Kids love to create. With outline tshirts, they can let their creative juices roll.
A Tshirts to Color Party offers coloring fun for the kids, and gives them something that they can also take home and enjoy later for months and perhaps years to come. The shirts can be for themselves or made for someone else and given as gifts; i.e. they can color in shirts for their moms for Mother's Day. They could even trace their hands for a more personal gift.
The pre-printed design is already there on the coloring shirt. The kids can color in the basic design, and they can add additional design elements to it. They can add a ball for the cat, stars around the space shuttle, a starfish or coral by the fish, etc. I have found that sometimes kids just need a basic inspiration to get their own creative juices flowing.
Wanting to just find out about painting a tshirt? Read the short version on my blog: Color In Kids T-shirts Activity.
Here are the basic questions to consider for your party planning:
1. How many kids are you planning for?
2. Do they like to paint? The painting/coloring will work best on white or light colored shirts.
3. What kind of designs might they like, or is it a theme, such as dinosaurs, parrots, etc. Kids can get pretty creative with a simple design.
4. Can the kids easily hold a paint marker and or paint brush with little to no supervision?
5. Do you have at least one and a half weeks, two is better, before the party date? If so, then on we go.
Preparation and Supplies
You will need a color assortment of fabric paint and the t-shirts to color.
The kids will need old shirts to wear, or aprons, to help protect their clothing from the acrylic paint.
It is best to have some paper or plastic to help protect your table, and some paper towels for any clean ups.
Steps to take before the party.
1. Before the party, you will need to order and receive the outline art tshirts in time for the party. It is helpful to pre-wash and dry the tshirts ahead of time, without the use of any fabric softener. The paint will adhere better when fabric softener is not used. If you are short on time, the shirts should still do pretty well if they aren't pre-washed. Here are designs, already printed on shirts, that you can choose from.
2. Send out the invitations 1-1/2 to 2 weeks before the party. These custom postcard invitations can be personalized online at CherylsArt on Zazzle.
3. You will also need a piece of flat cardboard for each shirt, or layers of thick paper, that will be placed in between the top and back of the shirt. The cardboard needs to be large enough for the design area, plus some extra room for artistic creativity. If you don't have any boxes lying around, grocery stores are usually pretty good about helping out. You can also order cardboard cake boards; the rectangle ones are best for good coverage area in the shirt, or purchase them from a store that sells cake supplies.
4. Purchase a variety of paint colors. Fabric paint markers will be the least messy, and less supplies will be needed, i.e. brushes and water bowls.
5. You will need to provide an area for the kids to easily paint, and a place for their paintings to dry while they are playing games, snacking, etc.
Choosing the Paint
For younger children, my recommendation is fabric paint pens. These are also called fabric paint markers. They are non-toxic and are easy to handle. They can be used in a coloring motion. Tip: Aprons are a better choice for using paint markers, as the material doesn't have the stretch to it like tshirts. For techniques about painting on aprons, read my blog Outline Drawings on Aprons.
If you are using the paint pens, have some scrap paper on hand for the kids to test the paint flow and/or to get the paint flow started.
For older kids and for more blending capability, I recommend using acrylic fabric paint, along with a small variety of paint brushes.
Tips for the Day of the Party
1. Have all the supplies close by and ready to use.
2. Cover the table with paper or plastic.
3. Have an idea for an activity that the earlier arrivals can do. Ideas are word games and or singing songs.
4. Have the kids or help the kids put on their old shirts or aprons/bibs.
5. The first activity will be painting the color in (outline art) tshirts. (So the paint will have some drying time during the other party activities.)
6. Slide a piece of cardboard, centered behind the outline art drawing, in between the front and back of the tshirts. Lay each shirt flat for each child to paint. (If the children are old enough and able, they can do this step themselves. You can also do this step in advance.)
7. Let the painting begin.
a. Shake the paint markers first. Leave the lids on while shaking so that the paint tips stay intact. The kids can have fun doing the shake for this step.
b. Follow manufactures instructions for getting the paint flow to start. The ones that I use require the shaking, followed by pressing the tip on the scrap piece of paper a number of times until the paint has moved to the tip.
8. When the kids are done painting, allow the cardboards to remain in the shirts so the colors won't bleed through to the back. Leave the shirts on the table or a safe place to dry.
9. Do any other activities, games, have cake, open presents, etc. All this gets done allowing the shirts to have some drying time. If the shirts need to dry further, a hair dryer can help, before removing the cardboard.
10. Let the parents know any other manufacturer's instructions for setting the design, such as if there is any dryer time needed, the number of days to wait before laundering, etc.
11. The kids, or the person they are painting a gift for, will get to enjoy their master pieces for a long time.
Let me know if you have any party questions below. Your design request is welcome.
Cheryl Paton
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