With mostly clear skies and warm temperatures, summer is the perfect time to host a space-themed party in your backyard. Here, we share party food ideas, fun activities and movies you and your guests can enjoy under the twinkling stars!

Space-Themed Party Snacks and Food

Plan your menu around Perdue® Space Nuggets, our tender, juicy and delicious chicken nuggets in fun star, moon, astronaut and rocket ship shapes. Heat nuggets in the oven or air fryer  ― or cook nuggets outdoors on your flat-top griddle, plate and serve as part of your picnic spread. Pair nuggets with dipping sauces labeled with creative names like Blue Moon Cheese Dip, Honey Meteor-Mustard Sauce, BBQ Comet Dip and Sweet ‵n Sour Saturn Sauce. Serve nuggets with fruit kebabs, star-shaped pasta salad and grilled corn on the cob, slathered with butter and served with a sprinkling of edible glitter gold or silver stars.  Continue the galaxy theme with a signature fruit punch, spiked with star- and moon-shaped ice cubes. (For extra fun, place hard or gummy candy stars in the centers of cubes before you freeze them!) Last but not least, be sure to have plenty of desserts on hand: star-shaped cookies or cupcakes topped with outer space decorations, astronaut ice cream and ice cream sandwiches or a DIY ice cream bar with homemade galaxy ice cream and plenty of yummy toppings – cookies, candies, brownie crumbles, whipped cream and more!

If you’d like to create out-of-this-world party favors for guests to take home, head over to your favorite party supply store or Amazon and stock up on outer space treat bags that you can fill with chocolate stars, planet gummy candy, freeze dried space balls, pop rocks, planet lollipops and more.

Galaxy-Inspired Party Games

Intergalactic tag, anyone? Invest in some glow-in-the-dark light sticks or sabers and, after the sun sets, let kids go wild with a mad dash around the backyard. Next person tapped with the saber is “it”! Or how about some glow-in-the-dark frisbee, kickball, volleyball or badminton?

For a more subdued after-dinner activity, consider a group project: building a LEGO spaceship or launching a rocket. You could also set up a telescope and introduce guests to the wonders of the universe. If you are lucky and the timing is right, you may be able to spot the International Space Station as it whizzes by. Or coordinate your party with the peak of the Perseid meteor shower, said to be one of the year’s most spectacular displays of shooting stars. Choose a dark spot away from neighborhood lights, lay out some blankets or set up lawn chairs and invite kids to sit under the stars and count how many meteors they see in an hour.

DIY Outdoor Movie Theater

End the evening with a big bang ― a space-themed movie, of course! Invest in a mini movie projector and inflatable movie screen and showcase an age-appropriate flick or double feature from the selection of our favorites below. For an authentic drive-in movie theater experience, be sure to offer buckets of hot, buttery popcorn and candy, plus ice-cold bottles of Rocket Fizz, Astro Pop or Moon Mist soda.

• ET the Extra Terrestrial (1982)
• Flight of the Navigator (1986)
• Jetsons: The Movie (1990)
• Space Jam (1996)
• Buzz Lightyear of Star Command: The Adventure Begins (2000)
• Wall-E (2008)
• Space Buddies (2009)
• Earth to Echo (2014)
• Guardians of the Galaxy (2014)