How to throw a wonderful & plastic-free “Arty bug party”
This year my eldest asked for an ‘Arty Bug party’ For his 5th Birthday Party. Here we’ll show you how to throw a Wonderful & plastic-free Arty bug party just like we did! You might find a couple of ideas to try yourself.
Art themed parties are so much fun, with their bright colours and messy creative play, they’re a perfect theme for kids of all ages to enjoy!
Kids love to be creative and there are so many options to let them express themselves with a bright and colourful art-themed party ( in this case, mixed with bugs to give it a bit of a creepy-crawly twist)
Whether it be with painting plasters, A colouring-in table, watercolour paint packs or paint your own cookies there are so many ways to make it FUN!
W really enjoyed planning this arty bug-themed, plastic-free party, read on to explore how we put it all together>>>
The invitation & matching printables
bug printable 
We had fun choosing a colourful invitation and had it custom made by Mj Creation.
We ended up pushing his party back a week later than his actual Birthday to see how things were going restriction-wise and aimed for a small party with close family members.
Invites were sent out digitally through Facebook messenger so there was zero waste for these invites!
Round labels were printed on recycled paper and children’s names were hand written so each child knew which cup was theirs, this also reduces the number of cups you need.
A hole punch and string were used to attach labels to glass milk bottles and bamboo reusable straws were used to drink with.
You can view the invitation and labels here:
https://partyora.com/shop/bug-party-invite-bug-invitation-printable-bug-party/
Welcome sign printable
Guests were greeted with this happy and colourful Welcome sign printable by Catherines Personalised Prints! This was customised to match the fabric swatch and invite, so sweet!
It was attached to the kids chalkboard and we added some paint splat cut outs that were hand drawn on coloured paper. A very simple decoration idea with a big impact. You can view her range here: https://partyora.com/vendor/catherines-personalised-prints/
The Cake, Topper & desserts
A mini cake was the perfect option for this small party and the team at Sweet styling co did an amazing job of creating his chocolate flavoured Buggy cake topped with matching cookies and cookie toppers.
There were red velvet cupcakes with buttercream icing to match the cake too YUM!
Check out their insta feed for more #cakeinspo here:https://www.instagram.com/sweetstylingco/
We added a beautiful handmade macrame reusable topper by Luna Handmade in all the colours of the rainbow on the mini cake. I will be using this little beauty for years to come! You can view more of their handmade creations here
https://www.instagram.com/luna.handmade.co/
The kids were treated to some paint your own cookies by La Ti Dough which they absolutely loved.
There was fresh fruits at the grazing station and no need for extra lollies or chocolates!
Check out these inspiring cookies here: https://www.instagram.com/la_ti_dough/
Handmade Bug aprons
Handmade aprons for little partygoers to wear were tied over the chairs. The design team at partyora stuck with white aprons with primary colours for the ties and some gorgeous cotton Bug fabric. The pass the parcel, lolly bags and bunting all had this bug fabric to tie it all together.
You can view these items here: https://partyora.com/vendor/partyora/
Arty Bug Pass the parcel
The kids played a party favourite “pass the parcel” with this fabric reusable 10 Layer pass the parcel set by Partyora .
There were wooden puzzles, small wooden toys and bug erasers to fill it with & it was so quick to put together and much less wasteful!
Party paint packs
The kids loved using water to paint these gorgeous and fully customised bug themed party paint packs by The Party Pack co. They had wooden brushes and were individually wrapped in coloured tissue paper. These were a HIT! You can view these and more here: https://thepartypackco.com.au/
Decorations, fabric backdrop & bunting
We decorated the backyard with a handmade Buggy hanging banner and attached it to this wonderful moss wall backdrop by TTLG Event styling & Hire
https://www.instagram.com/throughthelookingglass_events/
Primary coloured paper honeycomb balls were used to decorate instead of balloons together with this reusable handmade Felt Bug bunting by Partyora that can be reused over and over again!
I was surprised when Hubby got involved and made some cartoon paper critters to stick around the gorgeous Timber Happy Birthday Sign by Honeycomb Living which we have used several times for Birthdays in our family!
You can view the Happy Birthday Sign here https://partyora.com/shop/timber-birthday-wall-decoration/
Bug costumes!
Dressing up for a party is the best part!!
Custom-designed costumes were Handmade by Schooza and had the sweetest little details.
The boys loved them so much they wanted to wear them each day leading up to the party! A bee, 2 little spiders and a hungry little caterpillar inspired costume for my boys which I’m sure they’ll be asking to wear all week!
You can view our range of costumes here: https://partyora.com/vendor/schooza/
Arty Bug Party food
Food tent labels with fun names like, ‘Cricket nuggets’, ‘Beetle juice’, ‘ Creepy crawly cupcakes’ were a fun way to keep the food bug themed, we had a grazing spread so guests could select what they wanted with a selection of hot and cold finger foods.
The kids used reusable tableware and we had compostable and bamboo plates & utensils for the parents.
Worm Pinata
I made Orlando the worm piñata he asked for (which to me resembled a Poo emoji but he loved it anyway.)
It was filled with some foil wrapped chocolate coins hearts & yowies, eco confetti, handmade and coloured origami bugs and little folded up bug jokes
Bug plaster favour packs
https://partyora.com/shop/bug-favour-bags-set-of-10/
Loll-free & plastic-free party bags were handed out and filled with assorted bug plasters, wooden paint brushes and paints by PM Plaster Craft. They were the perfect take home gift for our arty bug party guests!
Available in almost every theme could think of, you can see our selection here: https://partyora.com/vendor/pm-plaster-craft/
With our fabric reusable lolly bags, you can have them customised to any theme. Simply fill each layer with Eco friendly items such as:
- small wooden toys,
- hair scrunchies,
- non toxic crayons,
- wooden pencils
For more party ideas feel free to join our Facebook Group here www.facebook.com/groups/ecofriendlypartyplanningideas
WRITTEN BY JULIANA MULTARI
Sydney based Mumboss on a mission to spread eco friendly cheer!
