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A Rainbow 1st Birthday!

March 24, 2011 by Anna Ranson

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

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Filed Under: Art and Craft, Birthday parties, Celebrations, Playdough, Printing, Rainbows Tagged With: Play Dough

« Wool and Glue Birdie Nest
Lovely Birthday Stories (and a giveaway!) »

Comments

  1. Melissa @ The Chocolate Muffin Tree says

    March 24, 2011 at 4:54 pm

    Wow! You should be a party planner!! Love it all!

  2. Kendra Dixson says

    March 24, 2011 at 6:23 pm

    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

  3. pyjamaschool says

    March 24, 2011 at 6:56 pm

    Happy 1st birthday Pop! It looks like she and everyone else had a fantastic day. I love the playdough in the colourful pots.

  4. Mama Pea Pod says

    March 24, 2011 at 10:24 pm

    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.

  5. Finch Family says

    March 24, 2011 at 11:02 pm

    Lovely ideas, Anna. I love the take-home playdough pots. So sorry your mum couldn’t be there with you all. xx

  6. Sarah says

    March 24, 2011 at 11:12 pm

    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

    March 24, 2011 at 11:56 pm

    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

    March 24, 2011 at 11:58 pm

    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 🙂

  9. amomwithalessonplan.com says

    March 25, 2011 at 4:09 am

    I love the idea of activities that encourage creativity! I looks like a wonderful party.

  10. An Amazing Child says

    March 25, 2011 at 4:09 am

    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

  11. The mum of all trades says

    March 25, 2011 at 1:11 pm

    I bet everyone had a fantastic time. I just love your blog. I’m only sorry its taken me this long to find it, so many great wee ideas.

  12. littlewondersdays says

    March 25, 2011 at 4:29 pm

    This looks like such a fun party. Love all the projects and favors you made.

  13. Elle Belles Bows says

    March 25, 2011 at 8:33 pm

    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

  14. Lowri says

    March 25, 2011 at 9:01 pm

    Some really neat ideas here! I love the painting and the playdough! Thanks for sharing/
    Lowri
    http://papervinenz.blogspot.com/

  15. Briana says

    March 26, 2011 at 2:15 am

    I love your rainbow party, what fun! come visit us sometime at bookwormfun.blogspot.com

  16. Rachele says

    March 28, 2011 at 6:30 pm

    What a great first birthday party!

  17. Rachel at Sun Scholars says

    April 1, 2011 at 3:15 am

    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

    August 4, 2011 at 8:45 pm

    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!

  19. Hannah says

    August 4, 2011 at 8:58 pm

    This comment has been removed by the author.

  20. Anna @ The Imagination Tree says

    August 16, 2011 at 9:26 pm

    Absolutely GORGEOUS party Hannah! Thanks for linking it up so I could see!

  21. jenbleile says

    September 12, 2012 at 6:28 am

    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?

  22. Anonymous says

    November 6, 2012 at 4:08 am

    Hi there! Love the party idea. Where did you get the canvases from?
    Thanks

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About The Imagination Tree Hello and welcome! I'm Anna, Mama of 4, early years teacher and play enthusiast from the UK! Click here to read more about me.

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