How We Threw a Spaced-Out Birthday Party with Social Distancing

So it happened: my foster son turned ONE! We celebrated with an out-of-this-world, epic, space-themed first birthday party. The day went by so fast my head is still spinning. I’ve thrown a few first birthday parties at this point and this one was different than the rest. Not only did we have to plan decorations, outfits, and treats, but we also had to stay safe by keeping social distance.

This party turned out to be the perfect way to celebrate our little guy. EVERYTHING turned out so cute and it ended up being the most budget-friendly first birthday bash I’ve ever thrown! My only complaint is that we were so busy ENJOYING the party we didn’t get enough pictures. Let’s go over the stellar details:

Decorations

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BALLOONS: talk about making an impact on a budget! I bought so many balloon kits I struggled to find places to put them. We blew up 300 balloons and somehow I don’t have a closeup shot of a single balloon garland. You’ll just have to trust me that they turned out amazing. We had balloons in trees, on the mailbox, EVERYWHERE! I bought these kits on Amazon: 88-piece Outer Space Balloon Kit and 89-piece Space Party Supplies. I was kind of nervous to put together the balloon garland (given the videos I watched on Youtube) but the kit made it so easy, I was shocked! I also purchased a balloon inflater⁠—best $15 I’ve spent in a while. It was so easy to use even Ada joined in. What 4-year-old can resist balloons?

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I found some yard signs in my parents’ boathouse and decided they’d be perfect for the party. We spraypainted them black and got artsy! Iley Rose did a great job on the arrow sign. Mike did the “fueling station” sign where our guests received their cookies. I made “Welcome to Mission Control” and “Godspeed.”

To finish off the party decor we set up several inflatable astronauts, also from Amazon. We ordered rockets too, but they all arrived damaged :(. We played the theme from 2001: A Space Odyssey on repeat to set the mood!

Outfits

No party is complete without the perfect outfit. I found this adorable astronaut flight suit on Amazon and it was a MUST! It’s plenty big on our one-year-old so it can double as a Halloween costume this fall. The costume did come with a hat but it was way too big so Ada wore it.

Ada and I got NASA t-shirts from Amazon (adult NASA logo shirt and kids NASA space shuttle shirt, and Iley wore a galaxy print Jill skirt from our shop. Mike…well, Mike was handing out goodie bags so he needed to both look awesome AND be safe. This inflatable astronaut suit doubled as PPE and it was a big hit!

Treats

We made his first birthday cake here at home. We ordered a sphere-shaped cake pan set, baked the cake, and decorated it to look like Mars. He was happy with the singing but when it came time to eat the cake he didn’t like it⁠—he gagged and even threw up a little. Who would have guessed that?? It does make for a great story. He ended up eating a bit of cake later…I guess he just isn’t an icing kind of guy. The cake got good reviews from everyone else though.

And what kind of space party would it be without MoonPies?! We scored boxes of mini MoonPies at Walgreens for $1 each. Everyone was thrilled with them. We also got space-themed cookies from Coley’s Cookie Co that were ADORABLE! We purchased goodie bags with these cute stickers from Amazon as well.

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The very best part of the party? The baby was the perfect host! He waved and said, “Hi!” to every single guest as they drove by. What a champ! Some of his bio family was even able to come by. It was very cool for our family to meet his and to experience this big day together. I wish we could have all hugged, hung out, and enjoyed this day a little closer. BUT we had a fun, cootie-free, SAFE birthday celebration and for that, I am so very grateful.

To say we had a blast planning this party is an understatement. And for the party itself to be even better? Absolutely STELLAR.

Xo,

Katie