After years of talking and planning, it’s finally time! The solar eclipse of April 8, 2024 is upon us! Our state of Arkansas is going crazy with planning. To join in on the hype, the girls and I planned an eclipse viewing party for family and neighbors. We also are adding an eclipse snack table to the the girls’ school teacher’s lounge for a pop of bright fun! These moon and sunshine party ideas can be used year round for any type of galaxy theme parties.
Since we live in the heart of Arkansas, with a supposed true totality zone of the upcoming eclipse, we are expecting 1.5 million visitors in our state that week! Hotels and AirBNBs have been booked for over a year now. We are always look for fun new ways to celebrate so, of course, we have to participate in this once-in-a-lifetime event. This will be no time to plan to drive anywhere, as the traffic is supposedly going to be insane. Most school districts in Arkansas have even cancelled school for this day! Therefore, any party we will have will be geared toward family and friends in walking distance of our house.
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Our girls’ school PTO committee came up with the cutest idea to have local business sponsor the teacher’s lounge every month. This means every month one group sponsors the lounge with snacks. For April, I signed our websites up to be a sponsor. Though it was unintentional, it turned out to be the perfect timing as the solar eclipse just happens to fall during that time frame. And so the idea of a solar eclipse snack theme came to mind. And for our house solar eclipse viewing party, we will use the same types of snacks and decorations.
Go With a Bright Moon and Sunshine Theme Party
You can use our moon and sunshine theme party for baby showers, wedding showers, retirement parties, birthday parties, and graduation parties.
Moon and Sunshine Party Themes
Here are some very specific moon party themes and sunshine party themes. Again, you can use the moon and sun together or separate the two themes for either a moon theme party or a sunshine theme party.
- We’re Over the Moon
- More Than the Sun, the Moon, and the Stars
- You Are the Sun to My Moon (fun for a wedding shower)
- You are My Sun, My Moon, and All of My Stars
- Moonstruck
- Cast a Glow
- You Glow Girl!
- Love You to the Moon and Back
- You Totality Rock (We used this theme for the teacher’s lounge solar eclipse snack table.)
- Total Eclipse of My Heart
- You’re Outta Sight
- Shine Bright
- You’re a Sunny Little Honey
- Here Comes the Sun
- First Trip Around the Sun
- Another Trip Around the Sun
- You are My Sunshine
- A Little Ray of Sunshine
- You Rock!
With any of these moon and sunshine party themes, you can use mostly the same type of moon and sun party decorations and party food – which we discuss more below.
Moon and Sunshine Party Ideas for Food and Drink
Since these moon and sunshine party ideas often involve kids, we love the idea of pre-packaged party foods! But even in our case – with the teacher’s lounge ideas we were brainstorming – individual grab-and-go snacks work best.
Pre-Purchased Galaxy Party Food and Snack Ideas
- Single Decker Moon Pies
- Fun Size Milky Way Candy Bars
- Little Debbie Star Crunch Cosmic Cookies
- Little Debbie Cosmic Brownies
- Mini Cans of Starry Lemon Lime Soda
- Mini Cans of Zero Sugar Starry Lemon Lime Soda
- Fun Size Starburst Candies
- Starburst Individual Drink Mixes (to add to water)
- Orbit Chewing Gum
- Eclipse Chewing Gum
- Mini Cans of Sunkist Orange Soda (or different flavors)
- Sunkist Individual Drink Mixes (to add to water)
- Sunny D Orange Juice
- Multigrain Sun Chips
- Variety Pack of Flavored Sunflower Seeds (This brand comes in multiple flavors and are keto and gluten-free!)
- Sun-Maid Yogurt Covered Raisins
- Sun-Maid Raisins
- Sunshine Blend Nuts Mix Packs
Moon and Sun Play List
Depending on the vibe you are going for, there are lots of fun moon and sun songs to choose from!
- Angels on the Moon by Thriving Ivory
- Here Comes the Sun by The Beatles
- I’ll Follow the Sun by The Beatles
- Talking to the Moon by Bruno Mars
- Fly Me to the Moon by Frank Sinatra
- Soak Up the Sun by Sheryl Crow
- Bad Moon Rising by Creedence Clearwater Revival
- Pocketful of Sunshine by Natasha Bedingfield
Check out a ton more songs about with this space-inspired playlist with songs about planets, moon and sun!
Moon and Sunshine Themed Party Decorations
The sun and moon just go together, ya know? And so, one would think it would be quite easy to find a tablecloth with both the sun and the moon featured, right?
Not so fast.
While we do find plenty of sunshine themed table cloths, the moon tablecloths often feature stars rather than the sun. I guess this is because the moon and the stars go together also. Anyway, we found the best solution is to either go with a solid yellow tablecloth and then add moon and sun adornments in paper cut outs, metal decor, etc.
Or – do as we did – and use a sunshine themed table cloth and some sunshine garlands above the snack table. (Be careful when choosing among the sunshine table cloths on Amazon as some of them have a reference to the number one for the purpose of a first birthday decoration. Unless you actually want a first birthday table cloth, you will want to look for a table cloth with only the suns. Also, our garland had to strung ourselves after it arrived. I was a bit annoyed at first, but then it worked out because I had extra suns to place around for decoration.)
To add an extra eclipse touch to our garlands, we covered some of the suns with a black circle to look like the moon eclipsing the sun. Obviously, this step is unnecessary for any other type of sunshine party.
Next, find cute baskets or boxes to keep the different snacks separated. You may or may not wish to label the snacks on the table. And there you have it…the cutest moon and sunshine party ideas brought to life!
You might want to keep the solar eclipse drinks in its own section.
A simple letter board with the party theme quote always adds an extra touch!
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