Creative Party Blog

A great way to add color to a birthday cake without looking to generic is to chose a pattern that has large blocks of color. Here this mom was using color to connect the elements of the party and used balloons as the image on the cake. They were big enough and totally colorful enough to have the cake stand out.

Other ideas for using blocks of color on a cake would be to use circles of varying sizes. My daughter is in kindergarten this year and they are studying geometric shapes. That could make a fun cake. Then you could always do a striped cake with the stripes in a pattern of colors or random colors. Even the stripes could be of varying patterns.

If you are having a hard time envisioning it, I’m going to share a secret of mine. Go to the wallpaper store or a high end fabric shop and find a fabric that matches the colors you are using and has the shapes you like. And then use that fabric as inspiration for your cake. There are some really beautiful fabrics out there right now. This should not be a tough one to find. Maybe a tough one to chose from as you’ll like too many of them.

Good luck creating your cake and have a color happy party!

Photo taken by Amy Hall of Amy Hall Photography, Portland, OR.

There are many ways to organize birthday party favors and their presentation. If you have several small items, putting them in a bag, box or some other container is necessary. It you have a larger item it may not be necessary to put it inside anything but you should think about it’s presentation.

In the vein of a bag or box, it’s very easy to tie these in to a color theme party. Simply use a solid color bag or box and add a colorful fabric ribbon that matches the party theme. This party was for a little girl who was having a party and invited boys and girls. The boy favors had a blue ribbon and the girl favors had a pink or yellow colored ribbon.

Favor bags can be quite simple and yet can still make a splash with color.

Using solid color party supplies is yet another excellent way to make an impact at your party. And often having those solid colors makes a bold impact.

At this party, we used solid plates, bowls, cups and utensils all in colors of the party. Then we added whimsy with the napkins and party hats. The addition of whimsy is not necessary but can be something as subtle as napkins or you can have everything at the party be solid with just one item having a design on it.

We are in Portland, OR and we use The Lippman Company for our solid plates and other supplies. The biggest reason is that if we over buy, they will take back anything that hasn’t been opened! I’ve seen solid supplies at Target. Many of the new party superstores overlook the importance of solid party supplies and thus I hardly ever shop them. If you want to buy them online, I found a company that has a nice selection of solid supplies. I’ve never purchased from them so I can’t give a recommendation but wanted to share the find. That company is Birthday Express.

Now go out and be creative using solid color supplies!

Photo taken by Amy Hall of Amy Hall Photography.

I have to be honest……I personally have not been very good about having the colorful “Happy Birthday” banner at my kids birthday parties. I’ve had a few things that have had Happy Birthday on them but to tell you the truth, my kids are still young and can’t read. So, if I personally had a banner it would be for the parents and not the kids. But then how many things do we do in our parties that are for the parents and not kids…..more than we want to admit.

Soooooo, I present the colorful Happy Birthday Banner. I love this one. It’s not something you see everywhere and it is truly vibrant with colors. I’m sure my friend who had this one purchased it and after doing a quick search myself there are all kinds of banners out there that you can purchase that are quite colorful and unique.

Don’t find what you are looking for? Make it. All this one would require is some felt, a string, scissors and glue. Cut out small shapes for the background. Even cut one a bit bigger to make the colors 3 dimensional. Then cut out your letters from a stencil and glue it all together and onto a string of your choice.

Or, don’t want to cut and glue. Paint one on some butcher paper. There are tons of paper places around now where you can buy butcher paper in all kinds of colors. Paint a Birthday message on it or let one of your children lose with the project. Just make sure it’s not the birthday girl/boy. Depends on how controlling you want to be in the way that it looks!

I do agree that once the kids start reading (kindergarten) would be a great time to start having a banner welcoming the birthday kid or even adult for that matter!

I’ve said this before and I’m going to say it again. Balloons are the best way to add a punch of color to a birthday party.

To this party, the hostess actually had sort of a balloon theme. You’ll see when we write about the cake they had, you will see balloons on the cake and may have even been on the invitation.

But just look at these colors. Don’t they make you smile??? Another big key to having balloons is that they give height to your decorations. Most of the time we have birthday parties at places where the ceiling height is so high, the kids feel wee little. When you add balloons to the decor, they bring the scale back down to the kids level and can really set a “room.”

Colorful balloons. Go crazy. Pay to have someone else blow them up for you or rent a tank for a fraction of the cost from a local party supply store and blow them up yourself!

Don’t want to have a theme like Barney or something of the link? Well, don’t. Successful birthday parties can be planned with something as simple as having a color infused birthday party.

When looking to do a “color” or simple birthday party, simply use a palate of colors throughout all the details of the party. Take a primary palate or maybe a soft color palate. Maybe all pink and red……or Pink and Green. There are endless combinations that could be used.

Another great thing about colors is that it makes for very nice party pics.

What contains the color? Start with your invitations, continue with the party decorations and if you can’t include the colors in the favors at least wrap them in paper that’s made of the colors of the party. Pretty simple? Not always. When you don’t pick out a specific theme and go for a “color” theme it actually gives you more options and thus more decisions to make. So, if you have a hard time making decisions on the details maybe you would be better suited to pick a specific theme.

Color effects your most important sense….your sight. The sky is the limit for planning your colorful birthday party!