Kids Craft Party Tips and Ideas

A craft party can be a great source of entertainment when you need to occupy four or more girls between the ages of 5-12 for several hours. The ages of the girls will help dictate not only the best craft choices, but also how long the party will need to be and how much it will cost for each girl's supplies. You don't want anything too complex for a group of younger girls or too tedious for a group of older ones. Most of the suggestions given require relatively inexpensive supplies.

Craft Ideas For the younger kids, ages 5-9, anything that involves painting or making pictures with alternative media, like macaroni art or sponging, is a good. A d©coupage or papier-m¢ch© project should work for any age, just choose different magazines/paper patterns for different age groups, as well as different items to decorate, and be aware these will be the messiest of the choices. For ages 9-12, friendship bracelets make a cool craft party project and will probably require little instruction. If you want to combine a party, crafting and volunteering, have girls ages 11-12 make knit or crochet scarves or animal blankets to donate to local charities. You may also combine their scarves into a single blanket and have them donate that.

Alternate venues If there is no room in your home for a craft party, reserving a pavilion at a local park is a good option. Whether or not you have the room, hosting the party at a Jo-Ann Fabrics (or other craft store that offers the option) will save you having to clean up after the party, you can easily buy more supplies during the party and it also will give you access to a craft teacher. This can come in very handy if you need help with the craft.

Tips You may want to ask each parent to contribute a small amount toward supplies for more advanced projects.

Don't forget smocks, newspaper or other child, table and floor protection!

If you will be hiring a teacher to instruct the girls, make sure the girls are aware in advance that they need to be on classroom behavior while she is teaching. It will help to break the party into multiple segments, so that the kids have party activities before and after "class" time. If the party isn't broken down by activity and/or the girls treat learning time like party time, it will probably result in frustration for the teacher and the kids.