E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial Inspired Photo Shoot

The movie E.T. was shot in low angle so that it is viewed from a childs perspective.  So most of the shots involved me lying on the ground like a fool—anything for a good shot, right?  I also didn’t want the pictures to look “new” so I aged them using various photo shop techniques.  I dressed my son in the iconic red hooded sweat shirt that is worn by Elliott in the escape scenes.  He also wore a blue plaid shirt because Elliott wears a blue and red plaid shirt when he goes into the forest to look for E.T. (found a perfect one at Target after the fact—oh well).  I used a large bag of Reese’s Pieces, my sons rubber E.T. doll and his bike as props.  In the end, I was really happy with how the pictures turned out and that I was able to take them for him—so he can always remember how much he loved E.T.

E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial Birthday Party

The night of the party was really chilly so we had blankets hanging over the picket fence for guests who forgot their own.  I had a path of Reese’s Pieces leading guests from the driveway to the gate.  On the gate, I had a framed picture of my son from his E.T. inspired photo shoot.  I also had glow sticks hanging from each side, so that everyone could easily find the gate once it got dark.  I used pictures from the photo shoot and from our vacation and made a pre-movie video for the guests to watch while we were opening gifts.  It was a great night for an outside movie party—even though it was chilly.  There was just something magical about watching E.T. outside, surrounded by the woods and underneath a starry sky.  My only regret is that once the party started, I went into host mode and didn’t get any pictures of kids running around with their glow sticks or of my 2 ½ year old daughter walking hand in hand with her little friends.

E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial Birthday Party Invitation and Decorations

After creating the menu for a party, I always move on to the invitation.  Invitations are important to me because they set the tone of the party for the guests.  I took the Interplanetary Passport idea from the E.T. Adventure ride at Universal Studios and made an invitation out of it.  I also decided that we would watch the movie outside on a movie theater style screen.  I decided to “name” the party “E.T. Movie Adventure”—for some reason, I always need a name.  Since the party was in early October, I knew there was a good possibility that it would be chilly, so I asked guests to B.Y.O.Blanket.  I created 3 cupcake toppers and food place cards (although it was too windy to use the place cards).  For the “interplanetary yummy” topper, I used a skinny wooden stick that I frosted and attached Reese’s Pieces to—I noticed all the guests eating the candies off the stick, glad I didn’t use glue—huh?  I used plain white bags, which I cut the tops off, for popcorn bags.  I added a strip of scrap book paper and a popcorn label to make them look nicer than just plain white lunch sacks.  I also cut strips of scrapbook paper and used them to wrap around the water bottles—so simple but it makes a huge difference!  I knew I wanted the kids to have a party favor that they could “remember” the party by—so in addition to the light up glow sticks (from Costco which were a huge hit and rather ‘80’s don’t you think?), a box of Reese’s Pieces, a candy glow stick, E.T. coloring pages, I gave them their own personalized Interplanetary passport to wear at the party.  The parents loved this and I know I will be putting mine away for a keepsake.

E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial Birthday Party Menu

The first thing I do when I plan a party is create a theme.  Since my son took care of that for me, I moved onto the menu.  The menu was pretty simple: Pizza, popcorn, candy, cupcakes, water and root beer floats.  Although it was simple it was very movie appropriate.  We ordered sausage and pepperoni pizza and had it delivered—just like in the movie.  We made root beer floats—a kid-friendly nod to the scene where E.T. drinks beer and then Elliott starts feeling the effects, showing that the two are connected.  We had lots of Reese’s Pieces—because you cannot have an E.T. party without them!  I made peanut butter cream (that tasted exactly like Reese’s Pieces) filled chocolate cupcakes topped with butter cream frosting and chopped Reese’s Pieces.  I also made vanilla cupcakes topped with lime simple syrup and lime cream cheese frosting. 

 

My 5 year old son loves E.T.!

He first watched the E.T. movie when he was 2 ½ and ever since then, he has been a huge fan of the movie.  Whenever I needed him to eat his meal, all I had to say was “You need to get big and strong so you can ride the E.T. ride” (E.T. Adventure—Universal Studios Orlando).  It was totally a fib on my part since he was well over the height requirement, but it worked!  In August we went on vacation to Orlando, FL and he finally got to ride the E.T. Adventure! Naturally, he decided he wanted to have an E.T. birthday party.  I really love planning unique parties and I love a theme—so I was thrilled when he decided on an E.T. party, even though I had already worked up all the plans for a dinosaur party (maybe next year?).  I will be posting all of the details of the party including pictures soon—so keep checking back!