Let me start with a small confession…I had only seen one Star Wars movie (out of the six) when I first met my husband (a “character flaw” quickly remedied by a much-needed movie marathon). I’m still a bit clueless when it comes to science fiction in general. But my husband loves the genre and I love a challenge! So, for his milestone birthday this year, I decided to go with a “Sci-Fi” theme. I had to google all of the terminology I used (Quark’s Bar, for instance, is a reference from Star Trek)…
The theme was fun because it didn’t constrict us to any one movie or book in terms of characters and imagination.
Above: 1.) I got a pack of 12 cheap-o alien headbands on amazon.com. These were fun for people to wear if they didn’t feel like wearing a full blown costume. 2.) My daughter and I colored alien signs with crayons one day – okay, I did them, but she supervised and added a little here and there. 3.) I picked the color scheme of blue and green (streamers from Target and a few sheets of blue and green craft paper from the craft store helped to jazz up the entry way).
Below: A basket full of silly accessories for guests to play with. Light sabers, headbands & Spock ears are from Amazon.com. The “hypnotic glasses” are from Party City. The Stormtrooper mask is from Target, in the kids’ toy aisle ($8! I thought that was a fun find.).
Below: I made this cake to look as similar as possible (with my limited cake-decorating skills) to one my Mother-in-Law made for Aaron’s 7th Birthday…
Below: And, she sent me some adorable photos of him when he was also about that age, as Robot Man, Space Man and with his siblings as the “Spacemen Family”. My favorite is the one below/far-right where it looks like he’s playing behind the couch with some really cool toy, totally lost in his own world…Above: This is the snack table (before all of the silver star confetti was added). The star confetti helped to make it look a bit more like outer-space. The black is just a set of two black disposable table cloths from Target. Since the material is so lightweight it was easily adhered to the wall with “removable mounting putty” (you know, that white tacky stuff you can buy just about anywhere).
Above & Below: More labels, for the beer coolers (with references to Star Trek & Star Wars), drink tub, and pizza (“Papa Won’s” instead of “Papa John’s”, referencing Obi Won).
Below: Close-ups of some of the food we served. I’ll put a complete list towards the bottom, should you be planning a similar party, and wanting food ideas…And, what about costumes? Well, we had this fun idea to dress as the Conehead Family (my husband loved the SNL skits). We ordered these silly coneheads from Amazon.com and I tried to make capes like they wore, using $5 fabric from JoAnn’s. BUT, I sort of lost track of time (errr, I was putting it off because I didn’t trust my sewing skills) and I never made the pointy collars. Turns out, they kind of look like aprons you wear at the hairdressers’! But, that’s okay…they worked just fine… So, here we are, the Conehead Couple…
Hey, can you see “Mr. Bump” above? Eeek…can’t wait to meet this guy! Above: My Sister-in-Law and Aaron’s college friend who came in town for the party. My Grandparents…the cutest alien couple EVER!!
Below: My Grandfather…He just turned 90 a few weeks ago! Isn’t he a handsome alien?… Below: Just some fun party photos!…
So, there it is! If you are interested in the food ideas, let me list them here (and note – these are in no way unique…I found most of these online and then just added my own little ideas as needed! I LOOOVE the internet!)…
Beverages:
Beer = Romulan Ale & Spock Bock
Soda = Yoda Soda
(Wine and Water also served, but without clever names)
Snack Bar:
Black Hole Dip = Bean dip (dash of paprika on top), served with carrots & celery
Thermal Detonators = Malt Balls (I saw this, and several other great ideas here.)
Alien Heads = Green Grapes
Rocket Parts = Bowl of fruit…Note, I wanted these to be kabobs and to be labeled “Asteroid Kabobs”, but that didn’t work out, so I went with Rocket Parts. Asteroid Soup could work too…or something silly like that.
Milky Way Dip = Vanilla Yogurt (dash of cinnamon on top), for fruit
Leia’s Buns = Individually-Packaged Cinnamon Rolls
Galaxy Gorp = Kettle Corn (Yum!…These look like asteroids too…probably more than the fruit actually.)
Endor Trail Mix = Chex Mix
Light Sabers = My pride & joy of the party
! Original source is here. I did these in red & green. I first tried it with melted white chocolate and food coloring, but the liquid food coloring ruins the melted chocolate (apparently you need powdered food coloring for this job). Instead, I purchased red and green Wilton brand “Candy Melts” (I found them at Party City). I melted them on the stove top and then poured each color into a tall glass and dipped a pretzel rod in to coat. I laid them on wax paper and kept them in the fridge until the party (they were made a day or two in advance). Big hit!
Galactic Goodies = Mini Cupcakes from the grocery store’s bakery. Half of them had alien toppers from Party City and the other half had Star Wars rings pressed into them (purchased on Amazon). This was so fun because the kids enjoyed wearing the rings around after eating the cupcakes.
Wookie Cookies = Cookies (Yum!). I love this funny space-ship in the center of the cookie tray. I found it at Target the day before the party – It is a sippy cup…seriously. How funny is that? I just took the straw out for the party…voila!
Like I said, these were mostly found on the internet…I’m in no way trying to claim ownership of these fun ideas, but I think it’s nice to detail them all here, should you be searching for Sci-Fi party ideas yourself. I know I always enjoy crafty party ideas!
A very HAPPY HAPPY Birthday to my Best Friend/Miss O’s Amazing Dad. { You’re Out-of-this-World! }
