A space party for little astronauts (Henry’s 4th birthday)

I am physically incapable of going low-key when planning a party.

You know it. I know it.

So when Henry started talking about an astronaut party in mid-February, I couldn’t NOT start planning and pinning and dreaming about a fun space-theme party. And I guess my version of low key isn’t actually low key. But it turned out pretty cute and I thought I’d share some of the highlights. (First, check out the invites and party ideas here.)

I focused the majority of my attention on the food table – filling it with just a few treats and lots of fun astronaut themed goodies. The backdrop consisted of two 20×30 photo prints from Shutterfly and a planets canvas from Pottery Barn Kids, which I picked up on clearance.

I like to find items that can be reused after the party – for play or decor. The canvas will be repurposed in Henry’s room. And I ordered the large prints so we could keep them after the party – each grandparent took one home to enjoy. Lots of people commented on the prints – they make a large impact and personalize the space.

(Here’s the third print that I displayed at the entrance.)

I already shared the tablecloth I created last week. It was a great base to the table.

Henry asked for moon cupcakes, and I found the astronaut figurines on Amazon. Bonus: They were great for playing and sent home the kids with extras. 

In real life news, the dozens of cupcakes that looked beautiful at the bakery tipped over when I reached the car and the frosting got everywhere inside the boxes. Luckily, they were still okay to eat, but they looked a little rough at the party.

I was the only one who cared – the kids didn’t care and no one else seemed to notice. And displaying them on the KidKraft rocket ship toy was a great touch. (After we ate cupcakes, I cleaned up the rocket ship and the kids played with it right outside!)

My friend Michelle of Decor and the Dog fame offered to help me make and decorate cookies. Which actually means that she made all the cookies and then decorated most of them while I ate the cast-offs.  We made a mixture of planets – Michelle handled the center ones and the Earth cookies while I just swirled frosting together.

The best part? They were delicious. My beautiful niece Addy is modeling an Earth for me. 

The cookies were probably the biggest hit of the food. I had to hurry and get some pictures before they all got devoured. 
And people got a kick of the astronaut ice cream. It’s an experience.

I planned on making rocket ship fruit kabobs. And after making one, I decided that I wasn’t cut out for making fruit-kabobs. (Hello, Pinterest fail.)

Cut up fruit it was! And an astronaut helmet that all the kids fought over until I put it away. 

My gram even brought some of her yummy fudge – which we outfitted with more space walkers.

I went easy with drinks – filling up baskets with water and juice. 

For kids, we had space-y Capri Sun packets. (Those blank stickers were a fun, themed way to label the food. And they matched the invites.)

I tried to add a few other decorative touches, but the wind didn’t make it easy.

We went with a park pavilion for this party, since our barn and house are in no way ready for company. The IDEA of a park pavilion is a good one – you don’t have to clean the entire house or drag in tables and chairs or find entertainment. The EXECUTION of a park pavilion isn’t always ideal – you have only a few hours to load and set up everything and nature can be an issue.

We had to forego the tablecloths because of the wind, but we did manage to tape down custom wrapping paper for table runners. They were a fun touch and so many parents commented that they had Henry’s name on them! I also blew up balloons, which are always Henry’s favorite part of the decor. He enjoys the mylar balloons for weeks.

There was a chance of rain all week, so we made sure to have some indoor options for kids. (I ended up upgrading to an indoor pavilion.) I set up the picnic tables with awesome space placemats from Shutterfly and added some bowls of DIY slime and astronauts to the tables.

They are great for eating – or for playing with space slime. I was happy that most of the kids seemed to love the activity – and spent a good amount of time playing with the slime. And the placemats doubled as favors – all the kids got to take one home with an astronaut. (The placemats can be customer with any photo you want – or you can use their existing photo templates! They are perfect for any occasion and laminated so they stand up to anything.)

Henry and I made all the slime and Henry filled the small containers to take home (they are paint containers from Hobby Lobby). We finished them off with custom stickers that matched the invites. (I’ll probably share the space slime recipe later this week if you are interested. )

Henry and his friends ran around for 2 hours straight. They ate sugar and hit the piñata and played with space slime and kicked balls.

And the rain managed to stay away until our car was all loaded up. So that was meant to be.

Henry was exhausted and hyper and most of all, happy. He told me it was the best party he’d ever had and that he’d like a Spiderman-Cheetah-Dinosaur party for his next party.

I guess I’d better get started now.

Do you like this party idea? Check out our other kid party ideas:

VINTAGE TRAIN KIDS BIRTHDAY PARTY

JOHNNY TRACTOR KIDS BIRTHDAY PARTY

SUPERHERO TRAINING CAMP KIDS PARTY

A PUMPKIN PATCH KIDS PARTY

 

Special thanks to my friends at Tiny Prints and Shutterfly for providing us with some of the party supplies that made Henry’s party extra special! And thank you for supporting NewlyWoodwards sponsors to help make posts like this possible.