Neon Watercolor Birthday Party

I am eager to take you on a little tour of Avery's watercolor painting party! Our party was full of DIY projects, and now that Avery is older, she participated in most of the preparation from the invitations and outfit to the table coverings. Her current favorite colors are light blue, neon pink, and neon yellow, so you will see that we used those colors throughout. 

Welcome....

We'll begin with the food and move on to the activities. We provided a couple of snacks including paint splatter sandwiches (PB&J) and paint chips (Cheez-its).

For the table covering, Avery and her sister, Tandy, painted coffee filters with  watercolors and glued them together.

Avery also painted the rims of the Chinet plates for perfectly coordinated serving.

We also served color wheel fruit cups from an easel.

As always, I went a little crazy with the sweets, but it was all just too much fun!

 

 

Avery and I also painted the fondant covered sugar cookies with tinted clear vanilla. 

I couldn't resist cake pops with paint brush sticks!

We even painted and dipped marshmallows to serve in a plastic paint can.

If you could only have seen the 'behind the scenes' on the color coordinated sprinkle cake!! There are probably sprinkles still lingering on the floor from this endeavor!

Of course, the interior of the cake had to coordinate too!

Some blue Koolaid completed the "sustenance" of the party.

Each guest went home with a bag full of their art, a paint palette, and paint brush. 

Now, let's move on to the activities. You may be wondering what colored pencils have to do with a watercolor party.  

 

These are actually watercolor pencils that will blend like watercolors when you add water to a colored surface. I printed these images directly onto watercolor paper for the artists to first color...

...then paint.

The next activity was something like musical chairs. The girls started painting, then at the sound of the timer, they moved to the next girls work and added to it and so on.

The salt paintings were the biggest hit. I had previously free-handed some images with glue and sprinkled them with salt. The watercolor spreads along the salt in an interesting way. Tandy was hard at work on hers. 

The birthday girl truly felt celebrated!

She had received an early birthday gift of a slackline which was also a huge hit with the party goers. It trumped the final free painting activity. 

All in all it was a super fun way to celebrate our creative daughter!!

Sources:

• Liquid watercolor paints: Sargent Art 22-6210 10-Count 4-Ounce Watercolor Magic
  
• Electric Food Color: AmeriColor Electric Color Soft Gel Paste Food Color 12 Pack Kit
  
• Wood Paint Brushes and Paint palettes: Ikea
• Neon watercolor paint palettes: Oriental Trading Co.
• Slackline: slackers 50-Feet Slackline Classic Set with Bonus Teaching Line
  
• Watercolor pencils: Caran d'Ache Fancolor Color Pencils, 30 Colors
  
• Colored paintbrushes: Darice D880018 Kids Brushes in Canister 144-Piece Canister
  

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Watercolor Party Outfit

I love making special clothes for my daughters that fit with their birthday party theme. With a watercolor theme, I figured pulling together a fun look would be super easy. Parts of this post; however, are more of a what-not-to-do even though I do like the final look.

I've always wanted to play more with painting/dyeing my own fabric. I found this watercolor fabric technique and set out to create some watercolor fabric. I had a few hiccups along the way. The first problem was probably that I used a knit fabric instead of a woven cotton. It took a lot of water and a lot of paint that resulted in drying difficulties. I also started with less fabric that I needed for the pattern I had in mind. The first piece was really pretty. You can see Avery working on it in our Instagram photo. When it was taking days to dry, I placed it on a baking drying rack that left marks on the fabric. The pretty piece ended up just being the darker bottom band of the shirt. For the next piece of fabric, I diluted the paint a bit more and placed the fabric on towels to paint it. Well, a good bit of the paint bled onto the towels, so the paint was even more washed out than intended. I'm holding out until after the party to wash the top it just in case the color doesn't hold. 

In the process of not having the fabric quantity I needed for my initial pattern idea, my husband mentioned something about it looking like a tie dyed shirt. Well, that was the last thing I wanted! I thought the halter top would be a nice alternate. The pattern is from Patty Young's book Sewing Modkid Style which I would recommend wholeheartedly. Unfortunately, there has been some issues with the publisher, and you can't get the book in it's intended format any more. I highly suggest checking your library for it though!

We've come to the shorts, and I must say that I adore these shorts. I finally made the Oliver + S Class Picnic Shorts pattern that comes with the Class Picnic Blouse that I've made several times. I'm not sure what took me so long to make these other than my daughter sticking with skirts and dresses in past summers. The facings actually make these super easy to sew, and I love the curved detail. I made these from a nice stretch twill from Joann's. They should hold up to lots of playtime fun!

All in all, it was a learning process, and I am glad I tried new things. This is a fun look for the watercolor party in Avery's current favorite colors, and she loves the fact that she painted the fabric. 

Watercolor Party Invitation

Avery, like me, has a love for all things crafty which makes party planning with her so much fun. Last year we had a sewing party. Next year she wants a "crafty like a fox" party (we'll see if that sticks). For this year, it's all about watercolor! 

These watercolor invitations were so fun to make!! Avery and Tandy painted each one. You can see a progress shot over on instagram. I cut the watercolor sheets to size (It's important to use actual watercolor paper.) The girls painted the sheets with clear water first, then added the color to get the pretty bleed. Once the sheets were dry, I pressed them with a warm, dry iron to flatten them a bit. My sister laid out the text for me, and I just sent the watercolor sheets through the printer. So easy, and each one is unique.

Our favorite watercolors to use are Sargent Art liquid watercolors. Avery's color choices for the party are neon pink, neon yellow, and light blue. We have the neon watercolors, but they haven't given us the same watercolor effects. We just went with the regular colors for the invitations.

It's fun having Avery so involved with her party planning. I can't wait to show you all the painting we've been doing in preparation! But, it's not without it's challenges. God continues to work on my patience and perfectionist tendencies in loving ways through my child. The other day as we were making a frozen yogurt treat with sprinkles for the party, I commented that I hoped the yogurt wouldn't make the sprinkles bleed. Avery's response was, "It's okay Mom. It will just look like more watercolor." I love her creative, positive outlook, and I hope she continues to rub off on me!!