“Do It Yourself” doesn’t mean you have to do it alone! Share your artistic abilities and inspiration with friends at an arts and crafts party. We’ve crafted this guide for how to lay out your get-together.
Invitations
Get the creative juices flowing early on by sending out a fun Evite invitation! Try the free “Craft Night” invitation below, or this free painting party invitation, or check out our invitation galleries for more designs!
Since inspiration is key at an arts and crafts party, you’ll want to make sure your venue has a well thought-out floor plan where party-goers can express their creativity. Set up stations throughout your party where guests can try different crafts. Have your knitters sit on comfy sofas or floor pillows, while scrapbookers should be at a flat and sturdy table. Encourage your guests to tap into their creativity by organizing crafting supplies like markers, pastels and paints in jars or boxes and letting them choose whatever activity appeals to them.
Showcase everyone’s handiwork at the end of the party by creating a display area: String a clothesline across the room and have guests clip on their creations. You can even take pictures of each masterpiece and upload them to a digital album so your guests can have inspiration on hand for their next projects.
Projects
Some popular arts and crafts projects your guests can choose from are:
- Jewelry making
- Crocheting or knitting
- Quilting
- Soap making
- Pottery
- Scrapbooking
- Candle making
- Basketry
- Stamping
- Beading
If you need more specific project ideas, check out our DIY page!
Activities
Once the crafting gets started, your guests may isolate themselves into full concentration mode. Set up mini deadlines to allow for breaks, prevent hand cramping and promote conversation. Inspire your guests with a creative exercise: Pick a word, color or feeling and have each person incorporate it into his or her work.
For any younger or less experienced guests, set up easels with lots of construction paper. Have a selection of art materials to suit their creative whims, such as crayons, watercolors, washable markers and colored chalk. If you want to skip the easels, you can always buy a large roll of kraft paper and lay it on the ground for a fun mural. (Be sure to line the paper with cardboard to buffer any paints that can seep through.)
Your arts and crafts party is the perfect place for guests to learn a new skill. Ask friends who are particularly skillful at their crafts to give brief tutorials to those who are interested in learning — a crochet expert can go over the basics for beginners, scrapbookers can dole out advice for page ideas and a jewelry guru can demonstrate the art of stringing beads.
Food
Since your hands will be busy, you’ll want your spread to be easy to handle and not too messy. Create little canapés with blue cheese, pecans and grapes, and spruce up your hummus with fresh herbs and a sprinkle of paprika. Serve soup in delicate sake cups, and cut tea sandwiches into pretty shapes with cookie cutters like these bloom sandwiches.
Turn dessert into its own event by providing sprinkles and decorations for frosted cupcakes. You can also let guests create their own dessert by setting up a sundae-designing station with a few flavors of ice cream and toppings to choose from.
Drinks
Stir up a colorful sangria with:
- 1 (750-ml) bottle dry red wine
- 1/2 cup fresh orange juice
- 1/2 unpeeled lemon, sliced
- 1/2 unpeeled large navel orange, sliced
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 1/2 cup water
- 1/2 cup brandy
- 1/2 cup Cointreau or other orange liqueur
Mix ingredients and chill overnight, or use chilled red wine and serve over ice.
For a non-alcoholic alternative, use lemon wedges, cherries and mandarin orange slices to dress up seltzer, mineral water and soda.
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