Out of this world Party

We just finished smart son's 6th birthday party- He had 10 friends over- they are all so cute and delightful. We decorated planet cookies, painted space paintings on canvas boards, did marble planet relay, played planet-planet-comet (aka duck duck goose), did pictionary, and did a birthday space mural. I really love good homegrown birthday party-- I could tell smart son just loved having his friends in his home. There is something special in sharing your space with people- it just makes things personal. If you know me you know I am a deal master and love to make things nice without spending a lot-- And I am pleased to report we pulled off this very fun uber cool 6 year old birthday party for $58- yes call me thrifty mama- (that includes cookie supplies, cake, paper products, favors, drinks, everything. The rest of the smart family is enjoying the freakish 70 degree weather outside- but but I had to blog about because as any party hosting parent knows euphoria sets in when the event is finally over. My big tip though is plan the different activities in different spaces so you can easily navigate kids to the next activity without losing them and you can have the supplies all set out ahead of time and you don't lose the kids while you are trying to clean up one thing. We did cookies in the dining room, painting in the nook, relay in the studio, pictionary in the playroom, planet-planet in the family room, mural on the kitchen wall. Yes I went a little martha this year making the favors (We found all the stuff for them when we were on vacation in Kansas - i found the planet marbles at moon marbles and the cool writing pads and spider web pens at the crayola store- we just spiffied the pads up by covering them in black sticker paper andmaking custom labels) and I have to say the cakes were super fun-they actually came to me in a dream over vacation (yes freud go at that dream) you can see a close ups on the cake blog. I was so proud of myself for the mini smart son astronaut picture i crafted for it! and the assembly was less precarious than expected! I also loved the chandelier decoration that evolved out of my tardiness putting away Christmas and added cool bonus at 3oo pm just during party time the light shines in a reflects hundreds of light spots all over the dining room and effect is magic and perfect for a space party!

I'd love to show the pics from the party of all the kids showing their cookies and paintings but I don't want to do that without parents permission as their names are on their paintings and cookies. But here is a shot from pictionary. Now I will go take a nap!