Pinatas
Saturn
Rocket Ship
Robot

Invitations
Cut out a rocket ship with a front door that opens. On the front it reads: John's space party will be out of this world! Open the hatch to find the date, time, place for the party.

Or print up an invitation here.

Cakes
Rocket cupcake cake

Mars Cake: Bake or purchase a bundt cake. Frost cake with white frosting or whipped cream. Sprinkle with broken bits of Butterfinger candy bars for a Martian surface. Top with an American flag and a small toy spaceship.

Decorations
Colors should be black, silver and purple.

Make a giant rocket ship from a large cardboard box.

Add stars, planets, shooting stars and even aliens

Costumes/Dress up
Make an alien headband with two antennae by attaching lime green Styrofoam balls to pipe cleaners and wrapping around a headband.

Games and Activities
Space Match (ages 3-7)
Match the colored terrestrial picture to its sillhouette. Just print and play.

Save Planet Earth (ages 3-16)
Indicate something as planet earth; you can use a ball, or a tree, or a lawn chair, whatever. Split the guests into two teams, one to defend earth and one to attack it with meteors. The attacking team has several beach balls (meteors) to try to hit earth and the defending team tries to keep earth from being hit. Someone defending earth can hold a ball to keep it from hitting earth, but then they can’t move. The key is to have more balls to throw than defenders. Just keep throwing the balls again and again. After some time have the teams trade positions.

Capture the Alien (ages 4-16)
Put three aliens on the back of each guest with a piece of masking tape. Instruct the guests to capture as many aliens as they can. The game is over when everyone has lost their aliens  from their backs. The winner has the most aliens.

Collect Moon Rocks (ages 5-12)
Astronauts work with a bulky space suit. Use some dryer vent piping around the arm and tongs or a large serving spoon to see how many space rocks you can collect. Have the guests try to collect cotton balls with the tongs and put them in a bowl.

Ring the Planet (ages 5-16)
Perhaps your astronaut can name a new star or planet at your space party with this game. Toss hula hoops around a planet (large ball). To make it more challenging for older guests, try putting the planet in orbit (roll the ball).

Laser Guns (ages 5-16)
Make marshmallow shooters with ½” PVC pipe in 5-10 inch increments. They’re basically blow darts. Spray paint silver and add a single stripe of color with electrical tape. Provide the guests with mini marshmallows. Explain they should put the marshmallow in the shooter and blow. Do not spit or the marshmallows will stick. Make a target or the guests may shoot each other. Play this game outside. The marshmallows get too sticky when squished under feet and in carpet.

Rocket Launch (ages 5-16)
Make film canister rockets. Ask any film developing place if they have extra, empty film canisters. You need the kind that has the lid that fits INSIDE the canister, not outside. Get enough for each guest. Prepare early for this and go back to the film developing place often if you need to. Sometimes they have them, and sometimes they don’t. Give each guest a film canister, an Alka-Seltzer tab, and a bottle of water. Fill the canister with water, add the tab, put on the lid, place on the ground upside down, and step back. The canister will launch itself. If there’s enough of the tab left, try it again with more water.

UFO Frisbee (ages 7-16)
Turn a Frisbee into a UFO by hot gluing half of a foam ball to the top of it. Make several UFO Frisbees and play ultimate Frisbee, Frisbee tag, or just have fun playing with the Frisbee.

Rocket Race (ages 7-16)
Split the guests into teams with instructions to build the tallest rocket using straws, popsicle sticks and a balloon and a bit of tape. Give each group the same amount of supplies. Then have them race to see who can build the tallest rocket in 2 minutes time. Rock out at your space party.