Astronaut Party

Emma and Oliver celebrated their birthdays this year with a fantastic Astronaut Training Party. Check out the incredible rocket cake complete with edible astronauts! We decked out the training center with our stars tableware and decor and each birthday guest received a NASA cap and mission training card before setting out to complete their training.

Mission 1: Moonwalk
● Print out on cardstock, and laminate, copies of a moon image.
● Place the moons (as many moons as there are guests, minus one) in a circle on the floor. Use double-sided tape on the backs of the moons to prevent slipping.
● Play "space-themed" music (the kids loved "The Imperial March" from Star Wars as well as the Star Wars theme song, and "Also Sprach Zarathustra" from 2001 Space Odyssey) while the children walk from moon-to-moon around the circle.
● When the music ends, everyone needs to land on the moon, if you are left floating in space, the game is over for you...off to mission 2!

Mission 2: Rocket Launch
Endless possibilities here. Give each child his or her own bungee blast rocket. See how high or how far you can launch the rocket. Set up a field of asteroids to blast, or aim for your favorite planet. To be honest, this was the simplest of ideas and the one the kids could have spent all day doing. Fair warning...the adults were as entertained with this one as the kids were. You may want to have extra rockets on hand!

Mission 3: Saturn's Ring Toss
Grab a ring toss game, cover the post with tinfoil, spray-paint a styrofoam ball gold and place on top of the post, fill clear tubing with glitter, connect the tubing ends to form a ring and you have Saturn's ring toss!

Location tip: Celebrating a birthday in Portland and need a location to host the party? Visit the Missisippi Ballroom in North Portland for a no-hassle space large enough for most kids' parties.