Planning a Classroom Holiday Party!

I had a holiday paint party.

In my classroom. . .

With kids and parents . . .

And it wasn’t a disaster!

In fact, it was the best holiday party I’ve had in my classroom, ever!

I mentioned it earlier this year and a few of you had lots of questions and were curious to know how it went, so I decided to blog about it because I highly recommend it!

After our kindergarten holiday sing, each classroom hosted parents for a project. I decided our project would be snowman painting because kids love to paint and, well, who doesn’t love a snowman? (P.S. You could also do this in January since it’s snowman-themed!)

At first, it seemed a little crazy, but I contacted the BEST paint party host I know (and my friend) Gety, and she loaned me her easels and told me what supplies to get. It really didn’t seem hard at all and as a bonus, this would be the gift for parents, so it saved me time putting together a holiday gift!

What you need

Easels. If you don’t know someone who can lend you easels, I did use a picture frame when practicing at home. Just make sure the frames are sturdy enough to hold up the canvas, if you decide to go this route.

Canvases– I used the 14 x 14 size and got them on sale at Michaels at $40 for 24 of them. These were pretty big, so you don’t have to get this size. I think the 10 x 10 size would work just fine, and you get 2 more of this size for the same price.

Paintbrushes- 1 thick and 1 thin for each person. I just borrowed some from other teachers to complete what we needed.

Acrylic Paint- One 8oz. bottle each of red, black, orange, and blue. I bought two bottles of white and had a lot left over in all colors.

Q-tips for dotting eyes, mouth, and snowflakes. I gave 2 to each and had extras on hand

Paper towels

Plastic cups

Tablecloths

Paper plates- 2 for each

Black Sharpie markers– for writing or signing

Snacks– Hot cocoa and cookies. I simply put chocolate milk in a crockpot for a few hours and my class moms provided whipped cream, marshmallows, hot cups with lids, cookies, and water bottles with snowman labels!

Steps

Set up tables with tablecloths, canvases on easels, and a paper towel, 1 thick brush and a paper plate. Don’t pass out the cups of water until kids have finished their backgrounds. I learned this the hard way; no matter how many times I told them not to paint with a wet brush, I had a few that did.

I borrowed a music stand and wrapped it in Saran wrap. This was my painting easel.

So that the background would dry enough, I had kids paint it in the morning. They simply mixed a blob of white and a small dab of blue paint I squeezed onto their plates until they found a blue they liked. Then, they just brushed their entire background, including the edges of the canvas.

The background takes about 10-20 minutes to fully dry, depending on how thick their paint layer was (and if they used a wet brush). We left them to dry while we went to lunch and performed our show. It was an hour and a half later when our parents came to our classroom to join in the fun. During this time, I placed the rest of the supplies at each setting: 1 thin brush, plastic cup of water, bottle of water for drinking. I also replaced the paper plates, as most kiddies had smeared the entire surface. 🙂 The class moms and I squirted out the paints as we needed each color, so they wouldn’t get all mixed up or dry too early.

I had a sample finished painting on display and told everyone they could follow along to make the model, or be as creative as they wanted and do their own thing!

Here are the steps I used:

1. Big white circle in bottom left for face
2. While that dried, bottom part of hat
3. Red sash on hat (if you do the whole hat first, it’s hard to get an opaque red on top of the black)
4. Top part of hat
5. By this time, your face is probably dry, so use the Q-tips to paint the eyes, thin brushes for nose and Q-tips for mouth
6. Use the Q-tips for snowflakes, adding swirls here and there
7. Sharpies for signing or adding a message

While everyone was painting, the class moms helped pass out hot cocoa and cookies, and I played holiday music. It was really such a relaxing, fun time and I think everyone enjoyed themselves. It’s a simple painting and they all came out uniquely wonderful.

I love to take pictures of each child with their parent/ special guest. I put these in the students’ yearlong scrapbook (available in my TpT store). Grab your FREE page from my free resource library or get the direct link when you sign up below!

As a little bonus gift, I also inserted the pictures into digital frames, added the words ‘Christmas 2018’ and printed and laminated them. What a great little souvenir!

I did this at our holiday party, but you can have a snow-themed celebration in January. Or, you can change the painting and do it for any other celebration- chocolate box for Valentine’s Day, beach for end of year, etc.

Whatever the cause, your kids and parents are sure to love this project and the memories it will bring them each time they look at it!

P.S. You may even love it so much, you’ll have a holiday paint party with your family (we did!).

GET YOUR FREE Holiday Scrapbook page. Although it says 2019, I did include an undated version you can use any year.

I’d love to hear what you think! Would you have a paint party in your classroom? What is your favorite class party you’ve had?