All the Colors of the Rainbow Party

I think it’s a rule: every little girl loves rainbows. Shoot, I still get a wee bit giddy when I see that beautiful sight in the sky after a rainstorm.

When my sweet soon-to-be-first-grader said, “Momma, I want a rainbow party,” I said, you betcha. It was an absolutely blast to plan. Between my trusty sidekick St. Pinterest, my creative husband and some willing siblings, we created the perfect birthday for our home’s very own ray of sunshine, Clare Bear.

Here are the details from her fun, very colorful, sixth birthday. I’m honored to say that the Queen of Desserts herself, Amy Atlas, featured Clare’s party on her blog as did Kim from The TomKat Studio where I scored a fair amount of the party inspiration and supplies!

PARTY ACTIVITIES
When the girls first arrived, they did a little Make-Your-Own Rainbow, using Fruit Loops and glue. I assumed the girls would make traditional rainbows, but it was fascinating to watch them get creative and use alternating colors and patterns. Prior to the birthday, we had a “Fruit Loop sorting party” and it was just as fun as it sounds. There was some sorting, some eating and a few giggles. Being the fun mom that I am I bought two boxes of cereal, one for playing and one for eating. My kids are still on a sugar high.

Colorful pinwheels were up next. A few days before the party, Clare and I painted all the small dowel rods and then I marked the scrapbook paper with cutting lines. Note to self, next time have more scissors! The girls then pulled up each corner of the paper, securing it with a thumbtack and pushing through the paper into the rod. That was the tricky part. I employed the Mr.’s muscles and a few moms to assist with the thumbtacking. But, the final products were indeed beautiful and colorful.

What’s a party without Pin the Cloud on the Rainbow? You know my take on pinning parties (Eiffel Tower, cupcakes, owls) no object is sacred. Will did the taping, John Paul the supervising, Anna-Laura the spinning, me the blindfolding and Scott the picture-taking. As always, a crowd favorite. Not sure if I’d want to repeat it in 105-degree heat again, but fortunately the game didn’t take long and we took refuge in our good buddy, air conditioning, not long after the game.

Our final activity was definitely my favorite: Got Your Head in the Clouds Wands. After spying these beauties on Pinterest, I knew we had to include them at the party. I opted to sew the felt clouds together, rather than hot gluing. Because that felt was so stiff, that was definitely the right choice, otherwise they would’ve fallen apart. The girls chose their wand color and ribbons and then stuffed each cloud with batting. I hot glued the bottoms together and voila – magical cloud wands. No action shots of this activity; I was busy gluing and hustling girls to the dinner table!

Food
The girls worked so hard on all those crafts and activities and they were mighty hungry. We feasted on Orange Julius, colorful popcorn made from Jell-O, rainbow fruit kabobs (John Paul assembled these!) and sandwiches. I found those party hats at Target on sale back in March and thought they would be a fun addition to the table. I never dreamed the girls would actually wear and enjoy them for any length of time. They did and their smiles made them even cuter!

For dessert, we sang to the birthday girl and then enjoyed rainbow treats from my super talented baker, Polkadots.

Dessert Table & Details
Oh, I do enjoy making things pretty. And, with the colors of the rainbow, there were so many options! The entrance to the party was festive, with a welcome sign and balloons. I secured them by tying to golf tees and they easily stuck into the ground without blowing away.

The dessert table was an absolute blast to create. Our shelf made for a great display area for the rainbow colored vases (just water with food coloring added) and a perfect spot to add some colorful streamers. My mom whipped up the very BEST batch of Orange Julius and the girls enjoyed feasting on those super delicious cookies and cake pops from Polkadots. “It’s so hard to choose which one I want, Mrs. Whitaker,” one of the girls admitted. #rainbowpartyproblems

Party Favors
Each girl took home her crafts, but she also went home with some colorful homemade playdough and a packet of coordinating Koolaid, all assembled in a rainbow-colored popcorn box. Making the playdough ended up being a great project between my two girls and I while the boys were off at afternoon camp. Clare and Anna-Laura helped me roll it out and cut out the Texas-shaped samples for the favors. Admittedly, the Aggie in me agrees that the orange was hard to make. Somehow, I powered through. If you’ve never made homemade playdough, you gotta try it.

With every party, every milestone and every new theme I find myself in awe of my children. Each of their interests is so varied, their personalities so distinct. Dreaming, imagining and making these parties come to life is a total joy for me. Celebrating my children is even sweeter. Party #38 is in the books! If you’re looking for more rainbow inspiration, you’re invited to check out my Rainbow Party Pinterest board.

Happy sixth birthday, Clare Bear!

Vendor Credits
Printables/Favor Boxes/36″ Balloons/Necklace: The TomKat Studio (I was even more excited to score all that half off during the Cyber Monday sale!)
Cookies/Cakepops/Cupcake: Polkadots
Dress: Three Munchkins
Party Hats: Target
Craft Supplies: Michaels & The Home Depot

If you’d like to see more of our family celebrations – from Hogwarts to Paris to Avengers to Rock ‘n Roll – visit my parties page.