Princess Tiana and Prince Naveen Movie Night & Trivia

This blog post is one in a series by the Magical Blogorail about famous Disney couples. 

One of my goals for 2014 is to have more "Disney Movie Nights" with my family. My plan is to have the family eat a meal that is centered around a Disney movie, have the boys do a craft and end our night watching the movie together. The Princess and the Frog is going to be our first movie night. With Mardi Gras right around the corner, we plan to celebrate Princess Tiana and Prince Naveen!

Here is our plan:

1) Eat Jambalaya for dinner and have "Swamp Water" to drink.

Swamp Water Recipe
1 - 46 oz. Dole Pineapple juice
1- 12 oz limeade concentrate, thawed
1 - 14 oz. sweetened condensed milk (this makes the punch murky)
24 oz. water
24 oz. 7 Up or Sprite
Americolor's Electric Green Food color
Blue food color

Mix everything together , adding the food coloring until you get the murky green you want. Serve chilled or over ice.

2) Make Mardi Gras masks to wear while we watch the movie!

3) Watch The Princess and the Frog.

image from movies.disney.go 

After watching the movie, there is still so much to learn about Princess Tiana and Prince Naveen. Did you know...

• Tiana is the first Disney Princess to have dimples?
• Tiana is the first Disney Princess to be of African-American decent and the first to be voiced by an African-American?
• Tiana is the only Disney Princess to come in contact with real automobiles?
• Tiana is left handed?
• Tiana is the first Disney Princess to only have her mother living?
• Tiana wore the most outfits (11) of any Disney Princess in her film?
• Naveen appeared in a GEICO commercial to promote the film?
• Naveen is fluent in French and Italian?
• Naveen is the only Disney Prince to speak with an accent? (and "ribbit!")
• Naveen is the first Disney Prince to have both of his parents in the film?
• Naveen is the first Disney Prince to have a sibling?
• Tiana is the first Disney Princess to marry twice? (Once to Naveen as a frog and again to Naveen as humans!)

Making Star Wars Light Saber Pretzel Rods

One of the more popular treats at the Star Wars Birthday Party were the Light Saber Pretzel Rods.  These were very easy to make and very delicious to eat!  I love the mix of salty and sweet in my treats.

Materials:

• 2 bags of the long pretzel rods (I use Snyders of Hanover Pretzels- they don't seem to be as "broken" as store brands do)
• 2 bags of green vanilla flavored candy wafers
• 2 bags of blue vanilla flavored candy wafers
• Pyrex mixing bowl to melt the candy
• mixing spoon
• wax paper 
• cookie sheet

Step 1:

Follow the instructions on the bag to melt the candy in the microwave.  I melted for 30 seconds and stirred.

 30 more seconds... more stirring.

  30 more seconds... more stirring. Until it was all melted.

 Step 2:
Dip the pretzel in the melted candy and use the mixing spoon, spatula or whatever tool you have to help cover the end of the pretzel.

Step 3:
Once the pretzel is covered, use your thumb and index finger to "swirl" the pretzel around in the bowl.  This will allow the excess melted candy to "swirl" off of the pretzel and back into the bowl.

Step 4:
Place the finished covered pretzels on a piece of wax paper to cool.  If you are short on time, put the wax paper on a cookie sheet and place it all in the refrigerator until it's set. 

Step 4:
Enjoy the Light Sabers! 

These store easily in a gallon ziplock bag.  We had a few leftovers that were still great 6 days after the party!

You can also use sprinkles to help decorate the pretzels if you'd like! :)

How To Make Star Wars Light Sabers

The Jedi Light Sabers made out of pool noodles for my son's 5th Star Wars Birthday Party were pretty easy to make!  They were a little time consuming, but overall pretty easy!

First, I had to cut all the pool noodles in half.  The easiest way for me to do this was to use a serrated bread knife.

 Once the noodles were cut, I used black duct tape and made an "X" on the end I cut.

 Then, starting at the taped end, I wrapped 4 rows of tape around the noodle working my way up.

 Once the handles were all taped, I started adding details.  My first plan was to use scissors and cut out cool designs for each Light Saber... then I remembered 1) I was doing this for a 5 year old (boy's, might I add) birthday party and 2) he wouldn't even notice if I did different designs on the Light Sabers and 3) most of these will end up in the trash or in the back of a closet in a few weeks anyway... so I just did the same boring design on each one!

 I used  silver duct tape for the designs.  First I tore the tape in long strips then tore each strip in half lengthwise.  I used one half to wrap around the base of the handle and the other half to wrap around the top of the handle where the black tape ended.  Then, with the remaining silver tape, torn in half, I tore small squares/ rectangles to represent buttons on the Light Saber.

You can see with the final products that I ended up doing black handles with sliver buttons AND silver handles with black buttons.  That's as creative as I got with this project!  And guess what?  None of the 5 year olds even noticed some were black with silver and others were silver with black! ;)

Star Wars Birthday Party "Party Favors"

Party Favors for the Star Wars Birthday Party were pretty easy.  I made "pool noodle Light Sabers" for each kid to use in our Jedi Training, so those were the first favor.  Directions to come!

They also received their Jedi Training Certificate and the candy "loot" from the pinata.  We also had the "asteroid hunt" in the house.  The asteroids were made by filling a small Easter egg with nerds and wrapping it in aluminum foil (see below).  

As each child left the party, we gave them a Star Wars character cookie (made from the Williams-Sonoma cookie cutters, which are still on sale!) wrapped in a cellophane bag with green "grass".  I also was lucky enough to find Light Saber candy in the $1 bins at Target back in the fall.  Each kid got one of those too.  

