The Imagination Tree

Creative play and learning for kids

A Rainbow 1st Birthday!

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Little Pop is 1! We celebrated outside with our little mums and tots group in the glorious, warm Spring sunshine (who says the British weather is always bad?!)
Birthday balloons on stalks, our birthday tree in full bloom and lovely 1st birthday cards.

 Garlands of rainbow paper around the rooms.

Baby exploring her new wooden barn and animals!
                         
A sensory box for the babies to play with, lovingly dubbed “the Rainbow Rummage Box” 🙂 The box contained pipe cleaners, duplo blocks, cotton reels, pegs, scrunched up paper, silky ribbons, large buttons, straws, scraps of rainbow fabric and wooden beads. Lots of multi-sensory fun for little hands and eyes!

 Each child and baby did printing onto canvas using shower body puffs (5 for 99p!) Thanks to my friend Naomi for this idea 🙂

 The effects were lovely and quite impressive for a bunch of 6 month to 4 year olds!

 I love how in this picture the colours on the canvases reflect those in the primroses planted nearby.

 Can you see the lion?

 Look at this gorgeous effort by the littlest baby there! Only 6 months. I love it.

Time for an impromptu picnic birthday lunch. Who would want to stay indoors on such a beautiful day?
        
Some rainbow fruit to munch!
The birthday girl tucking in so independently 🙂

And then came the rainbow cake! I think this half eaten photo shows it at its best. Let’s just say I was a little disappointed with my efforts but it did taste lovely and the kids loved it. That’s what matters I suppose!

After all the fun, food and creativity it was time to go home. Each child took some rainbow play dough in little pots to use at home. I used the no-cook recipe which can be found in the “Play Dough and Salt Dough” tab at the top of this page.

All wrapped up and ready to go!

Plenty of fun and lovely memories made, but missing our lovely Mamgu terribly and wishing she could have been a part of such a special occasion.

We Play

Comments

  2. Kendra Dixson says

    Amazing, especially the party favours, wow! You are so creative, fun and generous. I teared up at the last line. I imagine you must think of her every day. She would have loved this party.
    Love Kendra xo

  4. Mama Pea Pod says

    Beautiful! We had a rainbow party last year, too, such a fun theme! What did you use for the playdough pots? They look great! Would like to make playdough for favours this year too, but not sure what to put it in that will look nice and also be airtight. Yours look perfect.

  6. Sarah says

    LOVE your rainbow party! So gorgeous, the cake looks wonderful and I particularly love the rainbow playdough. I might be bookmarking this page for a 5th birthday party for my little rainbow lover in July!

    I want to play with that barn!

  7. Anna @ The Imagination Tree says

    Mama Pea Pod- these were little tupperware pots that came from the 99p shop- 5 for 99p! A bargain. Anything airtight will do. We used little glass jars and stoppers for C’s 2nd birthday and they were really pretty. (You can see those in a post entitled “Two Years”.)

  8. Anna @ The Imagination Tree says

    Sarah I would love to see your pictures of your rainbow party- I’m sure it will be wonderful! And yes, the barn is rather fabulous. I keep having sneaky little plays with it myself even when the kids are not around 🙂

  10. An Amazing Child says

    What a gorgeous little party, Anna. And I think Lil Pop and my sweet boy, J might share a birthday…I really love the idea of something homemade as party favours instead of lollies and trinkets. I made pinwheels for J’s birthday favours. So easy to make and the kids just love them. A classic just like play-dough 🙂

    Kate

  13. Elle Belles Bows says

    Happy Birthday to Little Pop!

    I love everything about the party! I love that you used the bath puffs for painting and the cake was too cute!

    Great job!

    Kerri

  17. Rachel at Sun Scholars says

    Oh my gosh… and who said you couldn’t make a party perfect for 1 year olds?!! This was amazing! What great ideas!

    Thanks so much for linking up with For the Kids Fridays at Sun Scholars. I can’t wait to see what you have to share this week! I’ll be posting the next party later tonight. Hope to have you stop by!

    :)rachel @ SunScholars.blogspot.com

  18. Hannah says

    I’ve just been looking through your blog – and I LOVE it!! But I was a little taken aback when I came across this post, as it very much resembled the party I held for my 1 year old just a week ago (also rainbow themed)-

    http://hpolland.blogspot.com/2011_07_01_archive.html

    I also noticed you mentioned a ‘mamgu’? My mother is ‘mamgu’ to the grandchildren too 🙂

    I love your approach to creative learning – it’s what I’d love to go into eventually.

    I will be coming back to your blog again to get some great ideas for my little one!

  21. jenbleile says

    I know this post is older, but I might use this theme for my girl’s upcoming 2nd bday, and I have a question. What kind of paint did you use for the printing? Could you use a homemade edible recipe or would that be too thick? I love the idea, but I’m a little concerned that younger guests might eat the paint… Any advice?