If "Star Wars" is your thing, then there’s no way in the universe that May 4 can go by without just a little bit of fun and celebration! There’s only a few times that one can fully geek out to a movie franchise along with the rest of the world, and May the Fourth, or Star Wars Day as most of us know it, is one of the biggest.
Star Wars Day is an unofficial holiday that grew from grassroots celebrations of the popular movie franchise over the years. It’s a pun based on the franchise’s key catchphrase “May the Force be with you” which was first uttered prior to the Rebels’ attack on the notorious Death Star in the 1977 film ''Star Wars."
It wasn’t long before people picked up on the pun and started referring to May 4 as May the Fourth.
In fact, it was in 1979, just two years after the initial release and prior to the release of the next two movies, that the phrase “May the Fourth be with you” was first used publicly. And, surprisingly, it involved Margaret Thatcher! Thatcher officially took office as the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom on May 4, 1979, and in that evening’s edition of The London Evening News a congratulatory advertisement read “May the Fourth Be with You, Maggie. Congratulations.”
The first organized Star Wars Day event was held by fans in Toronto in 2011, and since then the unofficial holiday has been embraced by companies, fans and organizations across the globe and beyond! The Walt Disney company, who bought the franchise in 2012, officially observes the day at Disneyland and Walt Disney World, and the day is often used as release dates for new TV series and products.
It’s become such a beloved event that astronauts on the International Space Station even settled down for a replay of "Revenge of the Sith" on May the Fourth in 2015!
While there’s no way we could ever hope to top a Star Wars Day celebration held in space (which, in our opinion, is the coolest thing ever), we can still host a pun-filled "Star Wars" party that will give even Lucasfilm a run for their credits.
In honor of the punny phrase and punny nature of the holiday itself, here are some "Star Wars" themed drinks and snacks that will light up your May the Fourth Admiral Ackbar Snackbar like an arena full of lightsabers.
'Star Wars' themed snacks
Death Star cookies
These are great treats to make with kids, as long as you’re not too against a heavy dose of food coloring! They’re an easy shape to cut out and have simple decorating work, and with our handy-dandy recipe for sugar cookies and royal icing that has stood the test of time (and is what I use for Death Star cookies every year without fail) you can make them look amazing with little effort.
Stormtrooper scoopers, Ewokamole and Sith Salsa
Chips and salsa is the perfect movie-watching snack, but you can make it even better with these punny names! Use whatever brands you like, as there’s nothing different in the recipes — it’s just the names that have changed.
BB-8 cheese ball
Take your food-sculpting skills to the next level with a cheese ball in the form of our favorite Disney-era droid! Serve with crackers, stormtrooper scoopers or Duchess Saltine crackers, and try not to feel bad about systematically disassembling this little fellow bite by bite.
C-3P-nuts
Who needs boring old peanuts when you can take the exact same peanuts and bestow upon them a new name? These peanuts are now fluent in over six million forms of communication…
Pea pod racers
Cut through the table of sweet snacks with a healthier option of punny peas. Snap peas make great snacks for aspiring pod racers, after all.
Han and cheese sliders
“Two-hundred thousand units are ready, with a million more well on the way.”
If you need to feed an army the size of Kamino, then sliders are a great way to make a lot of hearty food pretty quickly. Ham and cheese is a simple and easy recipe, and they can be prepared beforehand until the time is right to take over the galaxy. Or, at least, until people get hungry.
'Star Wars' themed drinks
Han Solo cups
Whatever you have to drink, serve your refreshments in a delightful-funny Han Solo cup! All you need is a marker, and you’re good!
Qui-Gon Gin and juice
Who says all "Star Wars" themed treats are for kids? After all, even Jedi masters need a break every now and then. Acting as peacekeepers to the galaxy is hard work.
This refreshing gin and juice cocktail is exactly what it sounds like: gin and whatever juice you have on hand. We chose orange juice, because it’s healthy, right? Just pick whatever you or Liam Neeson’s Qui-Gon Jinn would want to sip on, and you’re good to go!
Hoth chocolate
Careful! It’s hot(h)!
I like to imagine that at least one rebel had a warm cup of cocoa while freezing on Hoth and, in all their wit and humor, must have mentioned that it was Hoth Chocolate they were drinking. There’s nothing you can say to convince me otherwise. It’s practically canon.
Blue milk
Why a Bantha on the dusty dunes of Tatooine has blue milk, we’ll never know. We do know that it was a staple at the Lars family household, though, and that Luke Skywalker apparently liked it. Make it yourself by just adding a drop of blue food coloring to whatever milk or milk substitute you like. If you can find bantha milk, though, that’s the real deal.
Celebrating May the Fourth can be as public or private of an event as you want! It’s all about having fun, enjoying the company of friends and family and, of course, celebrating the movie franchise that’s changed the galaxy in so many ways.
May the Fourth be with you!
All photos courtesy Colleen Ford
Colleen Ford is a South African who now lives on Oahu in Hawai'i. She loves to travel, camp, spearfish and hike. She's also part of a super cool canoe club and is pretty decent at it. Colleen enjoys Star Wars and also not being cold ever.
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