:18 PM
You, sir, are pretty damn creative!
Posted by: Jedi Master | Thursday, July 13, 2006 at 02:13 AM
Wonderful idea! I am also trying to plan a Jedi party for my son Isaac (he will be turning six). Can I ask where you purchased the light sabers?
Thanks!
Posted by: Tanya Ferguson | Friday, July 14, 2006 at 10:41 AM
Tanya, my wife spent a long time looking for those light sabers, and we never found any online. In the end she got lucky, though, and found a local party store which had a couple dozen in stock.
Posted by: Nick Bradbury | Friday, July 14, 2006 at 01:24 PM
Oh man, I'll have to remember this in a few years when my son starts to have birthday party. at 18 month, he's kind of young for this right now :)
Do you have this on film? Must have been quite memorable.
Kiltak
Posted by: [GEEKS ARE SEXY] Tech. News | Tuesday, July 18, 2006 at 01:26 PM