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Colorful Birthday Party + DIY Project

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colorful birthday party

Hi! I’m Jessica Jones, a graphic designer with a blog called How About Orange, featuring lots of make-it-yourself projects. Awhile back I helped plan a “Colorful Birthday Party” for a friend. This included simple decorations and invitations I could print on my home inkjet printer. Imagining that other folks might find this useful, I’ve converted them into an editable PDF you can download here. Open the file in Adobe Reader (download it free right here if you need it) and edit the text fields to customize for your party. Print page one, flip the sheet over, print page two on the back, and slice the sheet into quarters. Insert into colored envelopes (A2 size is perfect) and you’re done.

You can print the flower pages (also in the pdf) double-sided, cut them out, and hang them in windows or doorways. Tape a series along a string to make a garland, or print them at a reduced size, laminate them with clear contact paper, trim, and you’ve got matching drink coasters.

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Be sure to provide plenty of brightly colored snacks and fruity drinks for the party! Use a bright table cloth and plates, a rainbow array of lit candles, and tell your guests to pull their red pantsuits out of the closet.

colorful birthday party

A playlist of songs with colors in the lyrics would be the icing on the cake: Pink Cadillac? Purple Rain? Yellow Submarine? Leave your suggestion in the comments!

23 Comments

  1. Kirsten September 22, 2008 at 6:33 am

    little red corvette- prince
    blue moon- elvis
    when the stars go blue- ryan adams
    dark blue- jack’s mannequin
    99 red balloons- goldfinger
    red meets blue- matt wertz
    yellow- coldplay
    big yellow taxi- counting crows
    your every color- train
    colorful- rocco deluca and the burden
    this colorful world- eliot morris
    green eyes- coldplay
    green- brendan james

  2. Desiree September 22, 2008 at 6:33 am

    This is such a fun idea – and right up my alley since I’m a color fanatic! Thanks for the templates!

  3. http://rainylakechick.blogspot.com/ September 22, 2008 at 7:43 am

    Cute idea! And I already read (and love!) How About Orange!!

    Question: I would love to know how to get bright colored frosting. I tried this on my own a month ago and it was a complete disaster! Too much food coloring changed the consistency of the frosting and it all melted…. I was definitely not the Hostess with the Mostess that night. :(

  4. jenn s. September 22, 2008 at 7:47 am

    If your frosting gets too runny when you add a lot of food coloring to it – just add powdered sugar to thicken it up until you’re happy with the consistency. That always works for me!

  5. Jess September 22, 2008 at 8:09 am

    Great song list, Kirsten

  6. http://rainylakechick.blogspot.com/ September 22, 2008 at 8:12 am

    Thanks Jenn! That’s a good tip. :)

  7. Heather C. September 22, 2008 at 8:56 am

    Back In Black – AC/DC
    Back To Black – Amy Winehouse
    Behind Blue Eyes – The Who
    Behind These Hazel Eyes – Kelly Clarkson
    Geek In The Pink – Jason Mraz
    Pink is My Favorite Color – Aerosmith
    Lady In Red – Chris De Burgh
    Yellow Ledbetter – Pearl Jam

    This website has just about every song with a color in the title:

    http://www.songfacts.com/category-songs_with_colors_in_the_title.php

  8. http://papermonkeyinvites.wordpress.com/ September 22, 2008 at 12:48 pm

    That flower and bright color theme for a party is great. Definitely very festive. Perfect to have towards the end of summer before the fall and cold winter hit.

  9. http://stemparties.blogspot.com/ September 22, 2008 at 1:02 pm

    I love a happy theme. This is perfect and the things you can do with color for your theme are endless.

    Really fun post, Jessica. Giving away the templates is icing on the cake. So cool of you!

  10. Kari September 23, 2008 at 4:31 am

    About bright colored frosting. . . Be sure you are using paste food coloring and not the liquid kind. Paste colors are found in craft stores in the cake decorating section. Red being a particularly difficult color to get, Wilton makes a “No Taste Red.” Also, if you ever want to make black icing, start with cholcolate icing before adding black paste food coloring. Hope that helps!

  11. Kari September 23, 2008 at 4:33 am

    Oops. . . I mean C-H-O-C-O-L-A-T-E icing!

  12. http://my-crafty-mess.blogspot.com/ September 23, 2008 at 6:11 am

    How about ‘She’s a Rainbow” by the Rolling Stones?

  13. http://lemondropstudio.blogspot.com/ September 23, 2008 at 7:57 am

    This is fantastic!! I am a follower of How About Orange, and now I found a new favorite site, too!! Thanks for the great ideas!!

  14. Tracy September 23, 2008 at 4:50 pm

    Jessica, thanks for posting this link on your own Orange blog. This is a great site!

    I colorful party is a great idea. A few years ago we had an “I love Hue” party which was on the same lines. I love the song lists that everyone has posted here.

  15. nikie February 11, 2009 at 2:42 pm

    my little 6 year old is having his birthday partie and we cant go out of the house because i am almost ready to give birth so this really helped me for what i am going to do for his birthday party!!!

  16. kristen h March 2, 2009 at 8:41 am

    THANK YOU! I have been online all morning looking for the *perfect* birthday party for my little girl and VOILA I found it!

    THANK YOU for making it so easy too! Bless you!

  17. Ruth May 7, 2009 at 4:27 am

    Hi, I am turning 33 end of May and have been dying to have a fun and special bash. I would like to have 80’s music and I want to ask all of my guest to send me song requests before the party. Also everyone should be dressed up with something fun and cool that starts with the letter R. But I am struggling with getting a fun and special invite. Anyone any ideas? Preferably one that costs nothing. Thank you

  18. Alisha May 2, 2011 at 11:58 pm

    Yours truly is a fantastic blog – I just love it. I’m creating a rainbow themed party for my daughter’s first birthday (which, yes, is a little different from colourful, I know!!) but here’s a few of my faves from the playlist regardless…

    Rainbow Colbie Cailat
    Rainbow Jack Johnson
    The rainbow song Kids version
    Somewhere over the rainbow Judy Garland

    Thanks again for the gorgeous site!!

  19. Vicki September 12, 2011 at 12:15 am

    i just love this almost as much as i love orange. thank you.

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