How to Throw a Virtual "Paint & Sip" Birthday Party for Kids
Our son, Desmond, turned 4 years old last month. We live in a 1000 sq. ft. apartment so attempting a socially distanced party at our place was out of the question. After doing some research, I decided on a virtual paint & sip experience for the kids. Here are the steps I took to plan & execute the party:
Invitations - We used evite.com for the invitations. I kept it simple and used a free version to invite 11 kids to the virtual paint & sip experience. We informed the parents that we would provide all of the painting supplies.
Purchasing Supplies - I purchased foam paint brushes, regular paint brushes, and canvas from my local Dollar Tree. I purchased additional brushes and canvas at Walmart. The acrylic paints were purchased at 5 Below who ended up having the best price - $5 for 24 jars of assorted color acrylic paints. I divided the supplies evenly, giving each kid 2 bristle brushes and a pack of foam brushes, 6 acrylic paint colors, and 1 canvas. If I were to do anything differently, I would have given the kids the same paint colors and given them a specific image to paint. Instead, since the kids all had different colors, they just got to paint whatever they wanted on their canvases. It was still successful. I'm just being hypercritical. This next part is optional - when I envisioned this paint party, I saw the kids in personalized smocks. I received a Cricut Explore Air 2 for my birthday (which is 8 days before my son's birthday) and was excited to find more Cricut projects so personalized smocks were the perfect idea!
I purchased the smocks from Amazon and personalized them with heat transfer vinyl.
Delivery of supplies - once the supplies were ready, I delivered/shipped them. Most of the kids we invited are local so their supplies were hand delivered. Two of the kids live out of state so their supplies were shipped to them (shout out to my husband for making the trip to the post office for me!)
Day of the Party - the party was held on zoom. The parents were given the zoom link prior to the start of the party. We set our son up at the dining room table with his supplies. When the party started, we played a fun icebreaker game where I called each kid by name and he/she danced as their way of introducing themselves to the group (since the kids didn't all know each other). After painting, the kids showed off their masterpieces and we played one more game - a scavenger hunt! I asked the kids to find me 3 items: (1) A stuffed animal, (2) Something that starts with the letter C, and (3) their favorite book. The kids had so much fun playing scavenger hunt and bringing back their items to the screen to show each other.
Overall, this virtual event was a success! Although Desmond wasn't able to see his friends in person, I am proud that we were able to still provide him with a memorable, fun birthday party experience!