last week my son turned four! he’s just like a real guy now with opinions and jokes and everything. a while back i asked him if he wanted his party to have a theme and he decided on “outer space” so last saturday we boldly went where saner parents fear to tread: the birthday party!

first off, we had a brain storming session for space themed decorations, food (the concept of an “international space station bacon” appetizer was deemed too complex) and games. then i sent out invitations i’d made up, they were from F.O.U.R: the “fearless organization of universe rangers” inviting you for intergalactic space training at F.O.U.R birthday HQ:

and then, my almost favourite part: i hit the shop! that shop would be astoria paper products – simply put, party supply mecca. its a three story warehouse containing everything you’d ever need. ever. for anything. at astoria i found silver and gold foil star baloons and a silver number 4 balloon! squeeeal! i think it was the highlight of the whole affair. my son was enchanted by it:

i also found lots of different sized silver stars to stick around as well as amazing plastic sheeting with stars on it and an enchanting holographic curtain which we hung in the doorway and referred to as the “meteor shower”. boy did the kiddos love running through that!

below you can see some of the stars on the wall as well as a few silver helium balloons and some more of the black plastic star drop sheet (there was a huge amount of it in the packet!) and of course the birthday banner! i made it for my son’s first birthday and its been up each year since. another feature, though not pictured, was a dvd i created of images from the hubble telescope etc. it was a subtle way of showing the kids some real astronomy, and the various nebula and galaxies made for a very pretty background! i found lots of images here.

i’m so bad at getting good before-party photos! i’m always so busy in the kitchen  or whatever down to the last minute that there’s no time for close-ups! below you might be able to see the groovy stars and planet adorned table skirt i found. and did you notice the sun hanging there too?

pictured below is the spread of food, all very un-nutritious but delicious! i found amazing edible silver stars at cake deco and i alternated mixing them and edible glitter in with …well, everything! yes it was all extremely sparkly. it looked very pretty in the jello slice, i must say.

see how pretty edible glitter looks on the sparkly stardust fairy bread? (fairy bread is an australian party classic. recipe: butter bread and top with sprinkles. serve to delighted children!)

and of course the birthday cake i made was a moon. the cake was a vanilla sponge that i baked in a bundt tin for that dome shape. i stuffed the middle hole with crushed oreos and frosted over the top so it was an even domed moon surface, and not some wacky moon bundt vulcano! the frosting consisted of crushed oreos and vanilla frosting – oh and a belt of that edible glitter! the flags and picks i created from vintage space imagery i found in a book and scanned, printed, stuck on cocktail skewers etc.

i missed out on getting a shot of the full favour bags, but they were just silver gift bags that i stuck holographic stars on. but! inside was a MARS bar and a MILKY WAY (if they’d been older kids i’d have put in STARburst too) and a very cute crayon wallet made by the lovely dannielle of with 2 n’s featuring the ‘rocket rascals’ fabric:

everyone seemed to have a great time and i felt really good about how it all went. each year i get less stressed about throwing birthday parties and relax and just enjoy seeing how much fun my son has. i cheated a lot this year and bought instead of making stuff but i was really sick so a lot of it was last minute – and you know, i don’t think the four year olds were mad that i hadn’t handmade the sausage rolls this year! we played a few games like “musical planets” and i gave out glow stick bracelets. we also handed out astronaut ice cream for everyone to try which was a big hit and lots of fun.

look! we even got a family photo:

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