So you want to throw a paint party for kids that will be a memorable outing and create not just art but happy memories for years to come. Well it is not that different from throwing one for people our age – except for one biggie, you have to plan it around a kid’s point of view. Just be mindful of the three F’s – Food, friends and fun!
Art and creativity can work its magic easily if you keep that in mind. Of course you need to have a good plan to follow so it all goes well without a hitch.
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Themes For Kids’ Paint Parties
As far as a special occasion is concerned…birthdays come to mind first. It doesn’t have to be any occasion though. A craft/paint party involving children can always be worked around a church, school, or Scouts event or something similar.
If little Timmy is a true budding Picasso, how about a party themed with Picasso inspired decor? That’s what one proud parent did here…
Or Van Gogh, Monet, Bob Ross…etc. I read a story about someone who used Bob Ross and his show and the cute animals on Joy of Painting as the main theme for his son’s party. All the guests wore some version of Bob’s famous oxford shirt and the ‘fro, and even cute stuffed animals were part of the backdrop. I’ll bet that everyone had a great time with that!
You may want to do a little research on the artist in mind, to come up with the right theme from which decorations, food, games and everything else will stem from.
Invitations
You can pretty much follow the same guidelines as you did with adult paint parties. You may want to do your own designing of the invite or use a online Cloud-based tool/platform like Canva to create a template (there’s many to choose from, and some are perfect for kids’ parties.), or order them custom made.
If you’re short on time or creativity, look no further than a platform that specializes in custom templates for special occasions, like Zazzle – you can find some that would be great for kid’s parties, and you can have them customized with the child’s first name, age,and pertinent details like the time and place.
Take my word for it, some of the designs are really cute, and they are done by talented people too!
What To Paint?
A canvas paint party just like ours can work out great for older children in which a pre-designed template can be used to follow along with, in addition to all of the supplies that can include paints, brushes, smaller canvases (less than 20″) and palettes.
If the project in mind is to be something other than work on canvas – many other great ideas come to mind, like decorating a clay flower pot, painting rocks, etc., all of the other supplies other than canvases will apply. Be sure to take into consideration the ages of the children participating when deciding upon the activity.
The Paints and Other Supplies Needed
With regard to the topic of choosing paints, I think acrylic craft paints such as these would be a great choice as they come in many colors and the kids attending won’t have to be bogged down with the intricacies of things like mixing colors. Tempera paints are also very kid-friendly; they wash off easily, plus they come in large sizes which will be easy to dispense; 3-4 kids could share them easily.
If you have a pre-designated design in mind for a kid-friendly subject to paint, it will help if you stick to a color scheme. Hypothetically, if your plan was for all the kids to paint a picture of their own magical unicorn (This is just an example; I know girls of all ages love unicorns 🙂
You should ideally stick to a palette of about five colors, white or light pink, purple, aqua, etc., By doing this you’ll save time and money by only budgeting and shopping for those colors plus it will be a lot easier for all the participants to follow along!
If you are concerned about safety of paints themselves this post will give you all the information you need to make an informed decision about what types of paints to use.
Food
Think finger food and of course, desserts! I saw on Pinterest one that caught my eye, an array of rainbow-frosted cupcakes, arranged on a large platter shaped like a giant paint palette. So cool! Anything you do for a kid’s party must be colorful and fun, naturally.
Incorporating art themes into the food is a great idea if you have the culinary chops to do it!
What do you think of these palette-shaped cookies I found below – is that cute or what?
Games
What child doesn’t enjoy a fun party game, if you can make it themed around art, you’re golden. Here’s an example of a Bingo game themed around different art supplies that yours truly created, it would be a great way to make the occasion even better, just don’t forget to award prizes to the winners too!
Favors
Also, no kids’ paint party wouldn’t be complete without a special take-along parting gift. A “goodie bag” filled with small art-related themes would be perfect, they could include a miniature paint set, some candy or other snacks, and memorable objects like a lapel pin, jewelry, etc. Of course, presentation is important too, I saw little mini paint cans the other day being used to hold everything.
Wrapping Up
Well I think I’ve covered everything, these are the main points to keep in mind to throw a paint party for kids with minimal stress and much fun! Wishing you a successful outing!
