Craft party for DDs 10th bday - ideas needed

[curlyLJ]

DD is having a small party at home and wants an arts/crafts party.

Has anyone done similar? So far I'm thinking either T-shirt or tote bag painting with fabric pens/paints, decoupage, or buying a load of cheap A4 canvases for them to paint.

I'm just worried they will need some ideas or direction or it could turn into a complete mess. Do I need stencils, pictures for them to copy etc? A theme?

Has anyone done a similar party? Please share any ideas/experiences.

Lip balm? Lots of ideas on Pinterest!

Not quite craft but we decorated biscuits once. Had pots of edible googly eyes and things. My dd was 9 and her friends loved it

We’ve done this.

I bought white paper party bags and first job was to decorate those with own name/design/stickers etc. They were then used for simple treasure hunt to gather prizes in. Each child had own coloured sticker stuck on their bag and then had to hunt for on prizes with the same sticker on.

We also had those scratchy bookmarks from Baker and Ross. They also all did a simple stitch kit - can’t quite remember what that was now. All of the “crafts” as such were very simple and straightforward. No massive mess and not lots of skill, patience involved. We must have done some other stuff because it was a long party, think we also played classic games for prizes and of course the tea took ages!

I just went through the Baker Ross catalogue and ordered stuff - think a keyring was one of the items.

@imip I hadn't thought of lip balm. That might work very well considering their age. Had no idea you could buy DIY kits!

Jam jar tea-light holders
Hama bead keyrings
Dream catchers

@OnlyToWin am liking those ideas!

Baker Ross is your friend here

It was a lovely party.

@Ricekrispie22 whats on those ham jars? Is it like a decoupage type thing, tissue paper etc? I like those!

Hama beads and dream catchers seem to have been done to death. I think that ship has sailed unfortunately.

We also did one of those bear parties where everyone made their own bear and I bought fabric pens for the t-shirts. They enjoyed it.

They could make one of those name key rings made with letter beads to attach to book bags maybe??

Decorate a simple plant pot and plant a sunflower seed?

Bird feed balls. They can make them and take them home, hang them in their gardens or a local green space. Will give hungry spring birds food and this is environmentally a good “craft” because it’s biodegrabeable and won’t end up in a landfill.

animals.mom.me/these-birdseed-balls-will-bring-all-the-birds-to-your-yard-12633660.html

I have to be careful I don't pitch this too young as they are all 10 or nearly 10 and think they are teens already so things like bears might be out now sadly.

Oh yeah - think my DD was about 8 when we did that.

Decorate a picture frame?
You could take and print out a group shot of the party for them to take home?
Or they could make one of those frames with little pegs that they sell to put Instax photos in.

Tie dye? I bulk bought a load of white t shirts and then bought a dye kit. It was for dds 9th birthday but it was a big hit. Yo

As well as Baker Ross, check out hobby craft as they have lots of craft kits and often have 3for2 type deals. I’ve done fabric pens on little purses, paint your own money box and foam clay over a cardboard shape.

I’ve also done my own version of build a bear as you can buy kits far cheaper online than the shops. You can then decorate little T-shirts fit the bears & make birth certificates. This one is great if you want to ‘theme’ the party.

For party bags, you could make this pet of the activity, e.g. fill their decorated purse/tote bag with chocolate coins etc. I’ve also given little paint your own suncatchers.

Make sure the craft is fairly simple and mess-free otherwise it could become a nightmare. If there’s paint involved, think about aprons. Do you have enough or will partygoers need to bring their own? After all, they’ll be in their best party gear. I recommend foam clay as (if you do it at the start) it will have set by the time they’re going home & there’s limited mess with no need for aprons. Plus it will probably be new to most.

Good luck. It’ll be great fun!

I did one for dd's 8 th birthday. I had stations all around the hall with maybe 7 or 8 different crafts. I thought there was plenty to do but a fair number of the girls just weren't interested in anything. Or they would do something and finish in five minutes. I had a lot of what pp's have mentioned in terms of activities, but I hadn't really thought that not all DC enjoy that kind of thing. Maybe I would have some party games as a back up just in case.

Have you thought of getting stamps for the ink? They can come out really nicely. But are quicker to do than hand painting. Also you can get plain pencil cases/make up bags to decorate. I would look at Pinterest for some suggestions and do them to a theme - print out the pictures for the less artistic to copy. I think the girls would like to do t-shirts....tie dye is good as well - use elastic bands instead of string as it's easier. Or they can hand paint their garments. We go to craft sessions each week - (my daughter is 10) we have done bags with natural printing - take petals and leaves and with a rubber mallet hit the petal to dye the bag with the petal/leaf. Iron to set the design.

Thanks for all the ideas so far.
Stamps for the ink sound like a good idea. Some of the girls are more artistic than others so might need a bit of help/inspiration.

Keep the ideas coming please!

I just did one for my 8 year old and went to Hobbycraft. They had sun catchers and colour in keyrings.

I had thought about flower pots (home bargains had a nice set) but it was slightly the wrong time of year to plant anything.

We did tie dye with our Brownies (aged 8-10) and it was very popular. They also love any sort of baking or decorating biscuits and cakes. I think most baker ross kits would be a bit young for a 10 year old but hobbycraft and the works have kits suitable for older children. Decoupage is great but usually requires quite a lot of stuff and takes a while to dry.

And whatever you do, dont choose an activity which involved sewing. Kids are terrible at sewing 😂

Ds went to one where they made tshirt. Fabric paint on plain white tshirt, they decorated the mini wooden treasure chests you can get and a few other things, can't remember what though.