Rainbows are a sign that the sunny days of spring are on the way. Their colorful rays bring a smile to our hearts—much like our children do. If you are looking for a party theme for a birthday or St. Patrick’s Day get together, a Rainbow Party is a wonderful way to celebrate. Here are four craft ideas, four games and a menu of colorful foods and drinks for your celebration.
Rainbow Crafts
Make tie-dye shirts
Provide the party guests with white T-shirts and rubber bands. (You can find a guide to folding and banding the shirts online.) Using fabric dye, dip portions of each shirt into the colors until the whole shirt is covered. Put each wet shirt in a marked plastic bag and send them home with instructions for washing out the dye.
Friendship bracelets
Jewelry making is such a fun project with friends. Why not make friendship bracelets? Older children might enjoy braiding colorful thread in a camp-style bracelet. Younger kids can use colorful plastic or glass beads and colorful ribbons to string them on. Depending on the age of the guests, you can use candy or cereal in place of beads.
Sprinkle candy bark
Place melting white chocolate pieces on a thick paper plate. Heat in microwave until it is in a liquid form (1 minute usually does the trick.) Encourage the kids to add cake sprinkles or small candies like Nerds. Use toothpicks to swirl around drops of food coloring. When the kids are done decorating, refrigerate the candy until it is hard.
Solar rainbow candles
Collect clear jars or purchase them from Goodwill. Gather up all your unwrapped, broken crayons and place them on a table where the children will be crafting. Add a candle wick to the middle of the jar (try a glue dot to keep it in place) and stack a rainbow of crayons around the wick. You can add essential oils to give it a nice scent. These candles can be placed in a sunny window to melt a little at a time or can be lit to melt them from the top down.
Colorful games to play
Rainbow scavenger hunt
Send the children to find two items that are each color of the rainbow. This is a great game to play if it is nice enough to go outside, as it gives the host time to clean up between crafts.
Pop balloon game
Place two slips of paper in each balloon—one with a challenge like reciting the alphabet backward and the other with a ticket to receive a prize for completing the challenge. Blow up the balloons and tie one to each child’s ankle. On go, the players will gently stomp on the balloons to break them, revealing the challenge. If your balloon is popped, you have to pick up the challenge paper and perform the challenge.
Fill the cup
Fill a large bowl with colored loop cereal and place it in the center of the table. Each player has five small cups in front of them. Using a regular sized spoon, players need to separate the cereal by color, placing 10 of each color in their cups. Challenge the older kids by making them hold the spoon in their mouths. You can also play this game with teams.
Fill in the rainbow
The guests are given a piece of paper with bowed lines marked with the colors of the rainbow—red, orange, yellow, etc. Using a package of rainbow skittles, the players have to sort all the colors in order and place them on the lines. The first one done is the winner.
Eat the rainbow
Jello
There are so many fun things you can do with colorful gelatin. Try seven-layer jello in a cup, stained glass jello or using cookie cutters in a tray of jello.
Rainbow pasta
Cook pasta until al dente. Separate the pasta into bags and add several drops of food coloring. Seal bags and shake. Drain and rinse before serving with warm sauce or butter. You can even use different shapes for each color.
Fruit pizza
Fruit pizza is a great way to get the picky kids to try new fruits. Purchase pre-made sugar cookie dough and spread out on a cookie sheet. Bake per directions on box or tube of dough. Let the dough cool and spread cream cheese on top. Finish off with a rainbow of berries, melons, grapes, pineapples and kiwi.
Mini rainbow truffles
Divide prepared vanilla cake mix by six and add food coloring. Pour into a cupcake tin and bake as directed. When cooled, crumble the cupcakes and set aside. Add a layer of Cool Whip to a clear glass, and then add a layer of crumbed colored cake. Continue to alternate cake and Cool Whip until all colors have been used.
Rainbow drinks
Fill ice trays with colored Kool-Aid and freeze overnight. Pour clear liquid like water or Sprite over colored ice and serve.
Goody bag
The best thing about this party is that the tie-dye shirt, the bracelet, the candy bark and
the candle are also the goody bag. Add a simple box of crayons and a coloring book from the dollar store and you will have a colorful bag of treats for your guests.
Pam Molnar is a freelance writer, party planner and mother of three. She enjoys writing about people having fun together.
