For my son’s fourth birthday, there was only one possible theme we could go with. He lives and breathes the planets, and yes, we do include Pluto in this house!

I immediately went to Pinterest for inspiration. It wasn’t like Party City was going to have anything planets related. Unless he wanted a Ninja Turtles or Ninjago party I was out of luck! I created a Planets Party board and got to work searching every possible DIY project I could find on the subject. Surely, other kids had wanted such a party in the past and lucky for me, I was right!

Since we were having the party at our house, I wanted the kids to have things to do.

I first saw the project to make your own Nebula in a Jar. How awesome would that be??? Then I checked the ingredients: sparkles, cotton, water, and paint. Four-year-olds, wood floors, and paint. Hmmmmm….

Instead of having the kids do this craft, I got one large jar, and small corked vials and created them with my son’s help. The large jar became a centerpiece for the table and the little ones I put in the goodie bags to take home. I made sure to hot glue down the lids on all vials and jars as the cotton balls soak up a lot of the paint, but it takes awhile for them to fully soak it up (if at all). I created little tags and used twine to wrap them around the top that said “Nebula” for the little ones and “Nebula in a Jar” for the big centerpiece. I loved them and so did my son.

Next, I kept looking for projects the kids could do. I decided that since paint was out, I could manage pens and had them Making Straw Rockets, (coloring rocket ships and creating sailable rockets using straws to launch them). This was a hit and the kids could see whose could go the furthest. We had them write their names after they were done coloring their rockets.

Next up, I had them decorating Moon Rock bags using sheets of stickers and pens and having them put their names on them. While they were decorating their bags, my dad and brother held up a large solar system blanket to block off the view of our front family room and dining area. Then I got to hiding the moon rocks I had made.

The Moon Rocks were just Easter Eggs that I had leftover. I filled them with toys, loose change, candy, and little pompom creatures I had made up with a hot glue gun. These I wrapped in aluminum foil, and presto-chango…Moon Rocks!

Needless to say, the kids LOVED the

Moon Rock Hunt