Whether it’s walking on the moon, meeting aliens or exploring distant galaxies in their very own rocket, the thought of space excites all kids big and small.

It’s a perfect theme for both boys and girls, and lends itself brilliantly to games and activities. Your first consideration is making sure your child’s friends can attend, so go for an eye-catching invitation. Putty Print has a great range of space party invitations that can be personalised for your little astronaut and they can be sent out on the same day with free postage, so that’s the first thing taken care of!

It’s always worth having an activity that the guests can join in with as they arrive, and decorating your own space helmet or alien mask would work well. If you’re feeling brave then swimming woggles cut in half with some silver tape for a handle make excellent lightsabers, but do be prepared for the battles that will follow!

Let them all build up an appetite for the birthday tea. Split the guests into teams, and set them off on a space hopper relay race. Musical rockets is a fun twist on musical statues; get them to run around as space rockets with their arms out for wings – encourage sound effects too – and then when the music stops they have to freeze so the aliens don’t see them - any who wobble are out! To calm things down, provide each child with a piece of paper, ask them to make a rocket and then have a competition to see who can fly the furthest. Small space toys are widely available, either as prizes or to go in pass the parcel.

When it some to party tea green food colouring may well be your friend. Marbled white and green fairy cakes with green icing and rice paper eyes make fun alien cupcakes, and little green jellies make cool ‘planets’ to discover. Of course, make sure you don’t forget the flying saucer sherbet sweets!