Since creative inspiration is key at an arts + crafts party, you’ll want to make sure your venue has a well thought-out floor plan where party-goers can express their ingenuity. 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 table where they can work off a flat, sturdy surface. Encourage your guests' creativity by putting crafting supplies like markers, pastels and paints in organized jars or boxes and letting them choose whatever craft 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 for their next projects.
Popular arts and crafts projects:
• Jewelry Making
• Crochet + Knitting • Quilting • Soap Making
• Pottery | • Scrapbooking • Candle Making
• Basketry • Stamping • Beading |
Once the crafting gets started, you may find it hard to disturb people's concentration. Set up mini deadlines to prevent hand cramping and promote friendly competition and conversation. Inspire your guests with a creative exercise: Pick a word, a color or a feeling and have each person incorporate it into their work.
To get the creative juices flowing for the younger 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 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 + 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.
Since your hands will be busy, you'll want your spread to be easy to handle and not too messy. Create little canapés with bleu cheese, pecans and grapes, and beautify 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.
Turn dessert into its own event by providing sprinkles and decorations for frosted cupcakes. You can also set up a sundae designing station with a few flavors of ice cream and toppings for guests to choose from so they can create their own dessert.
Featured Arts + Crafts Party Recipes from Epicurious.com
Sangria
• 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.
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Non-Alcoholic – Use lemon wedges, cherries and mandarin orange slices to dress up seltzer, mineral water and soda.
| 1. | Building a Mystery / Sarah McLachlan
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| 2. | Expression / Salt N Pepa
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| 3. | Coat of Many Colors / Dolly Parton
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| 4. | Anything Goes / Cole Porter
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| 5. | Breakout / Swingout Sister
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| 6. | You’re the Inspiration / Chicago
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| 7. | Go Your Own Way / Fleetwood Mac
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| 8. | Sweet Caroline / Neil Diamond
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| 9. | Everyday People / Sly & The Family Stone
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| 10. | Express Yourself / Madonna
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