Fun Ideas to Set the Mood
Start your party by playing mood-setting background music from the Star Wars, Star Trek, or 2001: A Space Odyssey movies. Then, decorate the party table to like the moon! Use play dough to form craters on the table. Collect rocks, spray paint them silver, and set them on the table, too.

Hang strings of small white lights (i.e. like those used on Christmas trees) in the form of constellations from the ceiling or along the walls of the party area. Purchase glow-in-the-dark stars, available at most toy stores, and affix them to the ceiling or use them as balloon weights.

Make moons by gluing dry beans or round cereal to paper plates, and then cover the plates with aluminum foil. The beans/cereal will form craters. After making your moons, hang them on the walls throughout the party area. Spray paint Styrofoam balls to represent planets, and hang them from the ceiling along with stars and the moons you made. You can also attach them to helium balloons.

For a fun, final decoration that doubles as an activity, set up a "Pin the Hat on the Martian" game using our Martian and Hats printouts.

Astronaut Edibles
Serve "Saturn Fruit Salad." Purchase a large melon, such as a cantaloupe or honeydew melon. Slice the melon in half, and scoop out the seeds. Then, cut the melon into rings. Stack up a few rings, with the largest one on the bottom and the smallest on top, and then fill the center with watermelon balls, fruit salad (homemade or from a can), and/or ice cream.

Using our rocket cake diagram, turn your child's birthday cake into a rocket ship. Start with a standard-sized sheet cake, and then cut it according to the diagram. Lay out the pieces, and then get creative with the decorations! Use icing, sprinkles and other edible decorations to "draw" a cockpit, metallic designs on the body and wings, jet flames at the bottom, and a name for the spacecraft. Alternatively, you might want to check out our Full Moon Cake.

Use round- and star-shaped cookie cutters to cut out sandwiches that look like planets and stars. Arrange the tray(s) of sandwiches, bowls of snacks, and other items you are serving in the shape of the big dipper on the party table. Check out NASA's website if you want to purchase actual space foods, such as dried astronaut ice cream.