As some of you already know, my daughter turned six last week and I held an ‘arts and crafts’ birthday party for her and a handful of her friends.
Well, I’m pleased to report that it went down very well with all the girls – myself included!
You may remember that the lovely Thimberlina sent me some fabulous fabric from IKEA for me to make into simple tote bags for the girls to colour in.
Well, here they are, all ready to decorate with cardboard inside:
How fun do they look?! The designs are so random! There’s a rooster having a shower… a lamp… a mushroom… a washing line…
I used the IKEA fabric on one side, and plain on the other – so that the girls could draw on that side and colour in the designs on the other.
Well, that was the plan.
As it happened… NOBODY WANTED TO DO ONE!!
Can you believe it?!
The one part of the party that took me the longest to prepare, cost me the most money, and NOBODY WAS INTERESTED!! 😥 😥 😥
Luckily one of my daughter’s friends stayed on for 30 minutes after the party so I managed to persuade her to start one and she took it home – I know she loves dogs so there was one with a cute pup on which helped!
At least the girls were happy, which was the main thing, but it would have been nice if my effort was appreciated, haha!
I might just have to colour one myself, now.
One of the other activities – which went down very well – was decorating cardboard dolls.
I cut little garments out of scraps of fabric for the girls to stick on to their pre-cut cardboard dolls. They stuck on googly eyes and drew on the features. Oh and added woolly hair! They loved it! Here’s my daughter’s (first) creation on the right and two others that are ready for sticking.
I bought plain gift bags from Crafty Crocodiles (where I got most of the goodies from) and the girls got really creative and decorated them with stickers, pompoms, foam stickers, pens, sequins, and more! They used these as party bags to take all their creations and other bits and bobs home in.
The girls also decorated biscuits, made bracelets and necklaces with pony beads and alphabet beads, and made paper fans. And we had time for a game of pass the parcel, too. But I was busy and didn’t take photos of everything!
Oh and of course they had tea and cake!
My daughter’s friends loved it all and have been telling her it was a really fun party – and they want to have one like it.
I can’t deny that I’m happy with that!
Beth x
P.S. In case you’re wondering… I have put a hold on my Sunday Sevens posts for a while because I’m just a bit busy at the moment! I am starting my new dressmaking course this coming Wednesday so I have been spending a lot of time organising all the lovely paperwork for that.
After Dark Sewing 
Wow you organised a lot of things! I organised bag decorating for H’s 7th last year – and the girls all enjoyed it (but then they didn’t get any choice!!). You can save yours for next year! I used plain bags but printed out a range of black and white designs – unicorns, sugar skulls, their names in big fonts etc etc. The bags were thin enough that the girls could choose a picture, put it inside the bag, trace the pattern and then colour them in.
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That’s a fantastic idea. I will remember that for another time or just something for my daughter to do!
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Too much choice I think. But that’s not a bad thing! I went to a NYE party last year where the hostess got out a tablecloth for the children to colour in. An excellent idea to keep them amused between courses. A career in crafty childrens’ parties beckons!
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That is an excellent idea. As long as they don’t climb on to the table to colour the middle! I should just carry some fabric and pens around with me!
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Hi Beth, It sounds great fun, you gave them so many lovely things to make. Such a pity about the bags, especially after all your effort, hopefully you can use them another time or use them as gifts when your daughter goes to their parties!! Sharon x
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Well my daughter says she wants to colour them all!! Thank you 🙂
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Ah, how cute, that should keep her busy!
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I must say I thought you were being very ambitious – holding an Arts and Crafts party for 6 year olds but that was when I thought you meant the arts and crafts movement à la WIlliam Morris etc. I must have been having a ‘moment’. Your version looks much more fun for little girls. Shame about the bags. Perhaps you should have given them to the other mums – I hear adult colouring books are ‘on trend’ at the moment .
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Haha sorry to confuse you! Oh yes maybe I should have but I was being selfish I think!!
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It looks like they all had a great time…even if they didn’t use your bags! You should definitely save them for another time – I think they would make great little gifts too! Good look with your course 🙂
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Thanks! Yeah it was a great party even if I do say so myself!
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Oh no that’s a shame about the bags! But maybe keep them for car journeys to keep them entertained? Glad the rest of the party went quite well wish I had one like it! Oooh dressmaking course have fun 🙂
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Well my daughter did one yesterday and I will save the rest for another time 🙂
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Never mind, the rest of the party looks fab, looks like they were spoilt for choice – a bit like me when I hit the fabric shops! The bags do look really cool tho, I bet the mums would have wanted to do one!
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Thank you 🙂 Haha the mums who stayed also had a great time!
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Oh man, this is my dream party–somebody else organizes craft stuff for me to do with my friends, then cleans up afterward! It sounds like a blast, though I’m sorry they didn’t get as excited about the bags as you did (I’m wondering if you can hang onto them and reuse them for a future party?)
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Yes I am saving the bags 🙂 Haha when you put it like that it does sound like heaven! I had a strict no paint or PVA glue rule so mess was minimal thankfully!
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They do say never work with animals or children Beth 😉 Such a shame though! Looks like they had a great time! Part time party-planner job on the horizon too now? 🙂
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Haha… No! I was shattered at the end of that day! It was fun but when I was prepping all the crafts I was thinking how I could never do party planning for a living! It took up so much time!
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Oh no! I can’t believe that after all your efforts! I can remember the joy I got as a child dressing paper dolls though, so I’m not surprised that was popular. It sounds like there was just too much for them to do in the time so was obviously a huge success. You daughter’s smile says it all really:)
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Can you feel my pain! I did have a lot of options for them. My daughter was soooo tired after the party! So was I actually!
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I can indeed, but too much is better than too little – can you imagine a house full of bored girls sulking around for hours?
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Absolutely. Urgh no thanks!
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