How to Throw a Craft Party

My middle child had a birthday party his past weekend and she requested a craft party… ask, and ye shall receive!

Story Time: I grew up with parents who always seemed to throw a memorable party. There was the year we took a field trip into China Town and came home with silk pajamas, those cotton maryjane slippers, miscellaneous dishes like soup spoons, chop sticks and fortune cookies and ordered Chinese take out for me and my friends. Then another time they put together a whole outdoor carnival in our 20 ft. backyard with activities like guess how many jelly beans were in the jar and bobbing for apples. A couple years in a row we had Christian the Magician who’s claim to fame was leaving behind a goldfish in a little glass bowl for the birthday child. (A VERY big deal for a 6-year-old.) As a parent, I haven’t been as consistent about birthday parties, but I try to work with my kids to put something together whether it’s making our own fairy garden, Harry Potter or a more whimsical theme of Unicorns… Hopefully they remember at least one of them when they get older!

Craft Projects

Martha helped me choose the crafts, but we decided to make charm bracelets, bag charms like my friend Krystle did here and then decorate mirrors. I wanted activities that were pretty open ended, didn’t require any ‘skill’ to complete and wouldn’t make a mess. Pinterest will be your best friend when looking for ideas, but obviously do what makes YOU happy. I suggested the charm bracelet/ bag charm situation since they use all the same supplies and Martha suggested the mirror. Friendship bracelets would be fun… decorating plain wooden boxes, picture frames… so many options!

Set Up

We rented out the upstairs space at a local ice cream parlor just to make our lives easier. We probably *could* have done this at our house, but this was the perfect space for something like this and only cost a couple hundred dollars. They provided tables and chairs also! We had three long banquet tables that I covered with tablecloths and then set up one end with the beads/ charms/ jewelry making supplies and the other end was for the hot glue guns and the mirror decorating. The girls started on one craft and could easily stand up to go work on the other whenever they wanted!

Supplies

I ordered a handful of supplies so the girls would have options…. for the bracelets/ bag charms, I picked up assorted beads, clasps, D rings, chains, jump rings AND- very important- a handful of needle nose pliers so the girls could effectively create their charms and bracelets. Each of these was poured into bowls and placed around the table so everyone could easily reach.

For the mirrors, I found some locker mirrors that were a little more expensive than I wanted ($4.99) BUT… I bet the dollar store would have something too. I looked online and didn’t see exactly what I was looking for at Dollar Tree but in person, there might have been a different selection. I happen to have a handful of hot glue guns, so I brought those along with extra glue and some power strips/ extension chords from home. The secret ingredient for the mirrors were some gems I picked up on sale at JOANN (I linked something similar) and then slime charms for a little fun.

Instructions/ Craft Tips

If I’m being honest, I wasn’t planning on even writing this up as a blog post but folks were so excited about it that I said I would. I didn’t go over anything too detailed with the girls but these were the few instructions I gave them:

• I offered both stretchy bracelet elastic and cotton twine so they could just tie knots in those to make their bracelets and charms. I did supply some of these crimp beads so I showed them how to string the jewelry wire through the crimp bead, around a jump ring and then back through the crimp bead before squeezing it shut with the pliers to hold the wire in place.
• I showed them how to use the pliers to pull the jump rings apart in order to attach their charms to their bracelets.
• I showed a few of them how to make a sailer’s knot (left over right, right over left) to secure their twine/ elastic.

Logistics

I gave the girls a brief overview of how to make each project before we started but they were pretty independent overall. If I were doing this party with younger kids, I’d probably spend a bit more time helping them use the needle nose pliers and would have a few examples for them to look at. These 13-year-olds understood the assignment and were happy just to chat and craft. We also had music playing so there was some singing too.

I set up a soda bar which was a big hit. Seltzer water and a handful of flavored syrups for them to mix and match. I placed a few bowls of gummy candy around the table because who doesn’t like candy, and then we ordered pizza for the meal. The bonus of being at an ice cream parlor was ice cream with sprinkles for dessert!

All in all I think the girls had fun. I also know that I would have LOVED this party with my own girlfriends so maybe I’m onto something with the crafting and cocktails! Leave me a comment and let me know what other crafts we could do for a girls’ night… I kinda love this idea!