How to Throw an Out-of-This-World Galaxy Birthday!

When our sweet (not-so-baby-anymore) baby said she wanted a space theme for her big six birthday I was over the moon (pun always intended). Not just because we happen to already offer curated Cosmic Party Kits (which are easy, fun, and oh so cute! More on that later...), but because this theme lends itself to exploration and education well beyond the day of the party. We used it as an opportunity to do a deep dive into the world of groundbreaking astronauts like Sally Ride and Mae Jemison, the mathematicians who got us to space, like Katherine Johnson, and even more recent history makers like the 2019 all women space walk team.  (To find age appropriate books on Mae and lots of other outer space heroes, check out Bookshop and Brave + Kind Books)

 

But the beauty of this theme is its flexibility. It can go in so may directions from 1960s space babe (hello vintage Tomorrwland costume inpso from Duchess of Disneyland) ...

 

 

...To 90s Lisa Frank aliens (such an underrated period of American art history)

 

 

...Or even a super unique and gorgeous celestial and gem inspired bridal shower like this one from Martha Stewart Weddings 

 

Whatever direction you're taking it, we've got tips to bring it all together with recipes, favors, a customized photo booth, and more. Let's blast off on our mission to throw an out-of-this-world galaxy bash!

(Space cookies by Kara's Party Ideas)

 

Let's start with the most important aspect of any soiree- the food! And if that food is super instagramable like these galaxy macarons then all the better. 

 

SWEETS:

There are so many great sweets for this theme that it can be hard to pick just one or two. If you're struggling with that, why not opt for a sweets table full of fab handmade cosmic options like marbled Oreos from Popsugar, 

Or this mirror glazed, planet filled, showstopper from Also The Crumbs Please,

 

Or grab some on-theme packaged treats like Mars Bars, Milky Ways, Moon Pies, StarCrunch, and my personal fav, Cosmic Brownies and display with a cute place card like  Catch My Party has done here 

(Or stick one of our cake toppers in an HEB bakery cake and finish with our shooting star place cards which are included in the kit and call it day, babe!)

 

BEVIES & CRUNCHY SNACKS:

This unicorn punch from Word to your Mother is a great example of recipe that can be tweaked slightly to span multiple themes. We made a similar beverage with raspberry sherbet, blue Hawaiian Punch, pineapple juice, and ginger ale.

But this galaxy lemonade from The Flavor Bender would be super cute for launch day, too!

Another great recipe to memorize and change the color scheme for all future kids birthdays is galaxy popcorn (same technique works great for pretzels). There are so many cute ways to make these but we went with this one from A Magical Mess that was a little more moody in color.

Which we served in some of the holographic treat cups included in the Cosmic Party Kit. As you can see from the pics it's basically just candy melts and sprinkles, which is what makes it super simple to customize for any event. Green candy melts and gold sprinkles = Dino-corn.  Pink candy melts and edible glitter sprinkles = Uni-corn ( lol see what I did there?)

For an easy packaged crunchy snack option, try Sun Chips (haha) or Cheeto balls labeled as asteroids.

 

SAVORY:

Coming up with the savory for this theme was a little trickier, but ultimately a fun challenge for our creativity.

Pinwheels are always a great party snack. We made buffalo chicken crescent roll pinwheels to be the eye of Jupiter, but crack chicken, ham & cheese, or these pizza roll ups by What Lisa Cooks would have been awesome, too!

Cheeseballs are another party standard that with a little creativity can be morphed into magic. We made a Moon & Stars cheese ball with crackers. It's a petty basic white cheeseball (cream cheese, sharp white cheddar, scallions, ranch powder, bacon, and my secret - a little Sweet Baby Ray's honey BBQ sauce) with some of our star cupcake toppers stuck in.

I don't use exact measurements when making cheeseballs, (or most things really...) but you can watch a vid for this cheese moon and other great party recipes on our tiktok https://www.tiktok.com/@mypartyhero. 

To round out the fare for this fete we need some entrees. Since 6 year olds are pretty notoriously picky we kept it really simple with the only things they want to eat anyway; Chicken nuggets, and pb&j.

 

 

To get cute and clever the nuggets (meatballs would also be great) become "meat-e-ors" and the sandwiches are dressed up a la Cher from "Mermaids" with star cookie cutters (example from Popsugar)

 

And while you have the star cookie cutter out...

 

(shared from Disney Family Recipes)

Yeah, a room full of six year olds might not exactly go nuts over star shaped fruit, but you can take solace in the fact that you tried. 

Onto the easy part, decor! Yes, in this instance perfectly coordinated decor, balloons, treat bags, and dinner ware are the easiest part because we've done it all for you. 

 

 

All you have to do is decide on party size (from an 8 person mini bash perfect for drive-by birthday or social distance parties, to 24 person Space soiree) and our gorgeous party-in-a-box arrives at your door with everything you need for the perfect solar shindig https://mypartyhero.com/products/cosmic-party

 

We even offer package upgrades with a birthday banner, glitter candles, and party favors like these metallic shooting star tattoos from Daydream Society ✨

But if you want to add some homemade favor fun to the mix, galaxy slime is a great party activity. We used a clear glue recipe for a more translucent product like this one from Happy Go Lucky but there are literally hundreds of tutorials and recipes. If for some reason you don't want six year olds mixing vats of sticky stuff in your living room (what a buzzkill, sheesh) pre-make a large batch with your little and package it in individual sauce cups (or as college aged you may remember them, Jello shot cups).

 

The last thing on our perfect cosmic party list is a customized photo booth. No party is complete without one these days, and they're made even more fun with your own touch added. We opted for the silver sequin backdrop from the wide range of choices Booth By Demand offers, but I think the purple sequin or black & white mermaid would have been awesome, too (but you can view the selection here and judge for yourself https://mypartyhero.com/products/photo-booth)

Because we're obsessed with details we made a custom start screen for the party (here's a low quality image I captured on the day during a photo session lol) 

This option is usually only utilized by their corporate customers, but I think it adds so much to the day. It would be a really great way to tie the theme together for a wedding or engagement party. 

(That's right, it has GIF and Boomerang features. So fun!)

And obviously we coordinated the graphic on the photos to that custom start screen (obviously!). Some of us even made diy glitter sweatshirts, because showing up to a child's b-day in an un-themed outfit is just embarrassing (keep your side eye to yourself, okay). 

The printed photos became extra take home favors, and the digital gallery of all the pics became a great memento of the super fun day with family and friends :)

We hope this has inspired you to blast off on your own intergalactic adventure, and if you're throwing a cosmic party of your own check out our Pinterest for even more recipes and ideas to take your bash to infinity and beyond https://www.pinterest.com/partyhero/cosmic-party-ideas/