Rainbow Art Party!!

I love arts and crafts (obviously!) and I love everything rainbow. I don't know why....maybe because it's so bright and cheery it makes it hard to be in a bad mood or maybe just because it's so fun.

 

Either way, I was super excited for my neice's 6th birthday party this year:

 a Rainbow themed Art Party, YAY!!!!!

 

A hand-made rainbow, speckled banner welcomed guests to the party.

 

The party was held outside so that messes could be made and fun could be had without ruining carpeting, furniture and everything in the house (smart idea!). This also gave the kids the chance to stay busy while playing on the playset or jumping on the trampoline in between activities.

 

To start, each kid at the party was given a personalized art smock to protect their clothes. My sister decorated each one with the child's name, and some fun themes based on what each kid liked. You'll see them throughout the pictures :)

 

The first activity of the day was Bubble Painting.

 

 

 This activity was simple enough that none of the kids had any problems doing it (except when the wind blew over one of the cups and made a really big mess...but that's why we were outside anyway, right?).

 

It was a simple mix of dish soap, paint and a little water to make it bubbly. Then the kids blew in the straws to make bubbles, and then laid the canvas on top of the bubbles, leaving behind a fun bubble pattern on each one.

(Each kid had one straw that they used in any and all colors, so there was no exchanging of germs.)

 

No two were anywhere near alike, and the kids loved being able to pick and choose their colors as they went along.

 

 

Next, the kids moved on to making their own masterpeices with Free-Painting.

 

Each child had their own foam posterboard (regular size, 20x30), paint pallette full of paint, picked out their own brushes, then went ahead with letting out their inner Van-Gogh.

 

Emily is a fan of spreading peace.

 

Tim started out trying for the Splatter Effect.

 

And even the youngest in attendance got to participate and enjoy some painting fun.

 

 

After all that painting, the kids took a short break to get some snacks and bounce on the trampoline (not at the same time, of course! ) while they waited for their next activity to be set up.

 

Food was kept just inside the enclosed porch to protect from bugs and wind, and included lots of fun rainbow foods (all made by my sister!):

 

Rice-Krispie Treat Paint Brushes

Rainbow -Frosted Chocolate "Pop-Tarts"

Rainbow Veggie and Fruit Platters

Paint-Your-Popcorn Station (with edible food "paints"!)

 

AND

Fresh-baked Rainbow Bread to make simple, cold-cut sandwiches extra fun!

 



 

Next, it was time to move on to CRAYON MELTS!

 

These were my personal favorite because I have been wanting to try them for SOOOO long and have never just had the time/supplies to do so.

 

To make it easier and to ensure she had enough supplies, my sister purchased a "teachers box" of 800 crayons, and ordered 8x8 stretched canvases for each child. They were the perfect size for each kid to pick as many or as few colors as they wanted, and to hang in their room (or wherever) once they took it home.

 

As each child arrived, they were asked what colors they wanted their crayons to be, and the birthday girls' other aunt was awesome enough to take notes, and then glue the crayons onto the canvases for everyone. (If you are running on a time frame, this is very time consuming, so you may want to ask each child as the RSVP comes in, and you can glue the crayons on before hand.)

 

Don't let that scare you away though, because the result of the crayon melts was AWESOME. The kids were SO excited to sit and watch as their own personal melt was melted (by an adult!) and it was around this time when the kids were saying that this was the "Best party EVER!"

 

Watching intently as the crayons become art.

 

I love the ever-changing look of these as they go....

 

 

 

The last activity of the day was just as fun and messy as everything else: Noisemaker Painting.

 

 It is exactly what it sounds like - painting with noisy party noisemakers!

 

Pallettes filled with paint were set out and each child was given a noisemaker (or two, or three, depending on how long each one lasted once it got paint on it...)

 

The child then blew the noisemaker out, dipped the end of it in the paint, and made all kinds of noise as they splattered their papers with paint.

 

The birthday girl working on her painting.

 

Tim went for the "one arm behind my back" technique for a while.

 

Lauren was very proud of her noisemaker painting.

 

 

This one was one of my favorites, made by my neice Sam.

 

Goodie time!

 

Instead of a pinata (which we are always cringing and praying someone doesn't get hurt, or that everyone is happy with the amount of goodies they get once it breaks), I pointed my sister to  this idea: a prize punch box (idea found originally on Pinterest, from this blog).

 

She altered it to fit her rainbow art party theme, and filled each hole with either an art themed prize, or a popsicle stick with a number on it, that correlated to a prize inside the house (because the prizes were actually too big to fit in the holes, but that was a genius idea to fix the problem).

 

 

Prizes included oil pastels, paint-by-number sets, modeling clay, chalk, suncatchers, design-your-own puzzles, color-your-own paddle balls and more. Most of them were from the $1.00 bins at the local craft store so it was very cost effective, and the kids enjoyed all the prizes (each child got to go 3 times).

 

Lastly, after all the party fun and goodies were done, it was time for cake and presents.

 

The cake was an amazing Rainbow Splattered Cake, topped with rainbow-flamed candles.

 

From the back to show off the splatters and rainbow flames (hence the backward 6).

 

And, SURPRISE! Even the inside was Rainbow!!!!

 

 

 

Happy Birthday Claire!!!