If I had had my way with time and money, I would have purchased material to make each kid their own Jedi Robe... but I didn't, so nobody got one of those!  But, there are great tutorials out there if you ever want to make a quick, easy, cheap Jedi robe! :)

Part 1: Invitations

Part 2: Games & Activities

Part 3: Food

Part 4: Decorations

Part 5: Party Favors

Star Wars Birthday Party Decorations

Party decorations for our Star Wars 5th Birthday party were actually a minimal.  We bought the Star Wars streamers at Party City along with the napkins and hanging swirl decorations.  I made my own "Happy Birthday" banner and food tents using the scrapbook kit purchased from Natalie's Little Corner of the World.  The rest of our decorations were balloons and Star Wars toys!  We have several figures from the 70's that were dad's and we have newer ones that C-man has received over the past few months.  

Birthday Banner

Swirl Decorations

Streamers

"Toys" from home!

Food Tents, Pez Dispensers and Storm Trooper

Storm Troopers for the Jedi Training Obstacle Course

2 Foot tall Darth Vader 

  

C-man "posing" as a Jedi with Darth Vader (L) and a "mini" Darth Vader ready for the party day (R)!

Part 1: Invitations

Part 2: Games & Activities

Part 3: Food

Part 4: Decorations

Part 5: Party Favors

Star Wars Birthday Party Food

After planning the games and activities for my son's 5th Star Wars Birthday Party, the food was definitely next on the list!  There were so many great ideas on Pinterest for Star Wars themed food.  I couldn't do them all, but had fun with what we did do!  I'll let the pictures do the talking! :)

The "Obi-Wan Kabob-ies" were a HIT!  I could have tripled what I prepared and they would have been gone!

I didn't take a close up of the cookies (bottom R) or the "Ewok Candy" (blue bowl, left side).  The "Candy" is Star Wars Fruit Snacks found at Kroger.  The cookies were made using the Williams-Sonoma Cookie Cutters (below)!

Learn to make your own Light Saber Pretzels!

I don't even know what a "thermal detonator" is... but ours were whoppers! :)

Surprisingly, these were also a HIT!  I really just got them because I thought it was funny... they were GONE!

If I had more time, I would have made creative labels for each drink... oh well.

Cupcake liners and toppers were also a find from Williams-Sonoma!  (They are on sale today, so if you want some, grab 'em!)  They also have the Galactic Empire kit.)

Thanks to my AWESOME mom who can make cool cakes like R2D2!

Part 1: Invitations

Part 2: Games & Activities

Part 3: Food

Part 4: Decorations

Part 5: Party Favors

Star Wars Birthday Party Games & Activities

Most of my time planning my son's 5th Star Wars Birthday Party was spent on our activities and games.  We decided to have "Jedi Training Camp" as the main activity.  After the training, we had an obstacle course.  We had to have a "battle" with the Dark Side in the garage and ended out in the front yard having light saber fights!  

 stretching (L) complete with Yoda Ear Pull (R)

learning to "use" a light saber

We began by doing stretches.  Each kid did toe touches, side twists, jumping jacks and the most important "Yoda Ear Pull."  Once each child was ready to go, we started "Light Saber Training."  We learned rules for using the Light Sabers: 1. no hitting people, furniture or electronics.  2. Light Sabers should only hit other light sabers.  3. Master Jedi (the adults) have the right to take away your Light Saber at any time if you aren't using it correctly!  Once we learned the rules, we started training- we learned the "A" and "V" strikes.  A strikes are high and V strikes are low.  

Obstacle Training Course

if you look close, you can see the "Black Hole" behind the girl in the left picture!

The Jedi training course was next.  They started by running through a group of Storm Troopers (printed out, taped to cones).  They had to crawl through the Dagobah Cave (the tunnel).  {Honestly, I had/ have no idea what this means... I found it on Pinterest!}  They had to cross the hot lava (red table cloth) on stones (black paper plates) without falling in.  Finally, they had to throw a Star Fighter (frisbee with the star fighter picture on it) into the Black Hole (a black trash can).  

Following our Stretching and Training Course, the kids all received their Official Jedi Training Certificates!  They were all real Jedi now!  This meant they were ready to battle the Dark Side. (I don't even know if that's correct terminology!!  I've only seen the original Star Wars from 1977- and I didn't see that until the end of 2013!!)

Since they were all Jedi now, we moved the party into the garage to find the Dark Side.   Dad made a great Death Star Pinata for us.  At the last minute, we decided to add this!  We bought a baseball pinata, spray painted it gray (several coats) and added some black duct tape to cover the hole where the candy went in.  Easy, peasy!  It may not look exactly like the Death Star, but it was perfect for a group of 5 year olds!  Then we went after Darth Vader with cans of Silly String!  Each kid had a chance to spray him with the silly string.  *Note to self: if I do this again, buy 1 can per kid!!!

Look!  I found one!

While we were out in the garage with the Dark Side, my parents hid "asteroids" around the den.  These were mini Easter eggs filled with rainbow Nerds candy then wrapped in aluminum foil.  Pretty easy and it filled time!  Each kid found one.  Then it was time to go outside to use the Light Sabers!  This was short lived since it was so cold!  The downside of having a January birthday...

Happy 5th Birthday C-man!

Part 1: Invitations

Part 2: Games & Activities

Part 3: Food

Part 4: Decorations

Part 5: Party Favors