For my daughter's third birthday, we had a Rainbow Party! She has completely adorable color issues, in that she wants everything to match beautifully. She is so my daughter. And so, for her birthday, we had a whole rainbow for her (including pink because all things should). We also celebrated her love of Diego and Dora by having Rainbow Animal Rescue! And all sorts of other Rainbow festivities. This post is to collect everything about this party into one place so it's easy to find! It'll be a long post, so enjoy!
Rainbow Party: Decor
Party Decor
Besides enjoying colors, another of Serenity's favorite things is to play in tents, whether real or ones made from blankets. So I decided to build a huge rainbow tent for her in the backyard. This will give us some shade, a definite bonus with the hundred degree weather we’ve had lately! I considered building the tent out of pvc pipe, but then I found this great carport thing on Amazon for just 100 dollars for a 10 by 20 tent with a cover! I couldn't have bought fabric for the cover for that, so I went with it! My great friend Jack picked up a bunch of satin fabric for me and I basically made curtains to hang on all the poles to create this rainbow tent! I LOVE how it turned out, and the shade was so worth it. I don't know how long the tent will hold up, but we plan to use it all summer in our backyard as well so we'll get even more use out of it.
I covered the grass with canvas carpets that Serenity helped me paint, and I sewed rainbow pillows. We had a nice picnic lunch prepared by my sister to enjoy in our fabulous tent!
With the help of my Dad we turned the slide into a rainbow. It fits the theme and made for a cute photo op! To read how we did that, check out this post!
Rainbow Party: Games and Activities
Serenity’s favorite show of the year was probably Dora and Diego, so I thought I’d include a little game of Animal Rescuer. I bought a few dozen inexpensive stuffed creatures from Oriental Trading company, which we scattered around the yard. I hid the green and orange animals in really challenging spots and told the older kids that they were just allowed to find those, which made the game exciting for everyone. With the help of some binoculars the kids could hunt for the animals, and if they wanted take them home to the rainbow tent. I thought Serenity would probably want the animals to go to sleep on the pillows that match their color, she loves to put her animals down for naps.
I also collected a lot of backyard games that were rainbow colored that we already owned, including kick croquet, mini Frisbee golf, a parachute with colorful beach balls, and a ball pit with rainbow colored balls. I also bought rainbow streamers for the kids to run around and dance with. We ended up having a rainbow parade at the end with all the kids dancing around with the streamers. Such fun!
Fishing is a tradition on birthdays in Eric’s family, and we have done it at all Serenity’s parties. My dad built us a little wooden dock, we put prizes out on a blue tarp for a pond, and we use a fishing pole we made out of bamboo. The kids absolutely love this game, and get so excited for the prizes we get at the dollar store!
Serenity's Photobooth Birthday Present =)
At this age I don't really feel a need to buy presents for Serenity, she gets plenty from her grandparents and other family, and we go all out with the party fun, so I like to make her things for her gift. This year, I decided I want to make her a photo book with pics of all her family and friends in it! I thought it would be most fun if we had a crazy rainbow photobooth at her birthday to get fun pictures of everyone. It went so well! I think people had fun playing with the props, and I got a lot of cute pics! I had rainbow hats, a feather boa, a chalkboard that my Dad made for messages, and a rainbow picture frame that I painted.
She loves looking at the pictures already, I just have to get them together! I also plan to photoshop pictures of people who weren't able to attend the party into the photobooth. I'll post pics of that when I figure it out!
The photobooth itself was made just like this tutorial for the puppet theater, except with larger pvc and a bigger scale.
Rainbow Party: Food
My sister very kindly offered to make all the food, since she knew I’d have trouble managing it with my newborn baby boy in tow. Plus she’s an amazing chef! She made lots of rainbow food, including a rainbow fruit pizza! I found these little insulated lunch bags at the dollar store that were perfect to hold picnic lunches for all the kids! We stuck with simple sandwiches, rainbow goldfish, and fruit for the kids lunches. Oh, and rainbow colored Gatorade to drink. Adults got a choice of Marinated Italian Veggie sandwiches, Chicken Salad or Turkey Wraps. Then we of course had rainbow fruit and veggie trays, and colorful chips and salsa. The desserts were lemon and strawberry cupcakes with bright rainbow icing, and a rainbow fruit pizza! Desserts are our favorite part of birthdays, and these were particularly tasty. =)
I found these insulated lunch sacks at the dollar store in bright rainbow colors! Just perfect for our rainbow picnic! I dressed them up with labels with the kids names. More fun to come soon!
Rainbow Party: Favors
The favors might have gotten slightly out of hand this year. I’d already started collecting rainbow things, like Skittles, the rainbow dancing streamers, and jump ropes, when I came across a tutorial for a build your own tent kit. Well, that was absolutely perfect with the rainbow tent I built for the party, and I knew Serenity would love to keep building rainbow tents at home! So I made one for each family. The kits include three large pieces of muslin that I dyed into rainbow colors and sewed loops to each corner. That makes them easier to hook together! I got clamps, clothespins, rope, suction cups and flashlights from the dollar store to complete each kit! I hope all the kids have a blast building their tents! Some of them even sent me pictures! To see the tent kits in use, check out this post.
