There are so many ways to dress up toy animal figures with paint, but this has got to be one of the easiest! 🙌

Metallic spray paint covers the figures quickly, and often only requires one coat.
(This is definitely NOT the case with non-metallic spray paint colors, especially lighter hues.)

Gold-Dipped vs. Solid

You can paint the entire animal figure or just a portion of it.

I’ve done the former quite a bit (see pics at the end for one example). But for my daughter’s Jungle Safari party, animal prints were a key element of the design, so I wanted some of the original colors/patterns to remain showing.

Solution: a “gold-dipped” look!

DIY Gold-Dipped Animals

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You’ll need:

• Metallic gold spray paint
• Animal figurines*
• Scrap paper or paper towels
• Painter’s tape

*FYI – Animal figurines can REALLY vary in price! The toy animals used here were part of a very inexpensive pack I found at Joann, and they came out to only $2 each. This is a really good price for their size.

Instructions:

1. Cover the part of the figurine that you DON’T want to be painted with paper & secure it with masking tape.
2. Spray paint the visible part of the animal.

Note: If the animal shape is too awkward to tape the paper down, you can literally just hold the paper around the animal to keep a portion of it covered. Keep your hand as far away from the separation line as possible (to avoid painting it, too!), and spray paint the toy with the other hand. I ended up using this method quite a bit myself. It’s messier, yes, but also faster. And I often end up choosing fast because #impatient. 🤪

Here are some examples of fully-gold-painted animal figurines from my friend’s Little Wild One baby shower.  I did use more expensive toys here (mainly SCHLEICH brand + some other Amazon finds) because it was a high-end event. I also wanted to feature some mom + baby animal pairings. 🥰

The fully-painted gold animals feel much fancier to me, which was exactly fitting for this baby shower! ✨👑🦒

P.S. Check out my Bold & Modern Jungle Safari Party for lots more fun ideas like this!