Blast Off to FIVE!! - Space Birthday Party
Our sweet little guy recently celebrated his 5th birthday with a fun space theme. He had started talking about his “Space Glow-in-the-Dark Disco Party” months ago. I am not sure where the idea came from, but of course I got excited about how we could style it! What a fun way for a bunch of preschoolers to celebrate with black lights, glow bracelets, disco lights, balloons, and cool space-themed decorations. That was all before the coronavirus came and cancelled all of our planned celebrations.
In February, I had ordered the most adorable Meri Meri Space Party themed supplies, including the To The Moon Banner, To the Moon Cake Topper set, and Rocket Mylar Balloon. The whole Meri Meri collection is so stinking adorable. It uses fun colors and has a vintage vibe for a simple and playful style. On Amazon, I found a Starred Galaxy Photo Backdrop and a Metallic Balloon Arch Kit. I was planning on ordering a cake from a local bakery, and envisioned playing up the glow-in-the-dark disco elements (like these: Glow Party Pack, Glow Party Favors, Sound Activated Party Lights, and Neon Party Supplies) that Callen was so excited about. With all the changes the coronavirus caused, our plans to celebrate his birthday were changed as well. While we didn't throw the big party we planned, we did surprise him with a space birthday set up and fun themed cake with some of the items I had ordered.
As Cal’s birthday was approaching, I tried to figure out a fun way to celebrate in a way that made him happy, even if it wasn't our original plan. His big day included a scaled-back space-themed birthday set up, cake, some fun treats, an afternoon porch party with our neighbors, and a birthday Zoom call with family. While he missed his preschool pals, our neighborhood family really came through for us and made his day one to remember.
A few days before the party, Cindy and her family showed up on our porch for a quick social-distanced visit and gifted Callen this amazing dancing robot that Shane had made for him. It is remote control operated, has a light up panel, and a disco ball light on the top that syncs with the music being played. Imaging how outrageously cool it would be at the disco party is was designed for! I am always impressed with Shane’s talent and creativity. I know he spent a lot of time on this for Callen, who was absolutely over the moon!! (Just like the time he built him a Transformable Optimus Prime Transformer for his 3rd birthday). We are thankful for his kindness and love how awesome the it looks with the space set up.
The afternoon of the party, we invited some of our close neighborhood friends to stop by during a time window where Callen was hanging out on our front porch to wish him a happy birthday. We set out of bucket of store bought, wrapped treats with a personalized sticker label, some fresh sidewalk chalk, and some hand sanitizer for our guests. We asked that they make a fun message for the birthday boy with the chalk on the sidewalk. Some friends even came with special birthday signs for him. It was wonderful to see everyone and truly lifted all of our moods at a time when we all needed it.
I decorated our porch with a fun Printable banner from Darcy’s Party site on Etsy and some clusters of balloons. I had found a fun space fabric to use on the table from Joann Fabric and used a white framed rectangle chalkboard and lightbox sign to complete the simple set up.
This adorable Meri Meri party elements made for a party set up that is awesomely out-of-this-world, while being relatively simple to create. There are several secondary sellers of Meri Meri products that we have used in the past, like Halloween and Easter collections, but this time I ordered directly from the company and was pleased with how timely everything arrived, and how fun it was to see their entire collection of party products and inspiration.
The Meri Meri Space Cake topper set was so modern and fun. After seeing it, I had envisioned a galaxy fondant swirled cake with a fun burst of frosting and fun sprinkles (because Callen loves sprinkles!) coming up the side. Due to the current circumstances, I attempted a homemade cake. Instead of fondant, I made a buttercream and used a cornflower blue Wilton food coloring, but tried to not mix it in thoroughly so that it gave a marbled effect when the cake was iced. Then I used some Wilton packs (similar to these) of metallic silver, gold, grey, gunmetal and white sprinkles to create the burst up the side of the cake. It didn’t look professional by any means, but tasted delicious. Once the topper was added and it was set on the table, it worked!
I had planned to make a large Space Party Welcome Sign with a design from the J & W shop on Etsy, but without easy access to a print shop, I opted to print an 8x10 copy at home and display it in a photo frame. I used the coordinating Space Birthday Favor Tag and printed them on white label sticker paper that I could cut and put on the packaged snacks. I used my Silhouette electronic cutter, but they could easily be cut by hand. I appreciate that both of these J & W designs can be edited on your own computer and are available for a quick download.
I helped my friend re-create this party look for her son’s birthday. She hung the backdrop and banners and ordered some of the Meri Meri Space products to coordinate. The adorable silver vintage rocket balloon looked great with this inexpensive balloon arch kit that we ordered to match.
Links to ordering products in photos below.
Bobbi’s adorable space themed cookies!
These silver metallic stars were placed around the black tablecloth to carry the space theme onto the table. I hung the galaxy photo backdrop being the table and added the To the Moon Garland set on top. The garland set included two simple silver stars, one that spells out TO THE MOON, and one with the honeycomb planets attached. The planets can be hung in any order and the rocket attached anywhere. Since I originally purchased the large rocket mylar balloon, I was going to remove the small rocket and create a centerpiece with the larger balloon. Since this mini party was just for our family, I opted to save the rocket balloon for later on.
Our hope is that when everything gets back to normal (whenever that is), we will have that space disco dance party for Callen and his pals. I saved some of the balloon decor to use then and can easily reuse the backdrop, banners, and cake toppers.
Callen received this adorable Astronaut Dress Up Costume for his birthday and looks so proud (and way too grown up) posing in front of his party set up. While it wasn't what we originally envisioned, blasting off to FIVE was a special day that will be memorable for us all!
