INVITATION:  2 parts, cardstock & construction paper, homemade; bottom piece was plain blue cardstock cut in rectangular shape with slit cut on top (shorter) side; top piece was rocket-shaped in green cardstock, red & yellow construction paper, foil, and sequins; top piece slid up & down on bottom piece to look like rocket taking off but rocket's fuel tanks on bottom cut larger than slit so rocket couldn't be taken completely out; Outside text on rocket: Solar System Exploration; Inside text: ZOOM on over for Udo's 5th Birthday Blast-Off! Launch Date: October 25, 2009 Launch Time: 1330 Hours Earth Coordinates: # Staggerbrush Rd., Sector #### Return to Earth: 1530 Hours  Report to Star Command by October 15 on Wavelength ###-####  DECORATIONS: in kitchen, helium-filled colored balloons with curly ribbon attached, plain purple plastic table cover/colored birthday plates & birthday napkins (all at dollar store), lg blue construction paper with son's name spelled out in multi-colored stars (did ourselves); in son's bedroom (we took out most of the furniture beforehand), 2 walls completely covered in black plastic sheets ($1 store)with handmade decorations of comets,stars, supernovas in gold, silver and red glitter, large cardstock circles decorated with beans, pom-poms, glitter, acrylic paint to look like planets; floor covered in dozens of mouth-blown white latex balloons to simulate moon floor   GAMES: Pin the Ray on the Sun > made big yellow sun out of plain paper & yellow acrylic paint & laminated it, used 'rays' made of craft paper with zigzags and each child's name on it; each child took a turn wearing one of my husband's clean sport headbands & tried to place the ray on the sun; Saturn Spin > each child had to close eyes & spin without falling as all other kids counted aloud to see who could last longest (when they fell it was on the balloons); Asteroid Throw > made a big 'planet' out of cardboard and splotch-painted it with blue, green & yellow acrylic paints & cut out 4 different-sized holes; kids got five chances to throw 'asteroids' (balls made of crushed aluminum foil)into the planet holes; Cloud Race > 2 empty cardboard egg cartons were painted with light blue acrylic paint & sprinkled with silver glitter; two teams of kids; each team had one long metal spoon & supply of large marshmallows; each team member had to run with one marshmallow to their team's 'sky' egg carton & drop the marshmallow into a slot; each did this twice then handed off spoon to next team member   ACTIVITIES: Space-related Coloring Pages > (Crayola.com) with crayons & washable markers laid out on play table in corner; Scratch Drawings > black cardstock paper was covered with bright wax colors, 3 layers of blue acrylic paint put on top, kids used wooden stir sticks to 'scratch' an outer-space birthday drawing for birthday boy; Cosmic Clinic > kids could use pretend medical instruments to treat space travelers (stuffed animals)  WHAT KIDS MOST ENJOYED: non-stop playing with the dozens of huge white balloons (one mother was overheard murmuring, balloons...who knew?!")   PARTY SNACKS/CAKE: plain cupcakes with vanilla frosting (both Duncan Hines) & decorated with 'moon rocks' (jellybeans) cake (Duncan Hines again)decorated in purple green & blue frosting 'blobs' to look like a martian with Skittles as arms/legs/eye/etc.; foil-packaged juices I found at a local grocery store labeled "Asteroid Punch" and "Cosmic Apple"  FAVORS: bought small blue paper/gift bags ($1 store)& decorated each with yellow blue & white felt stars moons & planets that my son and I traced & cut out weeks earlier; filled with 2 small boxes each of SUNmaid raisins STARburst candy MILKY WAY bars large marshmallows (put in blue cellophane & tied with silver stars hanging thread) shiny holographic pencil ($1 store) one small pop-up martian one small latex martian foil-bound boardbook (Moon Walk Galaxy Quest etc.) from $1 store homemade "Make a Martian Kit" (using son's craft supplies like googly eyes sequins colored popsicle sticks foam geometric shapespom-poms); kids also got to take home their space coloring sheet and two helium-filled balloons of their color choice; GUESTS AGES: 3-5 years "