This is a happy child about to turn 7 years old. What would make little miss 6 and 3/4 so happy?
A party.
Plain and simple. A party. The kid is, shall we say gregariously social.
Her first choice for this year's celebration of Seven was Build A Bear.
Sorry, we know it is not exactly your fault you were born 3 weeks after Christmas, and we are shopped out, paying bills and quite frankly not all that up for cake either after the 10,000 cookies we consumed in the month of December...but still, you may not invite 26 of your best'est friends evahhh to Build a Bear at $18.95 a pop.
Insert long face.
You may however, sucker us into inviting 12 schreeking banshee little 7 year olds over for cake and ice cream, a candy pinata, and craft...if Mommy can figure out a way to entertain 12 little friends using old bucket of Delta Cream Coat acrylic paints that are currently slowly drying out upstairs in a closet.
Seriously, what could they paint? Have any ideas? Extra bonus points for anyone who comes up with something (think cheap) they could paint AND take home as their take home little gift. (I know it is rather scroogey of me, but I hate those gift baggies kids get at birthday parties with .10 trinkets and candy, ooh the candy and the rotting of the teeth.) And, for the record this is especially evil of me because if anyone can appreciate the finer points of a birthday party garbage, I mean goody bag...it is Ava. But, alas I can't do it. Must find some painting craft and make that pass off as cool gift.
Insert happy face. On her. She's having a party.
***Anyone who comes up with a winning birthday party craft or painting activity will receive a free 1001 uses pouch from me!***** Leave a comment and if we pick your idea, I will email you off line and send you a free zipper pouch.
14 comments:
My birthday is Dec 14, so my mom was forever trying to figure out how to make it special amidst all the holiday parties... Poor Ava :)
How about those little cardboard chests you get at the crafts store? They can each decorate it as they see fit, and you can give them sparkly, glittery, girly stuff to glue on too. They make awesome treasure chests for a 7 year old girl!
Good luck!
Delurking here to offer a suggestion.
Buy each child a wooden picture frame from the dollar store that they can paint. When each guest arrives have their pic taken with the birthday girl. Have the pics printed during the party, insert into frames as they leave to go home and there is both your craft and their gift.
That's all I could come up with!
Good luck....and have fun!
I recently watch 4 7-9 year old gals. A huge hit was painting little cardboard boxes (cheap) with paint, gems and sequence, glitter glue. Turned into quite a fun project.
Hmmmmm........I was a child care activities director for 15 years so I ought to be pretty good at this. Here's a couple right off the top of my head.
T-shirts are pretty inexpensive. Buy some of those foam stamps from the craft store and pour the paints onto paper plates and let them go at it. You can buy letter stamps too and they can personalize them. Sprinkle glitter on to the paint before it dries and it is very sparkly(what 7 year old doesn't love sparkly?) Also, you can put a small blob of paint on the shirt and press rhinestones into it and the paint acts as "glue" to stick it on.
Use a hairdryer to "set" the paint and they dry quite quickly, as least enough to send them home.
Another popular project was to do the same thing but with foam(or plastic) visors.
I'm gonna keep thinking and come back.
Oh, thought of another.
Lightswitch covers. Sounds strange, I know but one year the I purchased those cheap plastic lightswitch covers from Home Depot and let the kids paint them with acrylic paints and write on them with paint markers to match the decor in their room. They were a big hit! I put put some glow in the dark paint toom which was really cool.
I hope I'm not cheating by commenting more than once!
Okay, here's one we did every year that was a hit too. I was able to find it on the Family Fun website so I'm just gonna link there:
http://jas.familyfun.go.com/arts-and-crafts?page=CraftDisplay&craftid=11222
Gosh, this is the one thing I miss about my last job. So much fun with the crafts!
