Space-Themed Stocking: Celebrating the Moon Landing!

Here in Houston, we're all very aware and proud of the 40th anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing. In honor of that event, here are some ideas for a space-themed Christmas stocking for the budding astronaut in your life. First, Johnson Space Center's gift shop carries this "Space Toob", a tube filled with small astronauts, space vehicles, and even a little space chimp. It's great for imaginative play, and the tube will look cute stocking out of a Christmas stocking. For those of you who don't live in Houston or Florida, it's also available from Amazon.

And you just can't have a space-themed stocking without astronaut ice cream! This used to be something exotic you could only get on a school field trip to a science museum, but nowadays, astronaut ice cream -- or even alien ice cream! -- is readily available from many retailers including the Perpetual Kid website. Heck, these days you can even choose chocolate chip, mint chocolate chip, or an astronaut ice cream sandwich! The Kennedy Space Center gift shop, which also sells online, even has a can of moon soup, although I doubt the little ones will find that exciting as the ice cream.

Another space-themed stocking stuffer: glow-in-the-dark stars and planets to decorate your child's ceiling. The previous owners of our current home included a teenaged boy, whose bedroom is now my office. We bought this house five years ago, and I still haven't taken down the NASA space shuttle wallpaper border or the glowing stars on the ceiling because I get such a kick out of them! These stars can be found at the Kennedy Space Center gift shop, and I imagine they can be found elsewhere where novelties are sold, such as Spencer's Gifts.

Once you start looking, you'll see that space-related stocking stuffers are remarkably easy to find. And if your son or daughter or niece or nephew is really into this space stuff, here is the ultimate gift to pair with your themed stocking: the NASA flight suit, which is available in orange or white. These aren't cheap, at $49.99. But we purchased one for our almost-nephew (son of a very close friend) a few years ago, and his mother reports that it's hard to get him out of it because he loves it so much! It does double-duty as a Halloween costume, and has provided hours and hours of play time for him. We purchased it at least one size bigger because we knew he would probably grow out of it quickly, and it turns out the danger is him wearing it out before he outgrows it!

Finally, for some extra quality time with your child, you could spend some of your Christmas vacation helping him or her build a space shuttle out of cardboard boxes. Back when I was a kid, I built a "viper" out of cardboard boxes based on my favorite show, Battlestar Galactica (yes, I'm dating myself -- I mean the old version, although I also love the new show!), and it's one of my fondest memories.