Host a Family Astronomy Night Your School Talks About All Year

Family STEM nights have a familiar problem: the same folding tables, the same baking-soda volcano, the same attendance. Put a 20-foot planetarium dome in the gym and attendance stops being a problem.

How an evening event runs

Evening sessions run like our school-day ones: live, 30 minutes each, with a few minutes between groups to swap out. Each session holds up to 50 people — and at a family night, that count includes the adults, who are in the dome too (parents are reliably the ones gasping at Saturn).

A weekday evening is priced like a school day: $999 for up to 4 sessions, $1,499 for up to 12. Most family nights fit comfortably in the 4-session format — that’s 200 people under the stars in one evening.

Prices shown are as of March 2026 — current rates are always on our pricing page.

Why it works better than a table event

A planetarium gives the evening a main stage. Families arrive for a session time instead of wandering stations, which fixes the two classic family-night failure modes: the trickle of early leavers and the “we saw everything in 15 minutes” shrug. Schools often run their other STEM tables in the cafeteria while dome groups rotate — the dome pulls the crowd, the tables keep them.

Timed entry, zero chaos

The 50-per-session format organizes the night for you. Families sign up for a session time (or grab tickets at the door), and the PTO’s whole logistical job is a sign-up sheet. We arrive about 30 minutes before the first session, run the evening, and pack out about 30 minutes after the last one.

PTOs: this is a fundable number

At that price for an evening that serves 200 people, plenty of PTOs cover it outright or pair it with a small ticket price. It also stacks well with a book fair or concession sales — the dome brings the families; the rest of the night monetizes the crowd.

“We will most definitely do this again next year.” — Jennifer Musielak, Teacher, Munster IN

The dome needs a 20×20-foot floor and a 12-foot ceiling — if your gym hosts assemblies, you’re set. Launch Your Mission and tell us your headcount; we’ll tell you how many sessions the night needs.