How and Where to Throw a Paint Your Own Party
Paint Your own Pottery Parties are perfect ways to bring a day of creativity and fun to a child’s life. It’s a wonderful time, a creative bonding experience, and it’s just plain fun.
You can have your party at a Paint Your Own Party studio, where you can paint unfired ceramics and then have the studio fire them for you, or you can buy pre-fired ceramics at craft stores and have your party at home. According to the Contemporary Ceramic Studios Associated, you should “strive to host your party around a theme. Having your party based around a theme helps you to decorate easier. Is easier to pick decorations and paint colors for a specific type of party than going with a general theme.”
To throw your own PYOP party, you’ll need a long card table or several that seat four to five children, all covered in several layers of plastic that is taped underneath—this way, as the tables become messy, you can tear one layer of plastic off while the kids are doing something else and keep the paint from getting out of control.
You’ll need chairs for all the kids and a few extra in case they bring guests.
You’ll also need lots of low-cost bristle (not foam) brushes. Bristle brushes are best for ceramic-type of paints.
You’ll need plenty (and I mean plenty) of Dixie cups and a nearby water source or several watering cans full of water, so you can dump and replace brush-rinsing water easily and quickly.
And, of course you’ll need paint. Again, this is where having a theme helps. For a Halloween-themed party, for example, you’ll need all colors, but you will, of course, need more oranges, blacks, and whites than usual. For Easter, you’ll need more pastels of all colors, and with Christmas, all colors, but lots of red, green, black, and white (for Santa outfits, Christmas trees white for Santa’s trimmings and snow).
You’ll need party favors. There are neat little cakes you can buy or make to look like an artists palette or a rectangle of watercolors, such as you’d buy for a child at any store. Also, you can pick a holiday or theme cake to go along with your party idea.
You’ll also, of course, need music, game ideas, and lots of fun snacks. It’s even more fun if they go around your theme.
Here are four great kid-friendly theme ideas:
A Christmas Pottery Party
A Christmas pottery is a wonderful idea for children or adults. You can choose your own Christmas ornaments to paint, fire, and hang upon the tree. You can then have contests where everyone can win a prize—the most inventive ornament, the most colorful ornament, the most detailed ornament. Everyone could make one for a gift and one for themselves. You could establish before-hand to make certain that there are plenty of extra Christmas-y paints available—especially in white, black, green, red, silver, and gold. Bring a small tree with you and hang the entire party’s ornaments on them and snap pictures to document the memorable occasion.
Glow in the Dark Pottery Party
They now make glow in the dark ceramic glazes and paints in glow in the dark colors. There are glowing yellows, greens, and blues for glazes and all kinds of paints that glow. You can order these online or purchase it at a craft store. You could pick stars, moons, and planets to paint at the party and have celestial themed activities, celestial mobiles, glow in the dark napkins and plates—the possibilities are endless. Turn off the lights later and look at your objects. Make sure to bring a bright lamp with a high-watt bulb. Have several children lie their painted crafts there after they’re fired—watch them light up. You could even make a dark blue iced cake and put glow in the dark stars on them! Bring glow necklaces and sticks and this is sure to be everyone’s favorite party of the year.
The Paint Your Own Pottery Easter Bash
Easter is one holiday in particular that lends itself to creativity. You can have the kids paint eggs, bunnies, Easter ducks, and Easter baskets. You can decorate the place in festive pastels with Easter decorations and have an Easter egg hunt after the eggs are fired or bring your own hard-boiled, painted eggs. Make a bunny or egg cake and play “Pin the Cottontail on the Bunny.” It will be a great time.
The Super “Scary” Paint Your Ghostly Pottery Halloween Party
There is nothing more fun on Halloween than dressing up for it – and you can paint pottery before going trick or treating this Halloween. Bring ceramic ghosts, haunted houses, bats, black cats, carved out pumpkins, and lots of paints in Halloween-ish colors. There are endless games to play at a Halloween party and endless types of treats to offer that are quite inexpensive: candied and caramel apples, candied corn, popcorn, and orange kool-aid. You can have contests for the scariest costume, most original costume, and prettiest costume. Bring plenty of Halloween type music or scary sounds with you and tell some “innocent” ghost stories.
Conclusion
Whatever idea you choose for your party, a creative party is a great idea for kids. Paint Your Own Pottery Parties help spark children’s imaginations and give them a permanent remembrance to take home with them that will last a lifetime, reminding them time and again of that fun-filled day.
