This post contains many links to other websites and products, none of these are sponsored, I just wanted to share the tools and items I used to make this party happen.
If, like us, you have a kiddo who grows up loving all things science, you know that eventually you will end up having a science themed birthday. But what kind of science party? There are plenty of “Mad Scientist” themed options, which our little scientist found kind of mean and not his favorite option. There are also party package options at most museums, but those were not going to work for what we had in mind. So what to do? How do you bring the lab into your home in an engaging and educational way?
A Kiddo Who Loves Science
We knew only an authentic science party would do for B so we headed to the science museum and let it inspire us. We ended up finding two books at the gift shop that really jump started our planning: 101 Great Science Experiments and How to be a Scientist. We brought them home and I poured over them to really get a sense of what we could do in a DIY setting. I then found a really cute party set that was “real” science themed and everything kind of came together after that. We decided on doing a two part party one for friends and then one for family. Every detail would be science themed, we would do several “live” experiments with the kids, and then watch some Magic School Bus. I will warn you now that we went a little more than a bit overboard in our planning and we could have scaled back by 75% and still had a wonderful party, so don’t feel like you must match everything we did!
Experimenting With Science Experiments
We decided we wanted to do quite a few experiments to highlight as many scientific fields as possible. The one pictured above was a favorite of the kids. It’s from How to be a Scientist pg. 132. It teaches you about crater impacts on the moon and we were able to prepare it all with things around the house. I would highly recommend centering your experiments around the same principle, not only does this make the party easier for you to put on, but your guests can more easily try them at home! Both of the books have a huge amount of experiments to pick from and you can also find ideas on the internet as well. We also had a great deal of fun coming up with a fun drink that demonstrated scientific principles as well. I don’t have the exact recipe, but it was based off the cotton candy melting drinks that were super popular that year. You can still find recipes out there if you want to try something similar.
Bringing the Lab to Your House
The décor set I mentioned above was only the beginning of what we used to decorate the party spaces. Crepe paper, pipe cleaners, and science themed classroom décor also helped transform our space into a laboratory. We had a scientific method set of posters similar to this set that was a favorite of mine. The planetary swirly hangers were hung along the room in a rough approximation of their relative positions to each other, which was very fun for Hubby to figure out! The cupcakes we got to serve as dessert for the friend party were wrapped in science themed wrappers with cupcake pics that matched the party set. We even found a place that could make a science themed cake print for the cake for the family party! You, of course do not need to go this overboard, but it’s a bit fun to include some specialized items with a party theme like this.
A Very Happy Scientist
In the end, this was one of our favorite parties we have ever had. It was really fun delving into the world of science and watching the party guests learn more about the world of science as well. B was absolutely thrilled and even to this day still uses some of the items we put together for the party. We had fantastic science themed favor bags that the kids got to take home full of items they could use to conduct more experiments at home, I plan to write about those soon, so check back for that! I hope this helped you start to imagine what a science party could be for your favorite little scientist and I would love to hear how it went in the comments below!
