Solar Eclipse Party Ideas

The upcoming solar eclipse has been called a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, so that makes it kind-of a big deal, right?  I don’t know about where you live, but here in East Tennessee, most of the schools will be closed and kids will be home for the big event on August 21st!  And since it apparently won’t happen this same way again in this same place for another 375 years,  it’s worth celebrating!

I recently did a segment for our local news station, WATE, Channel 6 with reporter Erin Barnett to share a few ideas for a solar eclipse party, and I think you’ll like them, too!  We did the segment at my house this time, which was lots of fun in itself, but Erin also brought along her little boy, which added even more surprises!

Since this is all about the sun, we decided a sunshine cake would be a fun focal point for the party.  Like pretty much everything I do, this cake was a breeze to “make”.   In fact, we decided to start with a basic round cake from the grocery store bakery to save even more time!  We just requested it plain with yellow icing, and we added the details!

I don’t have step-by step pics this time, because I was demonstrating for the camera and forgot to take my own pics, but we basically just added dollar store sunglasses to the top of the cake for eyes, then drew on a little smile with a small tube of chocolate icing.  To make the rays, we just stuck in some sugar cones all around the sides!

It was basically a 5-minute project, and it set the stage for the rest of the table!

Along with the cake, we added anything we could think of that was “sun” or “moon” themed, including Sunkist and Capri-Sun for drinks, and Sunmaid raisins, Starbursts, Milky Ways, and Eclipse gum for snacking!

I decided to place the cake on my starburst mirror, and I just added some yellow card stock “sun rays” to a tiered serving display for a little more decor.

We also had some mini Moon Pies, some of which we decorated with yellow icing moons and a candy star!

And for a little healthier option–veggie kabobs, made with moon- and star-shaped cucumbers and cherry tomatoes!

Of course, Sunchips make a great choice as well!

My party staples like twinkle lights, a felt letter board, and light box are great additions to any party table, so I brought those out, too!  (I’ll share a list of these great party items at the end of the post.)

As always, it was great working with Erin, who always puts her heart into her lifestyle segments like this one!  I’ll be sharing the link to the segment on my Facebook page when it airs on WATE, so stay tuned!

And we had fun working with little Mario!  He will be the star of this segment, for sure!

Here are just a few of my favorite party planning supplies to have on hand for all kinds of parties!

(these are affiliate links)

Felt Letter Board

Cinematic Letter Light Box

Wired Twinkle Lights

White Tiered Platter

Arrow Marquee Light