Rainbow Birthday Party part 5 goody bags

Here you can find part 1, part 2, part 3, and part 4.

Who doesn't like to leave a party with a goody bag.

I covered some of the things that I am going to put in the goody bag in part 1.

Like this

and this

and this

Here are some other things I am going to add to the goody bag.

I found these at Charlotte's fancy. Zoe is excited about these. She had been wanting an iPod nano since her sister got one back in February. My husband and I are thinking about getting her one for her birthday. A pink one of course.

These party favors are made with a pack of crackers wrapped up like a present but, as Molly stated on Charlotte's fancy, crackers would be a disappointing discovery and maybe something like a Kit-Kat would be better. Soon the Halloween candy will be put out and I am sure I can find some kind of candy bar that is the right size. I can even use the small bars of Kit-Kat's to do this with.

One more thing that I want to add is this

which I found at Chica and Jo's site. They give full directions on how to make these. The only problem is that since I have so many colors to add in I had a hard time with it so I plan on doing this instead

what you do is you take pieces of crayons and you can either line your muffin tin with foil or a cup cake liner or you can use a silicon muffin pan. You then heat your oven to 350° and bake for 10 to 15 minutes. I have a star shaped silicon muffin pan and will use one crayon of each color for each recycled crayon.

This is kind of what they will look like but star shaped of course.

One more thing I want to add is these

I found a site called Oh Nuts! that has all the colors that I need but to get just 2 of each color (which is 14 sticks) they want to charge me over $13 in shipping. Good grief.

I found directions at about.com where they show you how to make homemade rock candy. I guess I am going to have to try it out.

Now I have to have something to put all of these goodies in. I have wracked my brain about this one and I have searched high and low and nothing special has popped out. So what I think I am going to do is take the simplistic approach and do something like this

but instead use white lunch bags and tie it up with curling ribbons of all the colors. I think that would look very pretty.

What do you think?

Rainbow Birthday Party part 4: games/crafts/activities

Here you can find part 1, part 2, and part 3. So we have our theme and we have the cake, invitations and decorations but what will the kids do once they get there. Here are some of the things I found.

Zoe has specifically asked for a pinata and getting a rainbow pinata like this

can cost anywhere from $14.99 to $35 not including shipping. A cheaper option is to make your own.

Here is a great tutorial at About.com to make a very easy pinata and no messy paste is involved.

Remember this bubble gum vase from the post on decorations. Well here is a game that I can use it for from Party Game Central called Sweet Spot. Basically you have everyone guess how many gumballs are in the vase. I love it when I can double things up.

Here I found the idea to make a rainbow fridge magnet. Instead of using Polymer clay though I will probably use Crayola model magic which is an air dry clay that is very light and easy for kids to use.

Another game that I found at Party Game Central is called Balloon Stomp. It is where you tie balloons to your ankles and stomp on each other's balloons and try to pop them. I plan on have tons of balloons all the colors of the rainbow and this would be a good way to put some of them to use. I also like to have at least one game that is very active to help get some of the wiggles out.

The next craft I found in a science book.

It shows you how to make a rainbow spinner. The directions say to use a piece of cardboard but the problem I had with that is the brown color of the cardboard dulls the colors so I wanted to use something white. The key to these things is the disc needs to have some weight to it. The heavier the disc the easier it is to make it spin. So I was trying to come up with something white that had the weight of cardboard. Poster board was not heavy enough so I tried foam board. It was the perfect weight but a pain to cut out and to punch holes in.

What I came up with is to use thin card board that comes in packages and stuff and to sandwich it with card stock cut to the same size. Here is what I did.

I used my circle cutter and cut a 3" circle out of the cardboard.

Then I cut out two circles the same size out of the card stock.

Then using a glue stick

I glued the card stock to either side of the cardboard.

Then I drew lines to make seven spaces as equal as I could get them.

At this point is where I will let the kids color them using markers.

After I colored mine I punched out the holes as close to the center and as close together as I could get

Then I threaded the string through and there is my spinner. This is a very nice weight and the kids will have an easy time spinning it.

The last craft that I have is called The Good Luck Rainbow and I found it at About.com

You use small squares of colored tissue paper and glue them to a paper plate that has been cut out to form a rainbow shape. Then you use cotton balls to make the clouds. Then if you want to you can use Christmas tree icicles to make it look like rain. I will probably leave that out because I don't have any icicles and the only time you can get them is at Christmas time.

Hopefully this will be enough activities to keep them busy at the party. If you have ideas for any crafts or games please let me know. Thanks

Part 5

Rainbow birthday Party part 3 Decorations

I'm still on my hunt for ideas for Zoe's party. You can read the first two parts here and here. Today, I am going to focus on decorations.

To help keep costs down I plan on using lots of balloons and streamers with other little things added in.

I think this would look awesome done in all the rainbow colors.

