Rainbows for Jemima

On Friday Jemima turned 8 and yesterday we celebrated with an afternoon of rainbows. This party has long been in the planning, with many ideas bantered about and images furiously compiled on Pinterest. This year I wanted to keep things relatively simple. We had 12 guests including the birthday girl and her little brother and the kids had a hand in most of the decorating. When you're a creative type it can be hard sometimes to let go of the reins and let kids do things their way. This year I was mindful throughout that this was Jemima's day and I tried (as best as I could) to respect her creative decisions! I'm pretty passionate about creating special events on a tight budget so I gave myself $100 for the whole party including food.

invitations


There are so many rainbow themed invitations available online now and I very almost bought a digital file. In the end I decided to buy some plain white cards and envelopes for $2.50 and some water colour paints for $7. Jemima and I painted the stripes on the cards and she worked on the rainbows for the envelopes on her own. For the inside I downloaded an Avery label template. I used the template in Microsoft Word to write the details of the party along with a little picture of a rainbow. When the invitations were dry we stuck the labels inside the cards. She loved making her invitations and was so proud of how they came out.

For the decorations we made streamers with embroidery hoops and crepe paper strips, tissue pom poms, and a garland made from paper doilies that I painted in rainbow colours. We ordered some helium balloons in rainbow colours  for $1 per balloon (huge hit with the kids). The tablecloth is a white sheet we had lying around topped with a rainbow flag we found at a thrift shop.

Instead of a long table we bought three small side tables from Ikea for $9.99 each, now that the party is over we'll use them as kids craft tables. I didn't include those in the budget as we needed them anyway. As a cheap decoration we used left over rainbow wrapping paper ($3.99 a roll) on each white table and on the wall in a rainbow shape. The colours on the back wall are paper lace doilies which I painted using water colour paints.

On each small table we had a photo of the birthday girl in a frame that she painted herself. I bought three frames for $1.99 at Ikea.

For the main table I made 'Raindrops' water bottle labels using Avery shipping label stickers. The bowls were on special at Ikea for .99c for 6, they also had some bright plastic cutlery for .99c a packet so we bought those and used the spoons for our jelly cups.

We kept things pretty simple with some ordered sushi, a platter of 'rainbow' savoury food, and a platter of 'rainbow' fruit. We also had layered jelly cups, rainbow popcorn, and some chocolates. The day started with a craft activity which was making rainbow fairies out of wooden clothes pegs. I pre-cut up some rainbow fabrics and made tulle wings before the party started. We had a cupcake tower instead of a cake with little rainbow straps and marshmallows.

For gift bags I created these little 'gold at the end of the rainbow' treats using recycled baby food jars and candy. The tops of the lids had glue applied then were dipped in glitter. We put these in some clear cellophane bags with a rainbow pencil and eraser, a rainbow lollipop, and a some beads and cord to make a bracelet.

The rainbow theme was so much fun and really easy. It gave me a lot of freedom to do things cheaply and make a lot of it myself. Jemima had a wonderful time and declared it "the best party ever", as a mum you can't really ask for more than that.

Costs
Sushi $15; Ikea bowls and cutlery $5; Crepe streamers $2; Invitations supplies $9.50; Paper doilies $1.50; Balloons $12; Tissue paper for pom poms $2; Glitter $1; Candy $5; Pencils for gift bags $2.50; Lollipops for gift bags $4.00; Beads for gift bags $2 from thrift shop; Flag table topper $5; Craft supplies $15; other food supplies $15; Frames from Ikea $1.99.  Total $98.49