It’s a Star Wars summer
My sister was having a Star Wars themed birthday party for her son’s 10th birthday.
She and her husband, David, turned the basement of their home into the “Death Star Theatre”, complete with black and silver walls (black plastic table cloth material and aluminum foil) and a LCD projector hooked to his PC so they could play the Star Wars films for the kids.
David also wanted the kids to be able to play “Jedi vs. Sith” and set about looking for ecconomical ways to make lightsabers that were safe, affordable, and would look good. After a “jam session” in the sprinkler isle of Home Depot with the other shoppers, he came up with a cunning plan.
BIRTHDAY PARTY LIGHTSABERS (for just a few dollars each):
You’ll need the following:
4″ popup sprinklers Fun Noodles
1/2″ x 24″ nipple that’s threaded on both ends
You get the popup sprinkler head and the nipples from the lawn sprinkler section of your favorite hardware store and the fun noodles from Kmart, WalMart, or pretty much anyplace. Pick colors that match the lightsabers in the films (or not, your choice).
Cut the fun noodle in half (they’re usually about 65″ long). Screw one end of the nipple into the popup sprinkler, then slide your noodle half onto the nipple until it reaches the sprinkler head (the hole in the center of the fun noodle should be 1/2, but they seem to vary by color. Some will go on easy, others will take some effort). You’ll notice that the last 10 inches or so of the fun noodle doesn’t have a tube in it (so there’s no chance of accidentally poking out an eye).
The sprinkler becomes a handle, the fun noodle becomes the blade, and the kids go nuts beating each other with them. They turned out to be pretty durable, with only one breaking.
David also made a “Darth Maul” style one by using a larger diamater TBE nipple (about 12″ long) and some adaptors for the 1/2″ inch x 24″ ones on each end. Cut a red fun noodle in half and slide half on each side.
I’ll see if David or Jen has a picture of the finished product for posting (the kids took them home when they left).
Just a little technical aside ( because the midechlorians would be unhappy with sloppy light sabre design! ) The sprinkler heads are better at 4″ instead of two, that way when the kids get in a dark side rage ( oh and some of them do!) they can hold with both hands!
1I stand corrected.
4″ it is then!
Thanks Dave!! 🙂
2ya know, not to be picky, but two inches means a lot to me! lmao
3Yeah… I know.
You married my sister… we talk 🙂
4Way tooooooooooo much information! lol
5When had too much been too much ? or are the wimmins different in oregon? lmao
6Awesome!
I’m planning to make JC some Star Wars theme cupcakes when he gets back from the North Slope this time around.
This reminds me of the last time we were at Best Buy, they had the most realistic Light Sabers I’ve ever seen. They gow and are motion activated to make Light-Saber-Noises. Seriously, they were cream-inducing. Too bad they wanted $100 for one. Eesh!
7Orygun is the state of different wimmen, Gawd help us all!
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