Alien Birthday Party

These antennae are made with one chenille stem and two pom-poms!

What you'll need:

Hot-glue gun, two 1" glittery pom-poms, metallic chenille stem, headband

Make it:

1. Hot-glue pom-poms to the ends of the chenille stem.

2. Bend the chenille stem in the middle and twist it 2 or 3 times around the center of the headband.

Paper eyes morph balloons into a gaggle of aliens.

Identify your guests with a nametag. Use a kid's first name backwards as his extraterrestrial name and his last name backwards for his home planet.

What you'll need:

3 colors of craft paper, computer and printer, scissors, toothpicks, glue, pin backs

Make it:

1. Print templates for the nametag.

2. Trace the templates onto two corresponding colors of craft paper and cut out. Cut a slit in the planet's ring and glue them together.

3. Use a computer to create 1"x2" flags. Spell a kid's first name backwards as his extraterrestrial name and his last name backwards for his planet. (For example, Jonathan Miller's tag reads "My name is NAHTANOJ from the planet of RELLIM.") Cut out the flags.

4. Snip points off the toothpick. Curl flags around a pencil, then glue them to the toothpick. Glue the other end of the toothpick to the back of the planet.

5 Glue a pin back to the name tag.

This UFO craft is so awesome it can double as the party favor. Let kids decorate plastic bowls with office-supply stickers. Before taping them together, fill with candy. Be sure to add the little green commander of the ship!

Choose from sprinkles, sparkly sugars, and rock candy to give sandwich cookies an otherworldly effect.

Try this! Have a flying-saucer air show with inexpensive Frisbees (mini rainbow flying disks, $4 for 12; orientaltrading.com).

Originally published in the May 2011 issue of Parents magazine.