In summer school we used to paint a single tile and glue a clothes pin to the back to make it stand up. Then you can clip a picture or to-do list or anything in the pinch-part of the clip. My mom still uses this little tile and pin to hold lists, etc to this day (almost 20 years later). The tile was only about 1.5 sq. inches, and I put a sticker of a teddy bear on mine with a puff paint design around it, but I suppose buying a few stickers and paints for a slightly larger tile might make the activity last a little longer. It's such a cool little craft once you're done. Good luck with ideas!
Well, Ani stole my treasure chest idea. We did that at ZW's 5th birthday (pirates and princesses) and the kids loved it. My other idea comes from a craft kit that she got for Christmas. Mosaic tiles and stick on magnets. Paint the tiles however you desire - letters are coolest- stick the magnets on the back and arrange on the refrigerator door or other metal surface. Whoo hoo. Good times.
My final idea is friendship sticks - see http://jas.familyfun.go.com/arts-and-crafts?page=CraftDisplay&craftid=11111
We've done something that's pretty fun. Buy 3 different sizes (very small, little bigger, little bigger) of clay pots. Have the kids paint them. Then cut a piece of rope about a yard long. Tie a knot in the end and thread through smallest pot UPSIDE down. About two inches above that tie another knot and thread it through the next bigger pot, do the same with the last pot. It creates a great little wind chime to hang outside. If you need a photo, let me know. Have fun!
I love all the treasure chest ideas and photo frame one was completely awesome. I just have to add that since you're inviting a limited amount of girls and you can pick up a bag of wooden letters at just about any "mart" pretty cheap you should have the letters for each girls name as well. That way they can decorate the craft you choose and decorate the letters of their name, stick them on and voila you've got your own personal little keepsake. Combine that with the sparkles, beads, doo-dad's that you choose and it's making me want to come as well!
You ladies just gave me some great crafting ideas for a bored almost 6 year old!
Okay, I'm going to start with twelv 7 year old girls and paint!!!!! What planet do you live on????? Okay, done with that now. My favorite activity for that age b-day party is (buy small canvas tote bags...you should make them, I CAN'T SEW)and fabric markers or sharpies and let the girls draw on them. Use stencils for names. I have done the more expensive thing in the past with photo iron on paper and done that on one side of the bag while the kids were playing, and then let them color/draw o the other side. Also, Valentines candy is out...(I have a son turning 7 on 2/8) I like to buy the small bags of pretzels, goldfish, raisins, and fruit snacks for the goody bags. Of course, the goody bags are the bags they made themselves. Occasionally I alsoincluse a matchbox car or chapstick if I can get them cheap.
jenarowATyahooDOTcom
There are tons of little wooden items that you can get to paint at The Dollar Tree (do you have them where you live?) such as: birdhouses, animal shapes, words (hope, believe,dream, etc.) My 5 year old really enjoyed painting them. Another idea is Michael's or any other craft stores. Hope things go well. You are one brave lady!
Ok, sorry if someone already mentioned this, but I don't have time to read each post right now.
My daughters class painted small ceramic tiles(inexpensive) last year. Pour the paint on a paper plate (using their choice of a color),have one child put her hand in the paint and leave her hand print on the tile. Then the second child does the same and leaves her hand print over top the first (one hand print pointing to the left of the tile and one pointing to the right) so that their palms are crossing over each other. Or, if their hands are really tiny, they can do them side by side. You can write 'Friends' at the top with a small paint brush or use a sticker that reads 'Friends.' They were left at school to dry, coated with a clear coat and hook and then sent home. Too cute. My daughter and I decided to do our own that is used as a pot holder when she helps me cook:)Rarely is anything ever put on it!lol
Have fun with whatever you do. We had our daughter's 5 birthday party in November and had 29 kids there...crazy! It was a lot of fun though.
Let's see... Let them paint flower pots and plant seeds in them. Krylon gloss spray acrylic is great for setting the paint! You could also make up some salt dough ornaments and let them paint them - maybe make mobiles out of them? My 5yo and I painted ornies for Christmas. Bath bombs are fun to make, too; tag me for instructions. Sounds like a really fun birthday! :)
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