A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away…

A celebration looms for an annual aging ritual on the planet earth.  As the governess of one particular dwelling prepares for the occasion, she is undecided on an easy snack to prepare.  The small lord of this sector awaits a tasty surprise fit for an imperial leader.  The governess must put herself up to the task as the fate of the celebration rests in a successful Star Wars themed trail mix…

How’d you like that intro?  If you’re a Star Wars fan (which we hope you are if you’re here), then hopefully you get it.  If not, then we hope the dark side hasn’t taken over too much to enjoy some Star Wars trail mix inspiration.

Making trail mix is so easy and fun.  We do it as an easy activity to prepare for a road trip, or to clean out the last of a variety of different snacks lingering in the pantry.  Either way has a purpose to re-purpose common snacks into something a little more fun.  Kids can customize their own, which serves as a bonus that greatly diminishes whining since they made it themselves.  Star Wars trail mix is just one theme we made for the little man’s birthday, but the themed possibilities are endless!

Star Wars Trail Mix

• Crispix Cereal
• Pretzel Sticks
• Mini Marshmallows
• Cashews
• Chocolate Chips
• Mini Teddy Grahams cookies
• Frosted Flakes Jumbo Snax

In a large bowl, pour out desired quantities of each ingredient.  Try to reach an equal balance of sweet and salty snack varieties.  Or go heavy on one snack as a base.  We went a little heavier on the Crispix ratio to make it a more neutral snack, bit it’s up to you.  Once all snacks are added, gently toss with a wooden spoon or clean hands.  Little hands work really well too.  Scoop into travel containers.  Enjoy anywhere in the galaxy!

Setting The Theme

Just have fun with this!  You can use any snacks really, just be purposeful when you’re going for a theme.  Each snack we used has a purpose when fitting into the Star Wars theme. Crispix cereal with its hexagon shape looks like the solar wings on Tie Fighters.  Any long stick snack could be used to represent a lightsaber, but we went with pretzels because we enjoy them.  The light and dark side of the force is easy to do with chocolate or candy.  I considered M&Ms before going with dark chocolate chips and mini marshmallows.  In the photo above of all our snack packages, you can see I was planning to use white chocolate chips.  Then I remembered I had mini marshmallows, which pop in color and the kids enjoy so much more, so I changed course.

Don’t forget all the great creatures!  Creatures were the easiest source of fun imagery for this theme.  Using Teddy Grahams for Ewoks was an obvious since they look like cuddly teddy bears.  Deciding on the other snacks was a balance between choosing what the store had to offer, and what my kids like.  Many trail mixes have nuts, and cashews are a family fave, so using them to represent tauntaun or even bantha horns was too easy.  Then I found these new Kelloggs cereal jumbo snax, and knew I had to use them in some way.  Having recently re-watched Episode V, I figured these snowy-looking paws would suffice for a Wampa paw print.  Not sure if a Wampa paw print is really a thing, but I went with it.  Star Wars trail mix can be anything in the galaxy you want it to be!

To put the final stamp on the Star Wars trail mix, choose a themed container as well.  Ziploc makes baggies and containers both with Star Wars prints to really enhance the look and portability of this special mix.  Looks like R2-D2 approves of these millennium falcon containers full of our Star Wars trail mix!  It doesn’t get much better than a superhero droid’s approval, does it?

Trail Mix Approved!

Uh oh!  Darth Vader has even shown up!  We sure don’t want to disappoint him!  Ok, don’t panic, let’s mix up a fresh batch just for him, and see what happens…

Phew!  No trouble from that menacing sith lord!  If he approves of Star Wars trail mix, you know it’s a winner.  There’s no reason to delay.  Jet on over to your local store for your Star Wars trail mix ingredients today!  Remember the force will be with you when you make Star Wars trail mix!

One last note, I’d say it takes at least 5 different ingredients to make an interesting trail mix.  So keep that in mind and even have some extra options in case you are customizing for different tastes.  In this recipe we used 7 different snacks all with different colors, textures, sweetness, saltiness, etc that contributed to a well-balanced and exciting trail mix.

This isn’t our first trail mix, head over to our other post Kid Approved Trail Mix for more inspiration.