Blast Off Birthday Party

This year, we had a space themed party to celebrate Dylan's 3rd birthday. The idea originated from a printables set I won from Deena Rutter last fall. I used invites from the set, but changed the text portion:

Not trusting that the weather would be as cooperative as last year, we decided to book his party at a local indoor playspot - PlayNation. The kids had a great time burning energy indoors on the swing sets, in the bounce house and playhouses, and climbing up the inflatable slide. A few of the adults joined in the fun too!

Afterwards we gathered together to celebrate in one of the party rooms. I kept the decor simple and to a minimum. The food table was topped with a black plastic table cloth and scattered with glow in the dark stars & planets. On the front hung the birthday banner I made last year.

At one end we had a "planet" created from a paper lantern with a cardboard/foil ring, a space themed mailbox and subway art. The subway art was reused from last year. I updated the colors & age number and inserted it into a thrift store frame I spray painted blue to match the decor. Sticking out of the mailbox was a photo of Dylan mounted on foam board with the comment "You helped make my birthday celebration at "blast"! Thanks! Please take a favor home to enjoy."

Each of the snacks was labeled using placecards in the printables set. I added the names before printing. We had Fruit Rockets (fruit kabobs with strawberries, blueberries & grapes); Space Mix: Asteroids, Moon Rocks & Saturn's Rings (cheese puffs, Cheerios & Cookie Crisps cereal); and Rocket Fuel (juice boxes and water).

And, best of all, Alien Cupcakes!

They ended up looking a bit like a mix of Toy Story aliens and Mike Wazowski. :)  [Huge shout out to my friend, Lauren, for all of her help with tips & loaning me extra cake baking accessories.] For Dylan's we added a single, neon green candle at the forehead like an antenna.

As the party ended, each child picked up a goody bag with his/her name on it. I used paper sandwich bags as I did last year, folded over the top and sealed with a staple and name label (favor tags from printables kit edited).

The older kids received bags with Astronaut Ice Cream, a glow in the dark bracelet and homemade "moon dough". To make the dough, we used the recipe I shared here, added lots of blue food coloring and some blue glitter. I packed small balls of the dough into plastic containers purchased at the Dollar Tree and topped them with labels I created in Photoshop using Deena Rutter's Rocketman digital scrapbooking kit.

The two littlest boys in the group (both under 1), received a Viking Toys chubby helicopter toy.

As we headed home after the party, I asked Dylan if he enjoyed it and immediately got an excited, "oh yeah!" in return. That right there made my day. :)