Space Party Decorations

There are lots of options for space-themed decorations, and there’s no reason why you can’t achieve a big visual impact on a small budget. If you are pressed for time, you can go for an inexpensive premade space-themed decoration kit, but if you have a few hours to space and don’t mind picking up the materials and putting them together, you can create a sensational indoor space adventure with one of these themes:

Solar system
Create pictures of the sun and the planets out of construction paper and felt pens or paints. The bigger you can make them, the more eye-catching the room will be, so look for large posterboard in the colors you’ll need (yellow/orange for the sun, blue and green for earth, red for Mars, blue for Uranus and Neptune, brown for Mercury, pale yellow for Venus, orange/red for Saturn and grey for Pluto). Make at least two sets so that you can stick one set to the wall and hang another set from the ceiling. Print out interesting facts about each of the planets and stick these to the wall as well. For instance:

• What would they weigh on Pluto? (If they weigh 70 pounds on earth, they’d weigh only four pounds on Pluto.)
• What’s the average temperature on Mercury? (800 degrees F)

Add a galaxy of stars to your solar system with star-shaped mylar balloons or silver hanging stars.

Glowing theme
Dim the lights and use lots of glowing decorations to create a spooky outer-space atmosphere. Pin up some inexpensive black bedsheets to block out any daylight and make it dark and eerie in the party room. Pin up glowsticks everywhere—you can buy them inexpensively. You can also scatter glowing “planets” everywhere, using inexpensive glowing beach-ball novelties.

Alien theme
You’ll find lots of little green men from outer space at the dollar store and party supply store, and kids love aliens! Fill the party room with inflatable alien dolls, or cut wacky alien shapes out of green craft paper and tack them up on the walls. You can also create little aliens with glowing arms and legs by cutting out heads and torsos from green craft foam or construction paper, making a hole-punch where the arms and legs should be and threading bendy glow sticks through the holes. Attach them to the walls by the dozens and use pushpins to pose the arms and legs, creating an “alien invasion.” You can also create a fleet of inexpensive UFOs by gluing two paper plates together and spray-painting them silver. For an extra-cool effect, ask for some extra clear plastic beverage bubble-domes at a fast-food restaurant. Coil a glowstick into the dome and glue or tape it to the top of the paper-plate UFO. Scatter the UFOs around the room or hang them from the ceiling.

Remember, often creating a combination of a few ideas makes great decorations. A possible idea is putting the glowing theme in a room for all the kids to enjoy. In another room you can decorate with a Space party banner and mylar balloons. Finally, don’t forget a favorite party activity and space decoration, a Space Pinata!