"That's one small step for a baby ..."
May 23, 2012 8:29 PM Subscribe
I'm throwing yet another party (baby shower). The theme is outer space. GO!
I feel like I ask you guys for party theme help a lot, but you are very good at it! I'm throwing a baby shower and the theme is outer space. (Is Neil deGrasse Tyson a theme? He would totally be the theme, the parents are superfans.) I need some ideas for crafts/games and food.
Food: I have a baker friend who can execute pretty sweet-looking cakes. It is going to be a brunch-y shower, mid-morning. Normal noshes are fine (and most of it will probably be normal), but I'd like at least a couple space-themed sweets, munchies, drinks, whatever. I'm also happy to hear ideas of what to serve at a brunch party (that isn't a sit-down), other than coffee cake.
Crafts/games: I generally prefer some kind of craft that becomes a keepsake for the kid (at my last shower where the theme was children's books, we each illustrated a page from a story written for the baby and turned it into a book). For games, things that don't require everyone to sit mute for 30 minutes while a complicated game is run. Also no smelling baby foods or identifying melted candy bars.
I have a tentative idea about having people make stars and planets and rockships out of fabric/felt/paper/something, to velcro to a large felt sheet/wall/covered bulletin board? To hang in the baby's room (space-themed, blue walls, not sure what shade yet), and so baby could reposition all the planets and stuff. But I'm clearly not sure how to execute that. I don't know, it would be a busy book, I'm not married to the wall. My other tentative idea is to do some sort of "wish upon a star" craft where everyone will write a wish for the baby on a star (made of die-cut paper? fabric to be turned into a mobile?) to be turned into a garland/stuck to the wall/made into a mobile in some fashion. Refine these ideas for me and make them awesome. Or tell me they are stupid and must die. Or give me cooler ones!
As yet I have no game ideas.
I feel like I ask you guys for party theme help a lot, but you are very good at it! I'm throwing a baby shower and the theme is outer space. (Is Neil deGrasse Tyson a theme? He would totally be the theme, the parents are superfans.) I need some ideas for crafts/games and food.
Food: I have a baker friend who can execute pretty sweet-looking cakes. It is going to be a brunch-y shower, mid-morning. Normal noshes are fine (and most of it will probably be normal), but I'd like at least a couple space-themed sweets, munchies, drinks, whatever. I'm also happy to hear ideas of what to serve at a brunch party (that isn't a sit-down), other than coffee cake.
Crafts/games: I generally prefer some kind of craft that becomes a keepsake for the kid (at my last shower where the theme was children's books, we each illustrated a page from a story written for the baby and turned it into a book). For games, things that don't require everyone to sit mute for 30 minutes while a complicated game is run. Also no smelling baby foods or identifying melted candy bars.
I have a tentative idea about having people make stars and planets and rockships out of fabric/felt/paper/something, to velcro to a large felt sheet/wall/covered bulletin board? To hang in the baby's room (space-themed, blue walls, not sure what shade yet), and so baby could reposition all the planets and stuff. But I'm clearly not sure how to execute that. I don't know, it would be a busy book, I'm not married to the wall. My other tentative idea is to do some sort of "wish upon a star" craft where everyone will write a wish for the baby on a star (made of die-cut paper? fabric to be turned into a mobile?) to be turned into a garland/stuck to the wall/made into a mobile in some fashion. Refine these ideas for me and make them awesome. Or tell me they are stupid and must die. Or give me cooler ones!
As yet I have no game ideas.
You could have people make up constellations for the baby, using stickers, construction paper, or whatever, with a nice little two or three line 'myth' below it.
posted by Garm at 9:18 PM on May 23, 2012
posted by Garm at 9:18 PM on May 23, 2012
You could do what you can (within reason) to lower the pressure in the home to something approaching a vacuum. And you could see what you can do to try to lower the temperature to something asymptotically approaching absolute zero.
posted by jjjjjjjijjjjjjj at 9:23 PM on May 23, 2012 [2 favorites]
posted by jjjjjjjijjjjjjj at 9:23 PM on May 23, 2012 [2 favorites]
I am a fan of this, this or this, space themed-foodwise.
Oh, and everything here.
posted by anitanita at 9:46 PM on May 23, 2012
Oh, and everything here.
posted by anitanita at 9:46 PM on May 23, 2012
Pin the Sun on the Solar System?
A really fun thing I've seen for baby showers is where everyone gets to decorate a onesie for the baby. You set out an array of onsies in different sizes and a whole bunch of fabric markers. Then everyone can decorate them however they'd like. When they're done they can hang them on a clothes line and they become part of the decorations.
