Monday, February 14, 2011

Calling All Artists: It's Party Time!

This past weekend was my son's sixth birthday party. He had 5 of his friends over for an art party on Saturday afternoon, then the artistic theme continued with a fun day with family on Sunday. It was a really fun theme to work with! Everyone seemed to enjoy the parties....but most importatly Caleb thought it was just awesome. We wanted to share some photos of his parites, in hopes that someone else would be inspired to have an art-themed party of their own!
It all started with one adorable, creative, and EXCITED birthday boy:

The theme was his idea. He came up with suggestions for decorations, activities and food. Of course, I had a few surprises for him...but he was a big part of planning and creating his party (just as it should be!).



Some simple invitations and thank you notes designed on Zazzle.com:
Some homemade decorations: A welcoming banner painted by the birthday boy himself, a chandelier of tissue poms, and a balloon centerpiece (Art billboard by The Purple Pug)



Of course there was a snack table!
Obviously color was a big part of the theme! Goodies included: rainbow colored Goldfish, M&Ms, Skittles, pretzel rods, edible crayons (pretzel rods dipped in candy melts, wrapped with crayon paper), fruit kabobs, water, and Switch sparkling fruit juice (my new fav! Colorful cans, and no added sugars or artificial colors.)




Details of the goodies:

I made flags for the straws with famous quotes about art, the kids had a chance to get creative while decorating their own cupcake, and the mini cherry pies were served at the family party (along with the colorful cake below!).

The Activities:

There were several art related activities.

  • Caleb wanted to play bingo, so I created an art themed bingo sheet using Picasa. (FREE!)
  • I found coloring sheets of famous masterpieces at SuperColoring.com. They had everything from Matisse to Andy Warhol! (FREE!)
  • We drew self portraits. The kids enjoyed studying the shapes of their heads, eyes, and noses in their hand-held mirrors!
  • The kids also painted their own lizard toy (we needed one messy activity!). ($1 each from Michael's)
  • Caleb came up with the idea of Freeze Drawing. Much like the traditional party game Freeze Dance, but--you guessed it--they drew! Actually, they ended up in a free-for-all dance by the end of the game.....they just couldn't contain themselves when Taio Cruz's "Dynamite" came on!!
  • Total cost of all party activities $1 per child!


The big thrill for Caleb at the family party was his cake. He had great fun helping me make the cake batter. He measured all of the ingredients, added all of the food coloring, and cracked all the eggs!


The bunting for the cake stand was made from paint chips (I love paint chips!) cut in to flags and taped to the glass, then I covered the taped edges with the black polka dot ribbon. The cake was inspired by the rainbow cake over at One Charming Party.
The recipe for the icing, aptly named "That's the Best Frosting I've Ever Had", is from The Pioneer Woman's Tasty Kitchen Blog. And let me tell ya....it's named that for a reason. I'm not a big icing eater...but the whipped-cream like frosting was DIVINE!! We opted for fudge frosting in between the layers, because we thought the chocolate would be a nice touch (plus I think it helps the over all color-effect!).
The cake was topped off with a perfectly adorable cake billboard from glittery gal Kristy over at The Purple Pug. These should be showing up in her online store soon.
Caleb enjoyed tricking the guests, telling them, "my cake is soooo white and booooring".....he LOVED the "oohs" and "ahhs" as I cut in to it.



The Favors:
Each child recieved an art kit and bookmark. They ended up being the most economical favors I've ever handed out....yet they are actually useable!! How often do our kids come home from parties with goody bags of junk that ends up right in the trash? I didn't want to do that...but didn't want to spend a fortune on them either. The bookmarks are made from Duron paint chips...obviously, they were free. The art kits were at Michael's around Christmas time for $2.99! A steal! I wrapped them in colored paper, tied on a ribbon and two tags. One was a thank you message from Caleb, the other a quote from Picasso that said "Every child is an artist.".
It really was great fun to plan this party...and great fun to attend it! Can't wait to see what Caleb comes up with next year!

6 comments:

  1. You are just amazing!! Looks like the perfect party. People would pay you to do that you know? Emily's b-day is coming up in March ; )

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  2. Oh....I'd love to do a pig party for EM!!!

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  3. Great post, even better party:) I simply cannot believe that I've missed your blog until now! Just fixed that by following along! See you on CPN, Jane:) (http://louandjane.blogspot.com/)

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  4. So ridiculously ADORABLE! What a fabulous job you did! The cake presentation is gorgeous. My fave by far is the art by Caleb. Perfection:)

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  5. Thanks Jane and Kristy! We had so much fun...too bad he has to wait another year to do it again!

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  6. I'm late to the party... but love this! Especially love the super duper rainbow-colored layer cake and the cake stand pennants! Great job!!!

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