Tuesday, October 9, 2012

Beth's pARTy: the finished canvas!

This past weekend I hosted a 5th birthday pARTy for my middle daughter. If its not obvious from the unusual use of upper/lower case it was an ART theme (I posted a pic of the invitation a couple of weeks ago ;)

An art supplies buffet... to cut down on the sugar!
This was the sign we put up at the front of the house

 My 4 favourite aspects of the theme were:
1) The art/craft tables
2) The dessert buffet (minus the dessert ;)
3) Art palette cookies
4) The cake!

1) I had 6 art/craft activities outside: decorated paper mache boxes, cards, foam finger puppets, paper cutouts, foam bracelets and portraits (pictured above are my eldest and her Nanny, getting all creative :)
I had a selection of art smocks as well as a bucket of warm, soapy water and towels, so the kids could wash their hands onsite and not have to traipse through the house with paint or glue on their hands.

2) The art supplies buffet was my favourite feature. Dessert/candy buffets always look amazing, but its just a ridiculous amount of sugar, so I decided on a more parent-friendly option and created a table of colourful art/craft supplies for the kids to fill their party boxes.


Mini water paints: Party Shop (Mornington)
Mini scissors: Reject Shop
Crayon erasers: Reject Shop
Rainbow crayons: Reject Shop
A5 and A6 paper rolls: Reject Shop
White boxes: Pack It In

I also had several lolly options available, but you could easily leave the lollies out all together.


3) I saw these adorable paint palette cookies on a blog (cutest little things) and really wanted to make them, but I couldn't find a palette cookie cutter anywhere. So I took DIY to a whole new level and made my own cookie cutter. I found one in my collection that was the closest to the shape I wanted and used a pair of pliers to bend the metal into the shape. The above photo isn't a great angle, but I was too busy with the party that this one was taken by my 8 year old ;)

4) And of course, for those of us who grew up with the Women's Weekly birthday cake book, the cake is always the most important thing at any party. As a kid, I would spend the weeks and months leading up to my birthday pouring over those pages, choosing the cake with the most lollies/chocolate/biscuits/icing-to-cake ratio.

Now that I am a mum, I am at the other end of the experience, watching as my girls angst over which cake they want- cake is too important to leave until the last minute!

This one was a no-brainer, with an artist's palette cake right there for me to emulate. I added another fun touch by colouring the cake batter and creating a rainbow marbled effect inside the cake.

Beth's mouth was full of food when she blew out the candle. For anyone who knows Beth, this is not at all suprising- that girl LOVES food so much, there's no activity worth interrupting a meal for ;)

Decor was really anything brightly coloured, or vaguely art themed and there was so much available in $2 shops, Reject Shop and party supplies websites- I could have spent a small large fortune on party favours and crafts.

But for Beth, as it should be for all 5 year olds, my efforts paled into comparison to spending the morning with friends and family she loves!

Please post any questions below and I will attempt to answer them as fully as I can.

Love Gubby xo

(Warning: Gratuitous nephew photos)