I came across these cool paper lanterns on Dollar Store Crafts. There is a link to the tutorial to make these with popsicle sticks and tissue paper.

Here are the ones I made. They were very easy to do and I had all seven of them done in just a few hours. Waiting for the glue to dry takes the longest. They fold flat so storing them until the party will be easy. These are going to look good strung across a wall.

or maybe I should hang them vertical like this. What do you think?

I found this mobile at Inna's Creations (you have to scroll down to find it) and immediately wanted to make one. Let's just say that it took forever. It looks really cool but I think one is all I will make.

Here is my version

(Thanks honey for stretching your arm at an impossible angle so I could get a clear shot)

A close up of the top part. I use beads as stoppers.

underneath the top part.

Next I found these at Martha Stewart Crafts. They look so elegant. Should be easy enough, they are just made with tissue paper, right?

Well maybe not. Mine didn't turn out so great. I think what I'll try next time is to make one of each color instead of multicolored.

My next project will be this mobile which I found here at Dollar Store Crafts made with craft foam.

I also what to try these coasters as soon as I get some curling ribbon. You can find these at Chica and Jo's site with complete instructions. I'll post a picture as soon as I have a chance to try it.

The last thing I found is this bubble gum vase found here at Party Wishes. I just love it. I have a tall clear vase that I will use this for and maybe put tissue flowers in it.

Well that is all I have for decorations. If anyone has any good ideas or places to go to get more ideas please send them my way. Thanks a bunch.

Part 4

Rainbow birthday Party part 2 The invitations

One of the important things you need to find for a party is the invitations. It is what sets the theme and gives all the important information for your guests.

I like to find invites that are different and that standout and if it is interactive that is a plus.

So as I was flipping through a book from my shelf called 365 Rainy Day Activities by Vivienne Bolton I came to an activity called Magic Picture where you have this black and white picture in a frame but when you pull it out from the side it turns that black and white into a colored one. I thought that it would be perfect.

So here is how I made it. I used MS Publisher to help me make this but you can certainly do this without it.

Magic Picture Invitation

I had to decide what size I wanted it to be. So I went to my trusty Publisher and created a box that is 5" by 3 1/2".

Then I created a second smaller box to fit inside to make the frame. This one is 4 1/4" by 2 3/4".

I then pasted my picture and sized it to the smaller box and I used this as my template.

Then I printed it out along with a page with just the larger (outside) box to color my picture on.

I used my light box so that I can see the outline of the rainbow easier (another way to do this is to tape your template to a sunny window). Then I colored in the picture. At this point I didn't outline anything.

Here is what it looks like colored and cut out.

Next I, once again, used my template and a sheet protector (but I think you could also use a transparency or even acetate folded in half). I lined up the fold of the sheet protector with the top line of the larger (outside) line and paper clipped it together. Using a marker I outlined the outside box.

Then I outlined the rainbow. I tried to use permanent markers but when I drew on the plastic it left a gray faded out line. So I went looking around for something better


I ended up using black fabric paint. The tip on the paint allows you control it but I do not have a very steady hand and sometime little globs of paint would come out making it not look very neat. Over all I think it turned out ok. Since I still have time before I need to go into mass production I will be on the look out for something better. Anyone have any suggestions?

Here is the rainbow outlined with the paint. After the paint was dry I cut it out. Tip: the simpler the picture is the easier it will be to outline

Then I opened up the plastic and taped the colored picture to the inside.

Back in Publisher I created the outside "frame" for the picture. It has to have three parts (boxes)that fold together. The top two boxes are the same size as the larger box on the template which is 5" by 3 1/2". The bottom box I made it 1/8" shorter so that it measures 5" by 3 3/8".

On the top box I pasted a copy of the smaller box which is the same size as the smaller box in the template 4 1/4" by 2 3/4". This marked where I needed to cut it out. This is the front of the invitation.

I then used the text boxes to put the wording in. When working with it this way the top box with the frame is upside down. So I made my text boxes to fit the top and bottom part of the frame. Then I rotated them so that they are upside down. Then on the middle box I put in my party information (this will actually be the back of the invitation). The bottom box with be on the inside.

Here it is printed out with the window part of the frame cut out.

Flipped it over

Folded the bottom part up.

Then I folded the top part down and cut out a notch in all three layers on the right side.

I opened the top flap back up and inserted the rainbow picture making sure the colored part was behind the bottom flap and the outline was on top.

Then I folded the top flap back down and taped the bottom and the left side so that it would stay closed. That it. It's finished.

Here is the front.

Here is the back

Here is what happens when you pull the rainbow out. Its like magic.

If you have Publisher and want the templates for this just let me know. I also might be able to convert it into MS Word for those that don't have Publisher. With the template you can change the picture to anything you want and also change the party info.

***UPDATE***

So I found something better and so much easier than the fabric paint. I found some transparencies that you can run through your printer. So I just printed out the rainbow outline onto the transparency and it worked like a champ.

linking up with

Part 3