An Art and Paint Birthday Party

Our daughter just turned 3 and we gave her an art and paint party. I was looking for something other than a character themed party. Here are some ideas of what we did :

We did not sendout invitations but if we did we were going to make a black and white paint palettes and have Karina hand color each of them. We would have done this just on our computer.

We took a piece of cardboard and drew a template of a paint palette and cut it out with a utility knife. ( about 2 feet long). we found 4 little matching bowls from our kitchen and cut out holes where the paint would be to put the bowl. Each bowl held a food item of a different color. In our case we used red ketchup, yellow mustard, green relish, and white onions. I went to the store and bought a package of 3 brightly colored paintbrushes (the bristles were big enough) and used them for the condiments to spread on the hot dogs we ate. The kids loved this! Also on the cardboard I painted on additional colors in paint and threw on some splatters of paint to be authentic looking.

The table was decorated in primary color plates, napkins and cups, all of which I already had at home and did not need to buy. I threw on part of a red plastic tablecloth over the regular tablecloth to make it look like a throw cloth under an easel.

To make the paint palette cake I used 2 cake mixes. I baked each one in a jelly roll pan. It was made into a 2 layer cake. I used one third of each for the 4 individual cakes and the other 2 thirds to use for the palette. I just the kids cakes into small rectangles and prefrosted them. For the palette I frosted the top of the large cake so I could draw where I would want to cut my palette template. Cut it out and frosted it. To make the paint colors I just used my frosting colorings and dabbed some on the cake staight. Swirled it around and it looked more like paint that way.

At the party when the kids arrived they began with different sets of watercolor paints and computer paper. That lasted awhile. Then we got out the finger paints and big newspaper roll paper. You can usually get this from your local newspaper for free or less than a dollar usually. They are end rolls that they don't need anymore.

Then we got out tempura paints and made handprints of the kids-- we did lots knowing many may not turn out well. We now have a great remembrace of the party and they had fun doing it.

Then we had dinner. Hot dogs, french fries, a round veggie tray holder with assorted veggies and fruits all solid colors to look like paint (this was a stretch maybe but it looked cool). Our daughter loves guacamole so we had that too with torilla chips.

Then the gifts. Each theme birthday we give I try to find a lasting gift that ties into the theme. This time I found a thumbprint drawing book on Amazon.com http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0316174483/sr=8-2/qid=1143291918/ref=sr_1_2/103-5210649-1499031?%5Fencoding=UTF8and bought her 3 stamp pads to go along with it from the dollar store. She had a ball with that for hours the day after the party already. Then we mark in the book that it was given to her on her 3rd birthday -- her art and paint party.

The kids decorated the cakes and loved it-- we wrapped them and and sent them home. We all then sang and then ate the large cake.

We really enjoyed this party alot. Alot of stuff we already had at home.

Just a reminder to have kids bring aprons or you supply them.

I found some of these ideas originally from http://www.familyfun.com/