How to Host a Rainbow Themed Kids Birthday

Whether you’re working around a Noah’s Ark theme or a Somewhere Over the Rainbow Wizard of Oz concept, a rainbow-themed birthday party is a great choice for little ones. After all, what child doesn’t love bright colors and a cheerful theme? Rainbow themes are also a great way to steer your child’s party away from the overdone and highly commercialized character themes used by so many parents. When it comes to planning, a rainbow theme also offers an exciting opportunity for creative and innovative treats, favors and decorations.

Rainbow Foods

What’s a birthday party without delectable, adorable treats? From the cake to the drinks, a rainbow theme lends itself beautifully to the catering aspect of a kid’s birthday party. Look for old-fashioned, spiraled paper straws in a wide array of hues, opt for brightly colored coated-chocolate candies and tint rice cereal treats with food coloring to lend bright hues to the spread. Coat cake pops in brown icing, then sprinkle the bases with yellow nonpareils before sticking rainbow-shaped and shaded wafers into them to simulate pots of gold. Dip sandwich cookies in tinted white chocolate and arrange them according to the spectrum, or bake macarons in a variety of colors. Strawberries, oranges, pineapple chunks, kiwi slices, blueberries and purple grapes can be arranged into a curved fruit platter reflecting all the colors of the spectrum in a sweet, nutritious way. You can also build trifles or individual parfaits for sweet splashes of bright, cheery color. Spruce up clear soda with ice cubes that have been tinted with food coloring, then serve the concoction in clear cups for maximum effect.

When it comes to the cake, you have a few options. One is to bake seven thin layers separately, each in a dedicated color, and to stack them for a clearly delineated layer cake. You can also take a more tie-dyed approach by separating the batter for a single layer into seven cups and tinting them with food coloring, then mixing them lightly in a cake pan before baking. To lend a cleaner, crisper look to the cake, you may want to opt for white icing.

Rainbow Party Decoration Ideas

When it comes to decorating ideas for your child’s rainbow-themed party, the sky is the limit! Crepe paper streamers and balloons are available in a staggering array of colors, and can be mixed and matched to create the best effect. Spring for plastic flatware in all seven colors of the spectrum, along with plates and napkins for full effect. Hang a net from the ceiling and fill it with inflated balloons in shades of red, orange, yellow, green, blue and purple. These arrangements look particularly good above the serving table.

Invitations in bright colors, with envelopes sprinkled with rainbow confetti add a nice touch and give your guests a clue of the theme. A brightly colored piñata, especially one shaped like a rainbow, is a party classic that will also fit in with your chosen theme.

Rainbow Themed Party Favors

It’s just not a party without favors, and choosing those that work well with your theme is essential. When you’re planning a birthday party with a rainbow theme, the favors offer you the opportunity to get truly creative. Set up a table with several containers of colored sand and small, stoppered bottles to allow kids to create their own sand art in a range of colors.

Supply plenty of sidewalk chalk, and let your pint-sized guests go crazy on the sidewalks or driveway. Drop small snacks and toys into solid-colored favor boxes and arrange them on a table for guests to snag on the way out the door. Play dough in many colors also lends a splash to the favor table and keeps kids entertained along the way. Those pinwheels that kids love so much make great decorations that double as party favors, and can be purchased in any color you can imagine to build a rainbow pinwheel arrangement.

Getting Your Guests Involved

One surefire way to get your guests in on the multi-hued fun is to request that each attendee wears a monochromatic outfit in their own favorite color. That way, all of your little one’s friends can bring their own unique, true colors to the bash!

Thanks to Paul Taylor