Star Wars Day Approaches...and alas, I'll be celebrating alone at home
So let's remember the good times and look forward to more!
Thursday, April 30, 2020 by Tatiora | Discussion: Stardock Blog
Next week marks one of my favorite holidays. Unfortunately for me and my office mates, we will be spending it apart from each other in our own homes. For us, May 4th is a day of geeky celebration, of shared memes and, more importantly, shared (and themed!) food.
When my first opportunity to celebrate Star Wars with some fellow nerds came around, I started fairly simple. I happened to have cupcake wrappers and decorations that were Star Wars themed, so I made a batch of cupcakes, decked them out with funfetti frosting (the BEST kind!), and left them in the cafe.
Now, my coworkers at my previous job always appreciated it when I brought in treats, but some of my more offbeat holidays (like May 4th and Talk Like a Pirate Day) were never quite celebrated to this level. I had people sending me memes and dropping Star Wars quotes at me all day long and it was glorious!
So, naturally, the following year, I upped my game.
The once-plain cupcakes got a glow up with handmade chocolates and nicely piped frosting, I acquired some festive Star Wars dishes, and decorated the counter with some posters I happened to have around.
Predictably, everyone was delighted (and on a total sugar high). No one even resented me for the inevitable sugar crash we all experienced later! But...I was pretty sure I still had more ideas, more creativity to put toward this favored holiday of mine.
Enter: 2018.
By this point, coworkers had started to catch on to the fact that I did this annually and were offering to help. The operations team rolled up their sleeves and dove right in with me, hanging out late the night before to bake cupcakes and spend ENTIRELY too long painstakingly assembling the little buggers in the image below.
My marketing operations manager even made custom signs for all the food - and yeah, we know there was a mistake with the signage above, but we were too busy to change it and everyone knew what it was supposed to be!
By 2019, everyone was just waiting to see what craziness I’d pull next. Once again, the operations team jumped in and helped me out, putting out what I think was our most impressive spread to date.
Yes, those are absolutely Chewbacca lights, and yes, I totally had to be extra enough to put them out.
I feel like I’ve been getting pretty clever with the naming conventions here.
I got these dishes when ThinkGeek was still a thing (RIP ThinkGeek.com), and I love them. They are one of my favorite taking points for when I serve sweet treats to visitors at my home.
Our fruit and vegetable lightsabers were perfect for an epic battle! I’m not sure who won here, but Paul definitely has his battle face on.
Looking back on these old pictures makes me miss my coworkers a lot. We’re all in touch regularly via Teams, of course, but it just isn’t the same as being able to go into an office and talk with a bunch of warm, wonderful people who enjoy embracing the fun in life as much as I do.
So, even though we’re missing our celebration together this year, we’ll just have to make up for it when we can all be together again. Until that time, my friends… May the 4th be with you. Always.
Do you celebrate Star Wars Day? What’s your favorite non-mainstream holiday?
Reply #2 Thursday, April 30, 2020 1:45 PM
My older son suffered a fall with a badly cut upper lip when he was 3 years old. Had to be taken to the ER, papoosed while scared out of his mind, and have a plastic surgeon repair the wound. Very traumatic experience for him.
In an effort to soothe him & cheer him up, we took him within a day or two to see Star Wars: Episode IV (we wanted to go see a lighthearted movie, he had no clue obviously). He has been a complete Star Wars junkie ever since and, even at age 45, still has a huge collection of figurines and 'official' toys. Has seen every film & watched all the related spin-off series and streaming stuff. Amazing what in impression that made on him at age 3.
Reply #3 Thursday, April 30, 2020 1:52 PM
In an effort to soothe him & cheer him up, we took him within a day or two to see Star Wars: Episode IV (we wanted to go see a lighthearted movie, he had no clue obviously). He has been a complete Star Wars junkie ever since and, even at age 45, still has a huge collection of figurines and 'official' toys. Has seen every film & watched all the related spin-off series and streaming stuff. Amazing what in impression that made on him at age 3.
That is such an awesome memory that you have with your son - and that I'm sure he has with you! Although I imagine some details are fuzzy after 42 years, haha.
My dad speaks often of how cool it was to see the originals as they released in theaters; I grew up watching them with him and my sister and mother, and when Episode 1 released I was about 12 years old. It was so awesome to go see this movie in a franchise I loved with my dad, who loves it so much too.
Happy (early) Star Wars Day to you and yours. 
Reply #4 Thursday, April 30, 2020 2:07 PM
Memory is actually pretty vivid, even after all this time. He was awestruck. You could tell just watching him watch the film. Mission was definitely accomplished, though we had no idea how it would affect him and what was to follow. He was drawing Star Wars characters freehand in perfect 3D perspective at age 5. Incredible ability to render what his mind saw on a 2D surface, all spontaneously, no encouragement on our part.
Reply #6 Saturday, May 2, 2020 8:34 PM
the time I first saw Yoda I knew I was already too old for the Star Wars demographic
I didn't even get that far. I saw one of the trailers for the original and figured it was kids stuff.... for kids, not me. Thing is, my son thought he wanted to see it, so I hired the video and put it on during a rainy Sunday afternoon. He got bored with about halfway through and turned it off.... which suited me just fine. I like Sci-Fi but I could never get into the Star Wars thing.
Actually, I thought the parody with Rick Moranis was better. 
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Reply #1 Thursday, April 30, 2020 4:46 AM
Let's face it .... Star Wars fans are always celebrating alone at home....