Kid’s Party Crafts

Some children will arrive at the party right on time…and some will … not, arriving with a breathless parent (who may often be late!).

To fill this gap of time-hopefully no more than 15-20 minutes-it’s a good idea to have a craft set up.

It’s great when the craft the children make is used as a party decoration/prop (like a fancy hat). A craft is an excellent “party warm-up”.

Some things to Consider:

Fasteners

• Crafts often require you to fasten things:
• Hot Glue and Staplers are fast (but need adult supervision).
• White Glue and fabric paint can be done (messily) by the children but often require longer than the allotted party time to dry.

Paint 

• Certain paint can take awhile to dry. …(fabric paint can take days!)
• If using a messy slow-drying paint you may want to distribute the completed craft items at another time. (Handing out finished craft items after the fact can be tricky to do at school if not all the children were invited…. You may want to be stealthy when handing them out).
• You could always just send the wet/messy items with the parents, just give a bit of thought as to how they can be transported post-party.

Time 

Make sure that the craft doesn’t take too long (precut some of the shapes, pre-assemble a bit to save time). This is a pitfall that we’ve seen some parents fall into, with a time-consuming craft the children can get really involved in their project-and before you know-the best part of an hour has been taken up by the craft. Then you are “under the gun” trying to get through the games, activities, food, cake, presents, pinata, treasure hunt (whew!) in half the time that you need. This can be very stressful.