We recently celebrated Zoe’s 8th birthday with a creative and colourful art party! It was so much fun to see Zoe and her friends express their creativity and I, of course, enjoyed creating such a fun and colourful party for her.
We’ve always hosted the girls’ birthday parties at our house, and I always love decorating our home to fit whatever magical theme they’ve requested. However, this year was a little different for us. We ended up hosting her party at a local art studio.
Zoe is so creative and loves to draw, paint, and create, so it was no surprise when she requested an art-themed party to celebrate her 8th birthday this year. We could have hosted it at our house and I had a lot of fun ideas to decorate our home (these are my favourites) and keep Zoe and her friends busy, but we ultimately decided to host it at an art studio in town. I am so glad we did because the girls loved being taught an art lesson by a real artist and she was so great with the kids.
We did have a small gathering at our home the next day with family, so I still did get the chance to do a little decorating and party planning.
This is how I threw Zoe a creative and colourful art party…
The Colour Palette
It was an art party, so I wanted to make sure everything was very bright and colourful! I usually start with some piece of inspiration and pull the colours I want to include from that. This year, I started with the party invitations. This is the invitation I ordered and I simply made my edits and printed it at home on heavy cardstock.
I ended up using all of the colours in the party decor, except for lime green. There was no particular reason why just personal preference.
The Decor
I love decorating for parties with balloons because they are a super inexpensive way to make a really big impact. The very first balloon garland I made was for Zoe’s circus birthday and it literally took me hours and hours to put together. Since then I’ve really finessed my balloon garland skills, and I made this one in just over one hour.
Don’t let it overwhelm you, they are really easy to create once you get the hang of it. This is my favourite place to buy balloons because they have an amazing selection of high-quality balloons at a really reasonable price. I find the best balloon garlands include a variety of sizes, I usually use 5″, 12″ and a few 18-24″ balloons to create a really full and professional-looking garland. Also, an electric balloon pump is a must!
Other than the balloons, I didn’t do too much in terms of decor. If we were having her friends to our home too, I would have done a little bit more. I usually centre the decor around our dining room sideboard, with some type of backdrop and lots of balloons. It makes the perfect display area for treats and really helps to create a cohesive theme.
I was considering creating a painted canvas using the splatter technique in our colour palette. I thought it would have looked really fun surrounded by the balloon garland.
The Flowers
Flowers are also always a must for me when it comes to parties, they just add an instant pop of cheerfulness! I made two arrangements, one large and one small, using inexpensive flowers from the grocery store. A mix of pink, purple and yellow carnations, daisies and chrysanthemums were all it took to make these sweet arrangements.
The Tabletop
I draped our dining room table in a light blue tablecloth with a simple lace edge detail, it just adds a little bit of softness to the space.
Next, I set the table using paper plates, cups and napkins in a variety of fun colours to match our colour palette. I mixed and matched each place setting to create a colourful and fun tablescape.
Tissue paper confetti came in handy to sprinkle along the tabletop and sideboard. It was the perfect way to add a little bit of whimsy and extra colour.
The Sweet Treats
A birthday party isn’t complete without a few delicious sweet treats! We usually go all out with a custom cake to match the party theme. However, this year, Nick and Zoe made the cupcakes themselves (recipe coming soon!).
They made simple vanilla cupcakes and topped them with buttercream icing in a light shade of pink and beautiful rainbow sprinkles. We also made sure we had some fun cookies and rainbow lollipops on hand too.
The Activities
Painting of course! As I mentioned, we hosted Zoe’s party with her friends at a local art studio, where they were given a painting lesson and created the most adorable artwork. However, if you were hosting at home, I would pick up a few supplies and let the kids have fun creating their own masterpieces. All you would need is colourful smocks, tabletop easels, canvases, paintbrushes, palettes and paint.
The Party Favours
I know the kids always look forward to taking home a little something special, and party favours are a really wonderful way to say thank you to your guests. To keep things consistent, I create party favours that fit with our party theme. This year, I knew the girls would all be taking home their very own paintings, but I also wanted to include one more treat for them. We packaged a miniature canvas, paintbrush and paint, all tied together with a colourful ribbon so that they could continue to practice their newfound painting skills at home.
We had a blast celebrating our sweet girl with this super fun art birthday party, and I hope it’s provided a little bit of inspiration for your own art-themed party at home.
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