Planning a craft birthday

[Howtonamechange]

Hi all,
My 7y dd wants a crafty birthday party and I'm at a loss how to plan it.

We have the venue and about 15kids invited

I wanted to pick the mumsnet brains on suitable activities and timings. But if anyone has hosted a crafty birthday the sharing how long activities took and what activities games were played would be amazing.

The venue had an indoor and outdoor space. I'm hoping to the weather is nice so we can use the outdoor space.

Ideas I've had are
Colour a canvas bag - I thought we could also use these as party bags at the end
Water pistol canvas painting
Mug painting
Decorate a cupcake (instead of a big cake)
Prob not all of these or if we should set up a few different stations.

I don't know if we should have any other games or if there will be time.

Let me know what your thoughts are.

Thanks x

The canvas bag sounds good. I did something similar for a 6 year old, it was close to Christmas so we did gift bags.

Also print out lots of colouring pages and get lots of colouring pencils from Tesco. Some kids will be happy to just colour. Also materials for bookmarks went down well. Stampers and feathers very popular!

Have some simple games ready too. You’ll be surprised how quickly some of them will finish.

We did a craft party when DD was 7

I did;
Decorating a calico apron- I then ironed it and they wore it to cover their outfit (they used Giotto fabric pens)
They painted mugs using ceramic pens- put them in the oven for 60mins on low to set the paint
They painted a canvas which I had taped an outline of their initial onto using masking tape.
I got laser cut names made and they decorated those- I left these to the end as they were easy to take home unfinished.

We only had 6 kids at the party though it was such a lovely afternoon

I'd avoid the water gun option- just use paint brushes!!! It's a recipe for 'accidents'

We did it for 2.5 hours and served hot dogs/ pizza for food.

Good point about the water guns being a recipe for accidents.

Thank you

Bump for the day crowd

i did it when DD was turning 8
best thing I did was “hire” a local teen to help out - best £20 I’ve spent, you do need extra hands, so get people on board
i did simple party games to start - mini donuts on a string, pin the tail on the donkey…
after 20 mins or so we moved to the main craft (DD asked for a build your own stuffed animal, got the sets online) - those and minor prizes from the party games were the party bag
moves them to cupcake decorating and food time

For my 6 year olds party I bought some baker and Ross sets which were brilliant and decent quality; when you’re buying in batches I think they’re a fair price.
they spent about 45 minutes doing them then we did some more active games which for the children we had was about right

I definitely think some games as well as maybe 2-3 crafts- or bouncy castle outside whilst the adults clean up the crafts just before food- all sounds fab I have to say

My big tip is to have an activity to start with at the beginning while you’re waiting for everyone to arrive - doodling on a giant sheet of paper or something similarly open ended. Its also useful to occupy the kids that finish faster or are impatient to move on to the next activity. We used the doodle page as part of our photo back drop so it didn’t feel like a pointless activity.

We started by decorating the bags and hanging them to dry, and then could put other bits and bobs into the bag as we made them. I have a silhouette cutter and we stick a vinyl initial on each bag and sponge painted them and used fabric pens. Then one of the last activities was peeling off the initials.

We also decorated a wooden frame (we used paint which wasn’t great - If I did it again I’d use glue and stick stuff on instead) and took photos of each child with some silly props that we printed off and framed.

We did a kit bear (I got them super cheap via the Christmas bargain thread one year and tbh planned the party around them) and individualised them with ribbons, buttons, flowers, gems etc.

Making pizzas and decorating cup cakes fits in to the craft vibe too. Chocolate slabs (different chocolates swirled, with jelly beans, crunchie, skittles, maltesers, sprinkles etc) are easy - you just need a way to keep track of who made which one.

It’s a really fun party, and they make their own party bags and food. There was a fair bit of work in setting up, and I spent a lot too on things like squeezy bottles, ice cube trays to make individual kits. If you’re not as prone to getting carried away like I am, it could be much more cost effective! Or if you have enough helpers you could rotate between craft stations and reuse materials.

A good starter activity to do whilst all the children arrive is to decorate a crown to wear. You can buy cardboard crowns on the internet and have felt tips, coloured glitter, feathers and stickers for them to use. Put a huge plastic sheet underneath to catch any mess.

Painting a cup or plate then they take them home in place of a party bag.

Musical statues always goes down well. Small prize for winner.

Food and drink

One more craft activity. Possibly decorate a cupcake to take home.

One more game. Not sure what it's called but all kids start at one end of hall. Birthday child is a catcher in middle. If birthday child touches a child they join child as a catcher. Once kids all at other end then they have to run past again without getting caught. If they get caught they also become a catcher. Small prize for last to be caught.

Hiring a teen is a great idea. You might be able to find one who will do face painting on the children.

I just thought I would report back for anyone who may be thinking of holding a craft birthday. Thank you to everyone who helped.

We did crown decorating in the beginning whilst waiting for everyone to gather for half an hour.

Then moved on to Mug decorating. I bought sets from the works for £3each

Then we had lunch - pizza with carrot and cucumber sticks followed by strawberries and apple slices for dessert.

The we played some simple games - musical statues, bumps and races.

Finally cut the cake and some freestyle playing before everyone went home with some music in the background.

All in all a lovely day and the kids enjoyed it.

2h in total.