It’s time for another Tuesday Tattles.

A very long overdue Tuesday Tattles, at that!

Over a month ago, my Firecracker had his golden birthday and is now a three year old!

It has been an absolute joy becoming a mother with my Firecracker. His turning 3 has been the most emotional, yet! 1 felt like a milestone and an accomplishment, but he was still a baby. 2 was a quiet birthday with a party a couple of weeks late. But 3! At 3 my little man has such a personality, with strong opinions, a sassy attitude, and a smart vocabulary, it’s hard to remember he’s still just a little kid. (<- Yes, I just plagiarized that from my personal Facebook status. You’re not experiencing dejavu, Mom.)

Because 3 was his golden birthday, I really wanted to throw a Quidditch party with emphasis on the Golden Stitch. And while he says he likes Harry Potter, he really doesn’t know much about it. I let go of my obsession and gave him the option between Harry Potter and Space. He chose space.

Okay, time to “vent.” WHY AREN’T THERE SPACE PARTY DECORATIONS?! Once again, I found myself creating my own birthday party.

To make his birthday banner, I went the easy route this year. I found large black letter stickers at Michael’s. I made sure they fit inside the star shape, which I then traced onto gold cardstock. Cut out the stars, stuck on the stickers, and taped the string to the back. Easy as pie!

The most important decoration was the golden 3 balloon, and I got the last one from the party store! Phew! 3 gold stars were also on my decorating wish list; another mission accomplished. But even using blacks and yellows for the tablescape, the space theme only came to life with my food.

Planet Pizzas and Solar System Salad were delivered by a local, Chicago-style thin crust pizza joint. The Suns were a giant bowl of clementines. Carrots, cauliflower, broccoli, and yellow tomatoes were arranged to look like Rocket Veggies. Pineapple and green grapes were arranged to look like a Saturn Fruit Tray. We used a small star cookie cutter to cut cheese slices into stars which were served with round Ritz crackers for the Stars & Moons. We used my grandmother’s Christmas cut-out cookie recipe to make Golden Star Cookies. The trusty Walmart Bakery provided the chocolate cupcakes with yellow frosting, we added the star sprinkles to turn them into Cosmic Cupcakes.

My husband had one request for the party. The no-bake cookies from his childhood. I had him make them with Firecracker for the day. This recipe comes from his high school best friend’s mom. I’ve renamed them Asteroids for the purpose of this space themed party.

Asteroids

 

Ingredients:

• 1 stick butter
• 2 C sugar
• 3 tbsp cocoa powder
• 1/2 C milk
• 1/2 C creamy peanut butter
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 3 C quick oats

Steps:

1. Bring butter, sugar, cocoa powder, and milk to a boil in a large pot over medium heat.
2. Remove from the heat and stir in the peanut butter and vanilla until smooth. Mix in the oats.
3. Form into balls, or asteroids, and place on a sheet of wax paper to cool completely.

If you’re really intuitive, you might recognize the background of these pictures. We flew to Wisconsin to celebrate his birthday. And again, I need to give a HUGE thank you to my parents for allowing us to have his party at their summer home.

Thankfully the rain clouds parted the hour before the party and our outdoor gathering was a wonderful reunion with my cousins. If there’s anything my Firecracker loves, it’s making friends, and boy were there plenty of new friends to be had – we had a total of 16 (including my 2) kids running around the yard, playing baseball, and throwing 200 water balloons in a matter of minutes.

Those kids went home with goodie bags filled with star shaped sunglasses, bubbles, lollipops, and glow bracelets.