An Outer Space Birthday Party

For the last several years, I have opted to do a combined family birthday party for Jimmy and Sophia because their birthdays are both in February.  The past themes have been complementary -- meaning that they are two different ideas but still go together in design (for example, unicorns and dragons, penguins and polar bears, fishing and flamingos).  But this year, I chose a single theme and made it all encompassing.

I asked the kids first if they liked the idea and they were BOTH equally excited.  And so, that is how we moved forward on an Outer Space Birthday Party for my 5 year old boy and 10 year old girl.

One of the main focal points is the cake.  It goes on a table all of its own and is always baked and decorated by me.  It's often a labor of love but is truly something that I enjoy.

Sophia helped with the interior portion of her cake after I showed her an idea of what I planned to attempt.  We did a trial run on the cake balls inside first (the week before) and after making a couple of minor adjustments, I knew that they work perfectly INSIDE the cake.

Basically, we made colored cake balls that represented planets in the solar system:

But, once I cut off a thin layer in order to make it level (for the 2-layer cake), it looked exactly like I had pictured it in my mind -- complete with some milky way swirls of white throughout the universe.

Later, I swirled colors to make it look like a galaxy and even added some fine, edible glitter stars. 

For Jimmy's cake, I kept it more simple and turned his into a moon with a few craters and an astronaut.  He loved his just as much and it offered our guests the option to have vanilla cake if they wanted.

Something else that was a labor of love was this balloon arch.  I made one the year before for Sophia's Flamingo Party and it was such a hit that I decided to assemble another one.  All of the balloons were blown up with regular air -- no helium -- and they seemed to last FOREVER.  Jimmy still has some of the larger balloons hanging in his bedroom.

A simple banner in the background with some cut out planets added to our cake table.  The rocket ship cupcake holder was a favorite find and Jack was quick to help me assemble it the day before the party.

Some of the cutout planets made it into the back room to join the balloon arch:

One of my favorite things (and one of my favorite people too!).  The moon lights up and was a gift to Jack from Grandpa a few years ago.  I asked if I could borrow it and he was obliging.  Then, I strung some cutout letters on clear fishing line and added one and adaptation to one of our family sayings: "Love you to the moon and back."

A big hit for all of the kids right now is Amazon gift cards.  They can choose ANYTHING that they want -- so many options! -- and get free and quick shipping.

The most perfect gift from Uncle Z and Miss Laura for a little boy that loves watching all of the squirrels that come into our back yard.  Jack has quite a few tails from them hung in the garage from his many perfect shots.

I'm not sure what the appeal is with this sweatshirt (it's a POTATO?), but Sophia loved it from the second that she saw it online and Grammy surprised her with it for her birthday.

Celebrating 10 years with his beautiful girl ...

... and 5 years with this handsome little boy.