Great Lakes Garrison & Base

So, while I am still waiting for my big brown boxes to arrive, my boss asked me about attending a kids birthday party in April. The kid is 8 years old has autism, and is a HUGE Star Wars fan. I don't have my armor and it may not be ready in time, so I'm talking to him about an requesting 501st appearance. My question is, What do we do at a birthday party?? I'm assuming this is going to be a standard 8YOs birthday party. Like... Do we just stand around for a bit and leave?? It seems like a birthday party might be a little awkward for a troop. Thanks!

The birthday parties I've attended are overall usual Troop stuff. Take lots of pictures. You might be asked to carry in balloons or a gift or something. Usually say something like "Lord Vader sends birthday greetings on behalf of the Galactic Empire" If they have birthday party type games we might play along with the guests.

One thing I would emphasize to the host is that we are NOT there for nerf gun target practice or to lightsaber battle. It can turn into that really quickly. Kids get excited, I get it. Just something to be aware of.

Some troopers will do birthday parties, others will not.

Most of the the birthday parties I've attended end up being more for the parents. Often the kids didn't even care I was there and the parents had to force them to take photos with us. So I'm very selective on which ones I attend.

Trooping birthday parties used to be a more common thing, but with the increase in other event requests, the number of parties that are requested has dropped and the number that are actually trooped have dropped even more.

My suggestion would be to have your boss fill out a "Request an appearance" form through the site here and see if anyone is interested and available. When it is for a child with special needs, that will often get more attention than simply asking "hey can you come to my kids party" lol.

As was mentioned, make sure they understand that we do not put on shows, we don't act out movie scenes, we don't run light saber trainings. Birthday troops are normally, show up, take pics, give the birthday child a gift, and get out before the kids get bored.

Lumpy wrote:give the birthday child a gift

We do?

Ripcode wrote:

Lumpy wrote:give the birthday child a gift

We do?

He probably means, they will hand the child a gift from somebody else.

Yah, we don't stay very long, as the novelty wears off really fast.