Star, Marco, and the rest of Mewni celebrate a special snowy holiday, "Stump Day." But trouble abounds when Marco learns Stump Day is also Star's birthday, and decides to throw her a surprise birthday party.
Tropes:
- Ankle Drag: Janna is subjected to this when the Stump attacks.
- An Ass-Kicking Christmas: Assuming Stump Day is Mewni's stand-in for Christmas, the plot becomes this when the Stump attacks the heroes.
- Attention Whore: As everyone gets mad and starts shouting at the party, Pony Head reveals her reason is that no-one is paying attention to her.
- Bad Santa: The Stump is this in a way. Those who misbehave through Stump Day get slaughtered by it.
- Bait-and-Switch:
- Berserk Button:
- Star gets angry at her birthday party for being held at the same time as the Stump Day, which is a big no-no for her.
- When Marco accuses Tom of being a bad boyfriend who forgot Star's birthday, it prompts him to engage in a brief fight with Marco.
- Birthday Episode: The episode is also set on Star’s birthday, but she chooses not to celebrate it so she can honor the Stump.
- Birthday Hater: Downplayed. Star has the unfortunate luck of being born on Stump Day, so she's afraid to celebrate her birthday on that day.
- The Bus Came Back: Among Star's earth friends at her birthday party is StarFan13, last seen in "Starcrushed".
- Cock Fight: Pony Head jokes that Star should be glad Tom and Marco are fighting over her. Janna rudely tells Kelly she is mad that Marco is fighting over Star and not her.
- Continuity Nod: Tad is still living in Kelly's hair, despite Marco supposedly convincing him to move out in "Lava Lake Beach".
- Control Freak: Pony Head accuses Marco of being this in regards to the party. See What the Hell, Hero? below.
- Dance Party Ending: The episode ends with the group dancing to the mariachi band’s music now that Stump Day has finally ended.
- Dramatic Wind: River uses a small handheld fan to simulate the blizzard over the wilderness where Mewni's founders were located and hiding behind the stump.
- Finishing Each Other's Sentences:
Kelly: It’s just a manipulative fairy tale...
Tom: ...that parents tell their kids...
Pony Head: ...so that they’ll be less annoying during the holidays.
- Foreshadowing: Mewni's settlers argued with each other and their eventual alliance and rekindled friendship is represented through the cutouts holding hands. At the climax, Star and her friends argue with each other and definitively stop their quarrelling by holding hands. River even warns them to honor the friendships for 24 hours "or else..."
- Forgot About His Powers: Neither Tom, Star, nor Moon try to use their magical abilities against the Stump when it attacks them.
- Fright Beside Them: When the Stump’s roots wrap around her shoulders, Janna tells Marco he should’ve just asked if he wanted to give her a back rub. Meanwhile, Marco is staring at her in horror with both hands held up to the fire.
- Gratuitous Spanish: Star shouts at the mariachis performing at her quinceañera that Stump Day "Es un día muy importante!" ("It's a very important day!")
- Growing Up Sucks: Marco believes this is the reason Star got mad at her birthday party: being afraid to grow older.
- Happiness Is Mandatory: The Stump attacks Star's party because she and her friends can't stop arguing.
- Hidden Depths: Star knows at least a little Spanish, talking to the mariachis with it.
- Immediate Self-Contradiction:
- When River's nephew tells him to tell the story of Stump day, the king says that he doesn't tell him what to do... and proceeds to tell the story anyways.
- Star tells her friends she’s “overwhelmed with joy” about her surprise party as she’s throwing her whole birthday cake in the trash.
- It's All About Me: Aside from accusing Marco of being a Control Freak, Pony Head believes him to have acted like this.
- Jerkass Has a Point: Both Pony Head and Tom knew celebrating Star's birthday on Stump Day would be a bad idea, and they tell him he should've at least asked Star what the preexisting conditions are for celebrating her birthday. Of course, Marco has a point that they should have warned him.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: As the stump has them in its grip, Pony Head apologizes for being so hard in Marco, but claims that she criticizes him so he can become a better person.
- Let's Fight Like Gentlemen: Why does Tom not use his superhuman powers while fighting Marco? To show he's not a coward.
- Mirthless Laughter: Moon and River laugh nervously after remarking that, while it may have been the best Stump Day yet, it will also be quite expensive to repair the damage done to the castle and they’ll have to have an even bigger celebration next year to make sure to honor the Stump properly.
