A Little Creative Thinking, a Lot of Fun

From the time she was old enough to sit in the front of a shopping cart, my daughter Anna has loved to browse for arts and crafts supplies.

So when she discovered a few weeks before turning 10 that the local craft superstore gave parties, Anna knew how she wanted to celebrate her birthday -- with a creative extravaganza.

Throughout our two daughters' early years, our family usually held themed, at-home parties, typically including a not-too-messy activity such as decorating plastic teacups with stickers and washable glitter glue. Anna's primary requirement for this birthday party, however, was that the girls could use paint. I liked the idea of excess splatters landing on the store's already splotched table and floor rather than on our furniture and carpeting.

To plan the party, we met with a store employee, and Anna zeroed in on two projects: little denim coin purses and small, hinged wooden boxes ready for embellishment.

We realized another advantage of a crafts store party: bountiful decorative resources. The workroom's stash of supplies included acrylic and fabric paints in virtually any desired shade, paintbrushes, glue-on plastic "jewels," stencils and various odds and ends.

To help set the party's creative mood, we sent invitations bearing pictures of old-fashioned, undressed teddy bears. We asked each girl to decorate her bear any way she wished, then bring the finished artwork to the party for a surprise.

The big day arrived, and so did the guests: 10 giggling 10-year-olds, who were thrilled when they spied the long table strewn with craft supplies. We had everything -- including old shirts from home to use as smocks.

The girls chattered as they sketched designs, dipped brushes in paint and sifted through trims. Anna added red and white designs to her blue purse for a patriotic effect, then painted each of her octagonal box's panels a different color and rubbed a teddy bear transfer onto the hot pink lid. My husband joined in the fun, using metallic gold paint and a plastic emerald to create an elegant dresser topper for me.

After about 90 minutes, the girls were ready for another hands-on activity: birthday cake. We whipped out a homemade flower-shaped, undecorated pink cake, along with a small assortment of frostings and sprinkles. The frenzied crafters zoomed in and slopped on icings and jimmies, creating nothing like the dainty treat Anna had envisioned and reducing the birthday girl to tears. A promise to make another cake later calmed Anna down.

We still had one more order of business: announcing the winners of the teddy bear decorating contest. We judged every entry a winner -- from best dressed to most invisible (one girl forgot her invitation) -- and presented the girls with modest gift cards, so they could share Anna's enthusiasm for craft store shopping.

Most A.C. Moore and Michaels stores offer children's birthday parties. Visit http://www.acmoore.comor http://www.michaels.com/art/online/static?page=birthday for store locations and party details. The Michaels store in Fairfax, where we had Anna's party, charges a $25 room rental fee and $6 to $10 per guest for crafts.