Eliza's Paint Party

Eliza knew she wanted to have a paint party for her fourth birthday a week after we finished her half birthday party. So, the excitement when it was actually coming was incredible. I loved that it was a party we had done before and I could just execute on nearly the same plan!

She adored shopping for the supplies and handing out the invitations. The invitations came with a set of colored pencils for each family and an invite for each kid to color. We did a families party. She invited our best family friends from the neighborhood (favorite primary friend) and her cousins (favorite preschool friend) to come.

I made the aprons differently this time around. I cut out the names on freezer paper with my silhouette and then stenciled them on with fabric paint in each child's favorite color. It went a lot faster and I think turned out really crisp and fun.

When the guests arrived, the first thing they did was to personalize their own apron. We did it using fabric markers. They set and dried almost immediately this way and the kids were antsy to wear them.

After aprons, we did the same make-your-own pita pizza that we did for Sara's and included a lot of Eliza's favorite fruits. I forgot to take a picture. My favorite discovery was lids from Costco that fit on the clear or big red solo cups. We had colored straws for fun and lots of two liters. The lids made for so little stress!

While Jason cleaned up lunch I took the kids outside for the main event: painting. Before the party, we hung big sheets of paper on the fence for each child and gave them each a paper plate palette and many brush choices. It was a huge hit!

The kids then came inside for dessert. We decorated cupcakes and sugar cookies. I made two batches of cream cheese frosting - white and pink. Then we let the kids go to town on decorating. Eliza liked sprinkles. She may have gone a bit overboard, but it was her birthday.

A few weeks previous, my girls encountered printed cookies at Steph's house and decided Eliza needed them for her birthday. So we bought two sets of these letters and printed them on Danyelle's amazing sugar cookies. They were so cute!

We did presents and then sent the kids home with a paint bucket. It was so wonderful to have the back-to-school supplies sales on right at the same time as her party! The buckets were sand buckets from the dollar store and everything else came from the school sales.

Eliza loved every minute of it. It was so exciting that when it was all over, she fell asleep on Grandma's lap. It's hard work being a 4-year-old hostess!