This past weekend we celebrated Songbird’s 8th birthday!
She decided on a party themed around her favorite animal: elephants. So we planned a painting party where I would lead her friends in creating a pachyderm piece of art to take home. My studio was set up with mini tabletop easels and 12″ x 12″ canvases, on which I had pre-drawn the basic design.
In lieu of “goody bags,” her guests got to take home their paintings, easels, painter’s palette and brush set.
To protect everyone’s party attire, I sewed each girl an art smock — made from those big TJ Maxx reusable shopping bags: waterproof and adorable. Win!
We kept the rest of the decor fairly simple. A few Martha Stewart accordion lanterns that were gathering dust in the back of my closet made their way out into the sunshine — strung up among the kitchen pendants. The balloon elephant was courtesy of a carnival entertainer from the elementary school fair the night before. And did you know that Coldstone will pop whatever trinket you want atop a custom ice cream cake? Mint chocolate chip ice cream and chocolate cake with chocolate ganache frosting, YUM.
Once everyone was suited up in their aprons, we got to painting. I showed them each step on my own canvas as they followed along. We used acrylic craft paint and talked about proper brush size/shape for different strokes. The colored brushes really helped with this… “For the teal background, we’re going to use our purple brush.”
Half way through the artists took a break for gifts and cake.
In all the years that Handsome has traveled for work, this was the first of our kids’ birthdays he wasn’t able to attend. But he made sure to join in via Skype for awhile.
Some girls finished sections quickly and others really took their time. It was cute to watch them walk around complimenting and encouraging each others’ progress.
The party lasted about 2.5 hrs, which was long enough to get most of the paintings dry with the help of a hair dryer. In the end, everyone’s project turned out fantastic. They were excited to show them off to their parents and siblings.
Handsome and I are so proud of the young lady that Songbird is growing into. Lover of all the animals, singer of made up songs, reader of real chapter books, fluent in emoji, puppy snuggler, friend hugger, expert swimmer and adventure seeker. Lawfully old enough to ride without a car seat and half way to a drivers license. We love her to pieces. Happy 8th Birthday, sweet girl!
