Space Birthday Party

I had a space-themed water-play park birthday party for my now 5 year old boy. It was great! 

From the cake, decor, food and water activities, I tried to stay with the theme and a budget. In the end, the kids had a great time!

Connor requested a water party and I have to admit that mid-August is the perfect time to have a water party! This party would have been a lot easier in a backyard, but since my mom's yard is grass-less at the moment and I don't have one, the park is the place. I sent out an evite. I have discovered how awesome evite is since it collects RSVPs and reminder emails. Technology is wonderful. On to the lists. 

I have Lots of lists when I plan a party. Lists of ideas and internet links to pictures and anything new that pops into my brain while putting it together. 

This picture was taken before
everything was done

Decorations:

•  Cut out stars from poster boards. String together groups of 3 and 4 to hang from the streamers.
• Streamers (green and blue). In the end, we used a lot less hanging decorations because of the wind.
• Use green balloons to make alien heads by drawing faces on them.
• Streamers (green and blue) 
•  Happy birthday sign for the cake table
• On the tables I had space stickers, little space shuttles for the kids to toss around and alien masks for the kids and cut out confetti for stars. I didn't end up putting out the confetti because of the wind.

Food:

-      Space Debris (green colored candy popcorn)
I used the recipe I found here, but used blue food coloring to get a darker green color once it was mixed with butter. I also didn't need to use very much. My kids had a blast making and eating the popcorn the night before too!

-      Grape and pineapple spears

-      Carrots and broccoli with onion dip

-      Pizza Planet pizza

-   Star and Moon sandwiches (peanut butter and jelly)

-   Cake! This turned out great. It is my first two layer cake. Cupcakes are compliments of my cousin (she has helped me with another party before; we make a great team), she had the frosting and eyeballs left over from her son's toy story party. They go great together!

Kid Activities:

-      Tie die T-shirt. This was also a favor to take home. They turned out to be out-of-this-world! I have some pictures below

Kids like cleaning when it's not the parent's idea.

-      Water balloons

-      Flying Saucer Toss. I found these neat Frisbees at the dollar store that look life flying saucers. I bought a wooden stake at Home Depot for 30 cents and wrapped it in bright green tape for a kid friendly ring toss.

-      Water squirt bottles and sponge meteors for a great water fight. I bought 5 oz water bottles for each kid at the dollar store and filled them ahead of time. They were a big hit and the adults enjoyed the spritz too. The kids had a great time with the sponge meteors, and even decided to use them to clean the park bench... so thoughtful.

-      Tubs of water on a kid table for little kids filled with misc water toys.

-      Bubble bucket with cups and giant bubble wands. I also bought individual bubble containers for the kids who want to walk around with bubbles. The wind actually worked in favor for all the bubble blowers. These bubbles were great! And the solution is so easy to make I never want to buy pre-made bubbles again.

Kid tubs ended up on the ground. Always a hit!

Water Balloons are in the bucket.

The T-shirt favors I mentioned were great! The kids had a blast coloring with the millions (ok a little exaggeration) of Sharpies. I learned about this from a gal in the education department at Joann's Fabric Store. I cut out cardboard to stuff inside the shirts, saved metal hangers to hang up the finished product and attached masking tape to the top to write the name of the artist. I bought kid's small and extra small T-shirt sizes. The process was super simple:

1. Color the T-shirt

2. Drip rubbing alcohol on the ink

The ink will spread and look tie died. 

Later, put them in the dryer for a couple minutes to let the ink set. Or, you could use a blow dryer.

Birthday boy coloring with daddy.

TaDa! They turned out looking spacey!

 Since this party, my daughter has been singing Happy Birthday To You around the house and asking me for a birthday. I guess now that this party is over I need to start planning the next birthday party.

Shared at Cherios & Lattes, Six Sisters, Nap Time and Frugally Sustainable!