Impressive Art Party Favor Ideas…that won't break the bank!

Art Party Favor ideas! I've been dreaming of designing an Art Party for years and I finally got my chance! We hosted a “Party Like Picasso” art party for my daughter's 8th birthday.  You can read all about it here. I was so excited that I started planning ages ago {Like a good year and a half….for reals!}. Something extra time enabled me to do was design several focal points for our party room. One of these was a fun favor display. As you may remember I'm a BIG fan of party favors and I came up with some impressive art party favor ideas for you all that aren't gonna break the bank!

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WHY have a favor?

Ok, now some of you may be thinking…..I spend all this money on the food and decorations, why should I even have to do a party favor? The answer is simple: YOU DON'T! If that's not your thing, give the kids a cupcake and send them on their way. For me it's a fun way to tie in the theme and I like to have the party favor incorporated into the party activities as often as possible. When the kids are old enough to MAKE their favors you get double duty. Something fun for home to remember the awesome party AND a great activity keeping them busy. {And not destroying your house!}

My daughter came home with a swag bag from your party that made me think SHE was the birthday girl!     – Party guest Mom

Art Party Favor Deals

When the theme is more general, like an art party, you have so many options rather than  confining yourself to a specific cartoon character. Starting early helped me shop and find great products at amazing prices. When you don't plan ahead for a party theme you can plan to pay full price for your party supplies. If you know you have a party coming up {like every year on the same day for each of your children's birthdays! Hint, hint!!} decide what you're going to do as early as possible. You don't have to know the details, just decide on the colors, or theme and keep your eyes open while you're out. Here's suggestions to find the BEST deals:

Shop the season

What colors will you be using? What holiday or events are those colors typically used for? Pick up orange paper goods on sale after Halloween or purple, green, and gold supplies after Mardi Gras for up to 80% off. It PAYS to plan ahead! When you are thinking art party, think BACK TO SCHOOL! Michaels had this awesome “adult coloring page” line of $1.50 supplies with the gift bags and mini easels that I snagged last fall, along with a pack of 10 canvases at 50% off. The colored pencils were on sale in August for $0.97 each! Art supplies can get quite expensive so it's important to shop the sales so you don't blow your budget.

Shop back to school supplies for impressive art party favors that stick to your budget!

Check out Dollar Stores

While some of the products at dollar store are inferior, many are fantastic deals. I often see virtually the same thing at other stores for 4x the price. So it makes me feel pretty smart when I can pick up the perfect thing at a great price. The paint smocks and paint palettes were great finds. The pink and purple smocks are even printed with coordinating art images. I wasn't crazy about the label on the paint palette though so I printed my own and cut it by hand to fit. This was a little time consuming but they look so cute, it was totally worth it!

The downside: dollar store inventory is limited and your windows of opportunity are short. Check online to see what's coming out and place an order to guarantee your products. * Dollar Tree has reduced the minimum order quantities for some items so double check and see if it's worth ordering online.

Additional Items

The last few things I picked up at Target's Dollar Spot and Oriental Trading. The watercolor erasers aren't expensive per piece but you do need to order a larger quantity. But they are so perfect you probably won't mind having extras on hand to use again later. With the watercolor design and inspirational message these would be great for a care package, teacher gift, ladies luncheon, or just to put in the office supply drawer with all that other cute stuff you bought at Target! {Please tell me I'm not the only cute office supply hoarder!}

Art Party Favor Sources

Since I purchased things over the last year not everything is still available but I've given alternative sources where necessary. Have fun!!

• Rainbow pencils: Amazon
• Inspirational Watercolor Erasers: Oriental Trading
• Paint Smock: Dollar Tree
• Paint Palette watercolors: Dollar Tree, Alternate: Amazon
• Printed face: Dada de L Enfant Terrible {FREE Download}
  • Check out how we used this in our Picasso collage activity! {coming soon!}
• Mini easel with tiny canvas: Michaels, Alternate: Amazon
• 8×10 wrapped canvas: Michaels, Alternate: Amazon
• Crayola colored pencils: Crayola
• Black and white sketch bags: Michaels
• Create your own sketch bag:
  • Large white gift bag: Amazon
  • Printable Adult coloring page: Katie Packer Artist, Etsy

Favor Tags

Now that you know what's going IN the bag, we need a name tag and cute label to finish it off! I used the rainbow striped paper pattern from the Party Like Picasso Art Party Package on Etsy and printed off each name in rainbow colors using the envelope template from the Party Like Picasso Invitation Suite, also on Etsy. The template is awesome because the colors are already set up for you. Just type in the name and print. It's meant to print on an A7 envelope but I just printed each name on a piece of copy paper and saved the extra for scratch paper. Trim it all down, apply with double sided tape and your names are done!

Finally print the favor tags and cut. I did these by hand but you could try uploading them to Cricut Design Space and see if it can read the faint outline. It would definitely save you some time. Thread some baker's twine through the hole and tie on the handle. This is the perfect finishing touch. Even more perfect? These tags are available as a free download. Go ahead and grab these pretties right here!

Once your art party favors are all set, you need a fun way to show them off! This makes the room feel more festive and ensures no one walks out without one! I have a few pieces of furniture I love using for a favor display, as these Art Party Favors were a little larger {need to be in order to fit the 8×10 canvases} we spread out on our rustic hutch.

Now for the details! Shop your house for fun art related supplies. The wooden artist mannequin, workable fixative, and paint box were all in my office. I grabbed a piece of framed art off the wall and printed a Picasso, “Portrait of Dora Maar” {totally copyrighted so I can't share it} on cardstock and taped it to the front. I flanked it with 2 abstract images I stumbled upon at……wait for it……Dollar Tree! They were so perfect. But you could paint something of your own, have your child create a couple of images to display or print a couple more fine art images off yourself.

For the base of the hutch, it didn't really need anything, but I ordered way too many mini paint cans {I happened to change my mind. Oops!}, so my daughter created a little pyramid and added two of her favorite art books. Usbourne's Big Book of Colours {a younger book but has gorgeous illustrations} and Anna's Art Adventure {a fabulous story about a girl who meets a bunch of artists while wearing a magic robe and even helps Jackson Pollack complete a drip painting}

And you know I'm going to finish it off with a garland of some kind! I love love these little mini banners in our party printable packages! They are the perfect size to fit just about anywhere. then layer it up with a fun pom pom garland. These are pretty easy to make but I picked this colorful little guy up on Etsy.

Get This Look:

• Wooden artist mannequin: IKEA, Alt: Amazon
• Can of Workable Fixative: Amazon
• Mala Watercolor Paint Box: IKEA
• Abstract art pieces: Dollar Tree
• Mini Paint Cans: Oriental Trading
• Art related books:
  • Big Book of Colours
  • Anna's Art Adventure
• Mini Pennant Banners, Party Like Picasso Printable Package, Etsy
• Rainbow Pom pom garland: LeFete Decor Shop, Etsy

Let's Party Like Picasso!

I hope you love these art party favors as much as we did! Now that you've got the favors all ready to go, check out the rest of our art party ideas below. I'd love to see your Art Party and possibly feature you on a Feature Friday. Let us know on our Submissions page.

Additional Reading

• Let's Party Like Picasso
• DIY Art Party Decor
• Keeping Little Artists Busy: Creative Party Activity Ideas

Until next time,