As each birthday comes and goes, the list of ideas for parties quickly reduces as well. It’s not long before a cute party at the park with a pass the parcel and cake just won’t cut it. Don’t get me wrong, most kids would still be so grateful for any kind of celebration, but thinking outside of the box sometimes can prove to be a really fun experience too! So when my daughter was nearing her tenth birthday, I got to thinking. She’s always been an arty kid. She loves visual arts just as much as she loves music, dancing and singing. This is when the idea of a paint and sip class popped into my head. Paint and sip classes are an incredible experience that I think everyone should try, but when you’re looking at paying for about 4-8 tween girls it’s kind of expensive. That’s when all these years of DIY project skills came in pretty useful and it was time to plan the perfect DIY tween paint and sip party.
The Activities
Obviously, the main activity was going to be the paint and sip session, but we wanted a few other things to get them through their sleepover with as little boredom as possible (I mean, is bored even a thing at a regular sleepover anyway?). A few of the activities we came up with are listed below. We didn’t incorporate all of them in the end but chose some good ones to fill in the time.
- Paint & Sip session
- DIY nail parlour
- Makeovers and hair salon
- Karaoke
- Dance competitions
- Fashion parade
- Movie night
- Talent show
- Fun sleepover games
- “Blind” games- makeover, drawing, Chinese drawing whispers etc
- A huge challenge for tween girls- Try not to laugh challenge!
- DIY sushi for dinner
- Make your own pizzas (or just order pizza!)
- Bath bomb making
- Candle making
DIY Paint & Sip
Planning this as the main event of my daughters’ sleepover wasn’t too difficult. A friend offered to learn some easy-to-follow tutorials on TikTok and recreate them to instruct the girls during their session. All I needed now were the canvases, paints, and brushes. We used a camping table outside so that the cleanup wasn’t too difficult. Below is a list of items we used. You can find the exact TikTok video we used here or check out her other videos and tutorials here.
- Acrylic paints (we didn’t need to purchase these because, between the both of us, we had plenty. However, you can get these cheap at cheap stores, Kmart, BigW etc)
- Lead pencil per artist.
- White paint pen (for highlights)
- Paint brushes in different sizes and enough for all of the artists to have a set each. (Again, non-expensive at cheap stores and Kmart, BigW etc)
- Old cooking sauce jars with labels removed to use as simple and elegant wash jars.
- Paper plates to use as a paint palette each.
- Canvases which can be purchased again from cheap stores. Ours were about $3 for 2 of them.
- Not necessary but super cute are cheap tabletop easels for the canvases to sit on.
- A pretty, disposable tablecloth from the party section at a cheap store would look beautiful. (but not necessary, we didn’t bother to use this)
- Make the girls some non-alcoholic punch to have in either plastic or glass champagne flutes (depending on their maturity level and how much you trust them not to break glass ones).
- Another pretty decoration is a vase of flowers in the middle of the table but again, not necessary.
- A long table (or round whatever suits you).
- A comfy chair per artist.
As with everything, a pretty but simple platter of food is always a winner with most activities and be sure to always have water on offer as well. Doesn’t matter how old you are forgetting to drink water is pretty common and you don’t want a ton of dehydrated, grumpy tweens on your hands not feeling well come nighttime.
There are so many options for unique parties for tweens that will separate your child’s party from their younger celebrations. Let us know if you’ve tried a paint & sip party too or if you’d like the rundown on how to execute any of the above activities as well.
Check out our blog for hints and tips and more articles.
Are you looking for a cleaner that you can trust to do the best job possible? Check out The Naturally Clean Co for all your cleaning needs and watch your life transform into more time for those you love most.
