Space Man -5yr- Loot Rocket Goodie Packs

For my son's 5th birthday he wanted a space theme...to be a "space man".  What he meant was to be an astronaut.  So, the planning begins!  My husband came up with our theme...Hunter 5 Mission to Mars.   

For the invitation:  We took rocket graphics and included "Hunter 5 Mission" on top and printed them in color for our invitations.  I then cropped just the rocket and placed it on the front of the invitation with a pop-up sticker to give it a 3-D look.  Inside the invitation read "It is our greatest pleasure to announce you have been selected as part of the Astronaut team for the Hunter 5 Mission to Mars!  Launch Date March 22, 2003.  Countdown to Begin 1500 Hours (3:00 p.m.).  Launch Site our address.  Please respond to headquarters to confirm your participation in this Mission (phone number)." 

For the guest:  We made air packs.  Materials needed are cereal boxes, 1" wide elastic, silver tape (hvac tape), aluminum foil.   I asked all my family and friends to save their cereal boxes, and 20 oz. water bottles.  I took the cereal boxes and attached 2 strips of elastic by slitting and inserting the elastic then staple to the box (you're setting it up like a back-pack).  I filled the cereal box with newspaper to keep the box from caving in, then wrapped it in aluminum foil (just like wrapping a present).  Wrap 2 water bottles with aluminum foil then attach side by side, tops facing down, to the pack using the silver tape.  For an added touch we printed out graphics on crack-and-peel paper to make stickers for the packs.  We did a USA flag and a Hunter 5 Mission sticker. 

Food:  I made a rocket cake.  Using an 8" cake pan, the Pampered Chef Batter Bowl, a 9 oz. clear plastic cup and ice cream cones.  I found the idea in a Pampered Chef cookbook.  The 8" cake was on the bottom and frosted orange to look like the flames.  I then placed the batter bowl cake on top and frosted white.  Using ice cream sugar cones I took 4 and broke them at an angle and fitted them around the bottom of the cake with the point touching the plate.  I purched the number 5 candle and placed it on top of the batter bowl cake then placed the clear cup over it. 

I frosted the top of the cup and an ice cream cone, which I placed on top of the cup, with white icing.  I then made green stripes (my son's favorite color) on the sides and wrote HUNTER down the front.  The cake looked awesome my best work yet!  I also made a dessert that resembled the flag of the USA.  I had milky ways and moon pies on the table as well.  For drinks the children had Tang, the kind already made in the bags!  And, of course, there's always ice cream! 

Loot Rocket:  I asked all my friends and family to save Pringle cans for me.  My son and I took these and wrapped them in construction paper.  We cut out circles from construction paper, made a split to the middle, then wrapped them around to form a point.  Then we attached them to the bottom of the pringle can to form a rocket.  For an added touch we made Hunter 5 Mission sticker to put on the cans.  We then filled the cans with starburst, milky ways, crazy straws, toy airplanes/shuttles, pop rocks, laser guns (squirt guns) and personalized bubbles (we purchased the "wedding" bubbles and put our Hunter 5 Mission sticker on them). 

Party Day:  We started off by issuing air packs to the children.  Then we had an obstacle course because Astronauts have to be in good physical condition.  My husband turned our tree-house/swing set into a rocket using cardboard with white paper glued to it.  Once the obstacle course was complete we awarded each astronaut with a patch (sticker) on their packs.  Then we loaded into the rocket and each child went down the slide for our trip to Mars. 

Once on Mars we played a few games--a rock relay, the alien blob (a form of tag where the player becomes attached once tagged until all players are attached to form one big blob), spaceman bluff (blind-fold one player and the other players make beeping sounds and whoever gets tagged becomes it).  Once we completed the games another patch was awarded.  Then we loaded back-up in the space ship for our return slide to earth. 

Mostly the children just enjoyed playing in the space shuttle.  Then came cake and opening of the presents.  To hand out our "loot rockets" we played a version of musical chairs and passed the rockets.  Whoever ended up with the rocket got to keep it.  To make the game pass a little quicker we had 2 going at one time.  As far as music for the passing, the children sang their favorites!  I took a group picture of the Astronauts that I plan to put on a card for our Thank yous.    The party was a success and my son loved it and so did his friends!  I've had several Moms tell me that their children have already started planning their own Missions for their birthday parties.