Graffiti Birthday Party

Back home in Denmark, birthday parties were simple. We made and decorated rolls and sweet buns. I think I must have felt a little deprived, because when I moved to Seattle 6 years ago, I started going to the extreme for birthday parties with my boys. In fact, I recently gave 11 young boys cans of spray paint at Casper’s Birthday party. I’m not completely crazy – I laid out big tarps, gave them canvases and hired a real graffiti artist to lead the group – but I couldn’t help myself. Young children need to be learning and trying new things, which is the attitude that inspired me to start CAJO games.

Most party stores don’t carry supplies for “Spray painting parties” so I had to get creative. I always work on a budget, so I tried to keep it simple. I figured the boys wouldn’t care about much besides the colorful, canned chaos, so I didn’t really need to go nuts with much else beyond that! I did, however, want to control their little anxious hands and arms from spraying the plants, walls and furniture in my backyard. Like I said, I’m not completely crazy.

I bought wood plates 13’ x 13’ for each kid, prepainted them white and, of course, bought a bunch of spray-paint. We had some leftover house paint from other projects, so I put that in mugs. I also collected regular sponges and cut them in pieces to apply said paint, and I saved toilet paper rolls and cardboard to apply the paint. I covered the grass with big tarps, dressed the kids in little hazmat suits and plastic gloves, and lined them up outside the tarps.

I had a local graffiti artist come and show the kids some tricks with the toilet paper rolls, cardboard and sponges, and some really awesome ways to use the paint and spray paint with them. Who knew spray painting could be so extravagant? You can use your fingers or put a little water on the paint so it has that “drippy” look, and mixing the colors to get just the right green or blue each kid envisioned. They were thrilled with the idea of not only getting greasy and playing with spray paint, but also creating art. Messing up the tarps and painting with their fingers.  The cherry on top was that they got to take home their pieces, the most beautiful goodie bag I have ever seen if I do say so myself! Their proud faces were all the assurance I needed that I had pulled off an awesome party for my boys. What’s the craziest party you’ve ever thrown for you child?