Space food for me will always be Tang and freeze dried fruit. Strawberries are a personal favorite.
posted by TooFewShoes at 12:32 AM on May 24, 2012
A really fun thing I've seen for baby showers is where everyone gets to decorate a onesie for the baby. You set out an array of onsies in different sizes and a whole bunch of fabric markers. Then everyone can decorate them however they'd like. When they're done they can hang them on a clothes line and they become part of the decorations.
Space food for me will always be Tang and freeze dried fruit. Strawberries are a personal favorite.
posted by TooFewShoes at 12:32 AM on May 24, 2012
Best answer: I love the idea of the space-things busy book, which feels more practical to me than a wall hanging. I also love the idea of making a mobile--maybe felt shapes that people can roughly stitch together and stuff with cotton batting, or having people fold paper stars (sort of like this).
Another idea would be felt space-designs to be stitched to a large piece of fleece to make a blanket--it could be quite cool looking!
Brunch party food: Quiche is always good, either regular sized or as mini quiches. Fruit salad is a safe bet, too. If you're ambitious, you could cut pineapple or melon into star shapes with cookie cutters. At my baby shower, which was also a not-sit-down brunch, we served egg casserole and skier's french toast, both of which are prepped the night before and baked in the morning. They're also both fairly sturdy and easily eaten while standing around. Bagels and whatever toppings you feel are appropriate would probably also go over well--just put the toaster next to the bagels and let people prep it themselves.
I have to admit that the nine-year-old in my reacted to your request for "space food" with "oooh, astronaut ice cream and Tang!"
posted by MeghanC at 12:33 AM on May 24, 2012
Another idea would be felt space-designs to be stitched to a large piece of fleece to make a blanket--it could be quite cool looking!
Brunch party food: Quiche is always good, either regular sized or as mini quiches. Fruit salad is a safe bet, too. If you're ambitious, you could cut pineapple or melon into star shapes with cookie cutters. At my baby shower, which was also a not-sit-down brunch, we served egg casserole and skier's french toast, both of which are prepped the night before and baked in the morning. They're also both fairly sturdy and easily eaten while standing around. Bagels and whatever toppings you feel are appropriate would probably also go over well--just put the toaster next to the bagels and let people prep it themselves.
I have to admit that the nine-year-old in my reacted to your request for "space food" with "oooh, astronaut ice cream and Tang!"
posted by MeghanC at 12:33 AM on May 24, 2012
Best answer: Astronaut ice cream = something like this. Mountain House is pretty decent; call your local outdoors specialty store and ask about their dehydrated offerings.
I would also support the Neil deGrasse Tyson* wish book: You each get a copy of this picture and add your own personalized best wishes for baby. Be your own fairy godpeople and assemble it into a book. Or perhaps a different version, offering parenting wisdom.
Perhaps a craft involving glow-in-the-dark space stickers? It would be neat to incorporate them into your mobile idea.
* Neil de Grasse Tyson is a theme. But then you'd have to call it a badass baby shower.
posted by MonkeyToes at 4:47 AM on May 24, 2012
I would also support the Neil deGrasse Tyson* wish book: You each get a copy of this picture and add your own personalized best wishes for baby. Be your own fairy godpeople and assemble it into a book. Or perhaps a different version, offering parenting wisdom.
Perhaps a craft involving glow-in-the-dark space stickers? It would be neat to incorporate them into your mobile idea.
* Neil de Grasse Tyson is a theme. But then you'd have to call it a badass baby shower.
posted by MonkeyToes at 4:47 AM on May 24, 2012
How cool! Two thoughts - have your baker friend decorate donuts and cookies to correspond to various objects in space - planets, moons, asteroids, etc. Also, maybe you can find those glow in the dark sticker stars big enough so people can write their good wishes on them. Have a blast!
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posted by paindemie at 7:28 AM on May 24, 2012
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posted by paindemie at 7:28 AM on May 24, 2012
Response by poster: We just had this shower today and I got the follow-up e-mail! My friend made a sweet Saturn cake that said "Welcome to the universe, Baby!" We called the mimosas "sparkling galaxies" and the punch was "dark matter."
We did a felt board (dark blue mounted on a canvas) and "wish upon a star" and the stars I actually got at a party store very inexpensively. We had silver and iridescent and blue. We all cut out and made felt shapes during the beginning of the party when people were still coming and we were all chatting, it was a good social activity. But seriously everyone makes Saturn!
posted by Eyebrows McGee at 2:49 PM on June 23, 2012
We did a felt board (dark blue mounted on a canvas) and "wish upon a star" and the stars I actually got at a party store very inexpensively. We had silver and iridescent and blue. We all cut out and made felt shapes during the beginning of the party when people were still coming and we were all chatting, it was a good social activity. But seriously everyone makes Saturn!
posted by Eyebrows McGee at 2:49 PM on June 23, 2012
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posted by Nickel Pickle at 8:39 PM on May 23, 2012 [2 favorites]