Craft Party for DD aged 6 - Ideas Please!!!

[Gillian76]

We will be having 3 school friends plus 4 cousins and a "craft" party at home. My children make the total number up to 10 and the age range is from 4-10 (I doubt how much DS aged 2 will participate!)

Looking for 2 or 3 ideas. No t-shirt painting as it has been done to death recently.

Thanks

Glass painting? Mug/dish painting? Little knitting things...

Have you had a look at www.yellowmoon.org.uk, they always sell lots of crafty things?

Baker Ross (same as yellow moon) sell little canvas bags, pencil cases etc to decorate.

I do jewellery parties for children - provide lots of beads and special beading elastic that they can make their own bracelets or necklaces with? My 3.5 ds loves making bracelets, so it should appeal to younger boys, although older ones might not be so keen. Unless you get some cooler wooden beads to make surfer style bracelets...Let me know if you need any stuff!

Sorry, meant to say that you might be able to find stuff yourself if you have a craft or bead shop anywhere near you!

Oh great ideas. Forgot about yellow moon. We had a catalogue at Christmas.

Beads sound good too. DS is the only boy and I don't think he'll be that interested really!

Not really sure about where I'd look for beads. We only have one "craft" shop which is really expensive and only seems to cater for card making at the moment.

Well, as I said I'd be very happy to send you some bits at cost price, if you are interested!

The ceramic paints that don't need firing or can be done in your oven plus cheap white mugs/plates are good too.

Thanks Satine. that would be great. Can you email me and let me know what you have and costs, etc? My email is phoenix_7545 at yahoo.co.uk

Hi Gillian! I tried to email yesterday but it kept being returned! Anyway, this is what the email said:
Hi! What I usually do is take along some little pots of seed beads in different colour mixes (pink/purple, blue/green for example) and a box of mixed larger beads, charms, bits of ribbon etc. Then I give each child a bit of felt, or a plate to work on, and a bit of beading elastic and they make their own necklace or bracelet. Then when it's the right length, I use a little crimp bead to fasten it. The pliers I use to close the crimp beads are the only bit of 'specialised' kit that's a bit expensive to buy, but if you or your partner has a pair of needlenosed pliers they would work just as well! A couple of tubes of seed beads would cost £6 (and they'd do at least 10 bracelets and 3 or 4 necklaces, easily), I'd chuck in the elastic and crimp beads for £3 and then the larger beads cost anything from 3p each upwards! The selection of larger beads would depend on the sex and ages of the children, and whether there's a theme to the party.
Does this sound any good? Do give me a shout if you're interested!
Best wishes,
Satine

All sounds great Satine.

A couple of questions...

Are the seed beads really tiny?
And are the tubes in one colour or a mix?
Do we need needles or anything or do they just thread directly onto the elastic?

There is no theme to the party and like I said all girls apart from DS (aged 2). He might make something with help though. I have 7 girls aged between 4 and 6, a 7 year old and a 10 year old. they are all very "girly" girls, IYKWIM!!! So a selection of girly type larger beads and a couple that would do for DS.

Let me know the total including the postage and how you would like paid. The party is on 28th February so we have plenty of time. Oh and I think we will be OK with the pliers.

Thanks

Have also had a look on Yellow Moon and I think we are going to get

these crowns

and these glass-effect keyrings

Do you think that wil be enough, combined with party games and food, to entertain us for 2 hours?

Hi Gillian! The seed beads aren't really tiny, I usually get the medium sized ones, so they're easy to pick up and they thread straight onto the elastic, no need for needles. The elastic is quite thick - it's like clear bendy string, I suppose, not like floppy thread. And I usually get tubes of mixed colours - for example the pink one will have three shades of pink, one slightly purpley colour and perhaps a silvery one, but I put the mix into a big bowl and it's not too hard to pick out beads of one colour. But I can easily get single colour tubes, too!
So shall I let you know how much it would come to for 10 children?

Yes, great Satine! Let's have a mix of colours in the seed beads. Not all pink - some blue for DS.

Another question... is it best to have them sitting on the floor or round a table?

Actually, it looks like it will be 11 now!

I know it says 8-10 years but the only difference i could see betwen this and the one for 5+ was the price! the beads where the same. i got this for my Neice for Christmas from woolworths here might be worth a look if you have a woolworths near you.

Bump for Satine

I was thinking about the mugs, jura. Did you put them in the oven to set the colours?

get a baker ross catalogue - much easier than navigating the website - loads of ideas

the mugs they have - you just use porcelain pens or stickers. (about 1.50 per head, if I remember correctly) no need for firing etc.