- No-Holds-Barred Beatdown: Kelly fully expected Tom to easily beat Marco, but it's subverted when Tom decides to fight Marco without using superhuman powers.
- Oh, Crap!: Star is undeniably horrified when she sees her friends' surprise birthday party for her, meaning in her book, they have angered the Stump.
- The Power of Love: Marco says that the Stump spared them because they stopped fighting and learned to love and respect one another. Star is convinced the Stump only left because Stump Day was over, and "it was definitely gonna kill us," and it's a bit ambiguous as to which of them is right.
- "Rashomon"-Style: Apparently, the specfic circumstances behind Mewni's establishment from the first settlers vary between Mewni's history book and King River's account:
- According to Star's pop-up book in "Mewnipendence Day"..."A long time ago, arrived the first settlers of Mewni... Modest people with noble pursuits: Life, Liberty and Corn. But the wicked monsters rose up and attacked the innocent Mewmans to re-steal Mewni for themselves. So the Queen used her magic to turn the simple peasants into a fearsome army!"; implying the settlers were actively trying to establish a new life in a new land, and were united because of the alleged monster threat.
- According to River..."Centuries ago, a small band of explorers crashed their ships on Mewni. After weeks of traveling, they began to get on each other's nerves. They planned to go their separate ways, but suddenly, a blizzard struck. Blizzard! And the crew was forced to survive by huddling together around a giant tree stump to keep warm and share supplies. They forged a lasting bond that day, and decided not to split up after all. To commemorate the occasion, they carved their initials on the back of the stump, and the kingdom of Mewni was born!"; implying the first settlers came to the land by accident and wanted nothing to do with each other, but instead of the threat of monsters unifying them, it was the harsh winter that did.
- Real After All: Star was the only person in Mewni who believed in the Stump... and it was indeed real.
- The Reveal: Star was born on Stump Day, but she does not celebrate her birthday that day as it could enrage the Stump.
- Santa's Existence Clause: Star’s the only one out of her Mewni friends and family to still believe in the Stump, the Mewni equivalent of Santa Claus.
- Significant Birth Date: Stump Day is also Star Butterfly's birthday.
- Ship Tease:
- During the initial Stump Day party, Star hugs Marco, and clings to him during River's story. And when she later says she loves "everyone", she holds Marco's hand and looks directly at him, briefly pausing before saying the last word.
- Janna suggests that Kelly has a crush on Marco, claiming that she'd prefer it if she were the one Marco was fighting over, and Kelly and Marco are later seen warming themselves next to each other by the stump Janna just burnt and they danced together in the ending of the episode. The former, she doesn't even deny, but the part about being fought over, she took issue with.
- When the stump wraps its roots around Janna's shoulders, she assumes Marco is giving her a back rub.
- Shout-Out: The plot of a bickering group of loved ones being attacked by a horrible monster during a winter holiday is oddly similar to the movie Krampus.
- Skewed Priorities: As the party is falling apart, Pony Head complains about how there are no "hotties" there. The extras were rather offended.
- Space Whale Aesop: Respect the traditions of others, and don't let petty arguments ruin the holidays... otherwise a giant tree stump will threaten you with certain death.
- Surprise Party: Turns out Marco lured Star to the main hall to reveal that he and her friends planned her a birthday party. It doesn't go well.
- Tentacle Rope: The Stump uses its roots in this way, grabbing Star, her family, and her friends and wrapping them up tight in its grasp. What it was planning on doing with them after that will remain unknown, as the monster disappears in the blink of an eye.
- What the Hell, Hero?: Pony Head towards Marco at the party.
Pony Head: Yeah, Marco, you know what? Maybe this is really about you and how you have to control every situation like a maniac. Okay, I mean: you didn't even ask Star if she wanted a birthday party. That's rude.
- When the Clock Strikes Twelve: Star thinks the only thing that kept the Stump from killing them is that it turned midnight, meaning Stump Day was over and the Stump no longer had any power.
- Why Waste a Wedding?: Well, a party, but the spirit of the trope is there. After getting attacked by the Stump, everyone's still together, they have party decorations and musicians, so there was no reason to halt celebrations.
- You Mean "Xmas": On Mewni, they celebrate a Christmas-like holiday called "Stump Day", which seems to happen around the same time as Earth Christmas, in honor of the stump that protected a band of settlers during their first winter in Mewni.
- You're Cute When You're Angry: During Star's anger fit at her birthday party on the Stump Day, Tom says she's cute.
- Your Favourite: Star's birthday cake has her favorite flavor: rainbow.
