Ada's 10th Birthday Party
This last year Ada chose to have her birthday party at the local swimming pool while also wanting to do a space theme. I couldn't find any space-themed swimming toys for the pool but I wanted to share how we set up the rest of her party, including the goodie bags, in case you're looking to do something similar.
We rented the pavilion outside our local pool for Ada's birthday party where we planned to eat and play before heading over to the pool itself where we could then unofficially stay past the party time if everyone was having fun. It worked great as the planned two hour party ended up going for three and a half hours long.
Decorations
A couple days before the party I went to the local Dollar Tree and bought a silver Happy Birthday banner, silver star balloon, black crepe paper, black tablecloths for the kids, a silver tablecloth for the buffet style food, grey cutlery, black plates, and silver starred white napkins. I may have debated several ideas in the store and actually called Ada from the store mid-planning to get her opinion. The silver and black theme looked great and worked wonderfully with the silver table decorations leftover from Zoey's party along with the gold one and zero candles I had bought a couple months before from the grocery store.
After gathering all the stuff together in one portable bin I remembered to toss in some masking tape to attach the items to the pavilion when we got there. That said, unfortunately the day of the party was gusty enough that the crepe streamers kept coming off and some of the tablecloths, although taped down, still blew about.
Food
Other than the previous year we've kept all of our parties at home so I wasn't quite sure what to do. Luckily I had the camping cooler to keep all the drinks and sides cold. Using it this is what we ended up having:
Pizza
Ada wanted pizza for her party so Matt called our favorite pizza place and did a run to pick them up right before the party started.
Sides
That said, I wanted more options in case the kids didn't like the pizza and for more variety so I went with our go to fruit salad and a veggie tray.
For the fruit salad I ended up ignoring the recipe and instead added only the fruit Ada picked which included: cantaloupe, strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, and blackberries. I then added the none-fruit ingredients and mixed it all together. We had a lot of fruit salad but the leftovers are so good on ice cream and, later, I blended the last of it together for a pancake syrup and baked those leftovers into fruit leather.
Kyra
Didn't manage to make the fruit salad before reviewing this cookbook but I did end up buying the book myself and the fruit salad... and its variations... have become my most repeated recipe.
For the vegetables I again had Ada pick what she wanted, chopped them up, and served them with my homemade tzatziki recipe that has been my go to for years. The recipe itself is from The Looneyspoons Collection by Janet & Greta Podleski but, again, I mainly just use this recipe and years ago, when I was too lazy to grab the cookbook, discovered it on this website from 2012:
Suzie the Foodie
Loved that I could check the ingredients on the go without needing to go home and check the cookbook. I've been making this longer than my kids were alive.
I then purchased Ada's requested sun chips and combined it with some other crunchy chips in our pantry to round it out.
We have a camping cooler so I filled it with ice packs, freezies, juices, and water before adding the above sides. After setting up I left the drinks in the cooler as a serve yourself by the table.
Dessert
At first Ada wanted angel food cupcakes but then switched to our Brownie Angel Food cupcakes. This time around we went for a marbled purple, red, and blue galaxy top to go with the brown (space black) bottom. We also made a batch of whipped cream ahead of time and combined it with space-themed sprinkles I found on Etsy through SweetConfettiWorks.
Kyra
Here's a link to my original post about these.
When we were ready for the pool Matt ran the leftover pizza and fruit salad home so we could save it for later. The cooler was then used to bring the leftover veggies, tzatziki, and chips to the pool so the kids could help themselves to snack breaks whenever they needed and help the party go for longer.
Activity
Going in I wanted a backup activity that we could optionally do if the food was late to arrive, the meal finished too early, or the kids got bored playing too soon. I also wanted it to be simple enough and stoppable that if we ran out of time I could toss them in the goodie bags for after the kids went home or if a kid didn't finish theirs they could bring it home for later.
Ada decided on bracelets so I upgraded her cord idea to elastic as it was simpler and worked for any age. I then matched it to the space theme by buying black pony beads and both translucent and glowing stars. Zoey's leftover beads from her slime party made a great addition to the activity too.
To hold them I bought plastic sandwich bags, wrote each kids' name on one (so we knew whose was whose if started and stopped), and divided all the beads up between them. I also cut two different lengths of rainbow elastic thread to get them started but also brought the roll of thread and scissors for when they wanted more.
Word of caution: When ordering confirm the beads' hole size is larger than the cord or elastic as otherwise it won't work.
At the party the kids ended up playing at the playground, nearby, while we waited for everyone to arrive. I had brought hula hoops from the Dollar Tree for anyone that finished eating sooner than the rest. We could've skipped the beading and put it in the goodie bags but Ada wanted to do it so I pulled these out after everyone was almost done eating. It offered the perfect opportunity for the adults to finish eating and let us clean up before heading to the pool.
Goodie Bags
Before settling on an activity I had gone searching for space themed swimming toys (failed) and other items online. That said I wanted to keep the bags simple as I knew there would be an activity so I limited my purchases to space themed slap bracelets and a mixed package of space-themed stickers.
For the bags themselves, for the last several years, we decorated white paper bags and early on Ada asked to decorate them. Closer to her party, after the items had arrived, I started splitting them up myself but realized I should get Ada's opinion on who got each sticker so after removing the more adult-y ones I called the girls over so Zoey got to choose her own while Ada chose everyone else's. Some Costco sized snacks from my pantry completed the bags.
And with that we had a party. Ada had a blast and I loved that I was able to add her theme to the party. Hope these ideas help spark your own ideas and if so I'd love to hear what in the comments below. Either way I hope you’re having a great day.
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