Ceramics Painting Party at Home

If you are looking for a crafty party idea for all ages, a ceramics party is the way to go. Whether you’re hosting a kid's birthday party, a team-building event, or a wine and painting party, a pottery party is a fun and engaging event everyone can enjoy.

And the best part? Everyone gets to take home their own hand-painted gift as a party keepsake! 

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Table of Contents

• How To Host a Ceramics Party
• Supplies for a Ceramics Party
• Decorations
• Game Ideas
• Final Details

How To Host a Ceramics Party

You don’t have to book a session at Color Me Mine or another local pottery studio to have a ceramics party. Here’s how you can host a ceramics painting party at home.

Step 1: Find a workspace

Painting gets messy, so make sure you have a designated workspace for the party that can get splattered with paint. An outdoor folding table or a covered dining table with newspaper or a plastic covering underneath should keep the paint off of pavement and floors.

Step 2: Get the essentials

In addition to the paint and pottery, every ceramics party will need a blow dryer, clear glossy spray paint, disposable cups of water, paper plates and paper towels. 

Step 3: Choose a theme

You can purchase an assortment of ceramics for your party guests to paint, but most are sold by the dozen, so it helps if you choose one project for everyone. Choosing a theme will also help you with the rest of the party, including decorations, invitations, food and drinks, and games.

Step 4: Order your supplies

Order your ceramics and supplies at least 2 weeks before the party date to ensure everything arrives on time. Oriental Trading sells craft kits that include everything you need for pottery painting, but you’ll have more options if you buy supplies individually.

Step 5: Dry and finish the painted pottery

Once guests have finished painting their ceramics, use a blow dryer to speed up the drying process. After the pieces are dry, coat them with the clear spray paint for a glossy finish.

Supplies for a Ceramics Party

In addition to the essential items listed above, you will need:

• Unfinished ceramics
• Paint
• Paint brushes
• Paint palettes

Ceramics

Choose your pottery pieces based on your party theme or the occasion. You'll need a set of unfinished ceramic pieces or unfinished pottery.

Unfinished pottery can be painted with acrylic paint, which means you won't have to worry about glazes or "firing" your art when it's finished, like traditional pottery.

You can find dozens of options on Oriental Trading by searching the keywords “DIY ceramic.”

For a kids pottery party, Oriental Trading has the following shapes:

• Bugs DIY Ceramic Bugs - 12 Pc. | Oriental Trading
• Trains DIY Ceramic Trains - 12 Pc. | Oriental Trading
• Dinosaurs DIY Ceramic Dinosaur Shapes - 12 Pc. | Oriental Trading
• Piggy banks: Teddy bear banks, cupcake banks, unicorn banks, superhero banks, elephant banks, bunny banks, shark banks, ice cream banks, dinosaur banks, robot banks, turtle banks, rocket ship banks, princess castle banks
• Desserts DIY Ceramic Sweet Treats - 12 Pc. | Oriental Trading 
• Rainbows DIY Ceramic Rainbow Boxes - 12 Pc. | Oriental Trading
• Bobbleheads DIY Ceramic Bobblehead Frames - 12 Pc. | Oriental Trading

For an adult pottery party, you can choose from a variety of home decor:

• Planters
• Trinket dishes
• Birdhouses
• Pumpkins
• Garden gnomes
• Christmas decor
• Halloween decorations
• Ornaments

You can also buy mini flower pots from your local hardware or craft store, or plain mugs and plates from the thrift store.

Paint

Acrylic paint is the best for these crafts. Purchase a wide variety of colors so that everyone can paint their pottery as they wish.

Paint brushes

Medium-sized multi-purpose brushes will work for most ceramics, but you may also want to include some smaller brushes for details and crevices.

Paint palettes

Purchase a paint palette for each guest so that everyone can have their own paints. You can find these on Oriental Trading, at local craft stores, or the Dollar Tree.

Invitations

Start with colorful, artistic invitations to let your guests know all the details.

You can go with a variety of invitation styles based on your party theme. Here are some ideas:

A paint splatter design or rainbow-themed invitation works well for any kids ceramic painting party:

These paint palette invitations are adorable for a kids party too: 

For adult parties, we love these wine and paint night invitations:

You may want to add a little note suggesting that guests wear clothes they won't mind getting a little paint on.

Decorations

Just like with the invitations, you can theme your party decorations around the ceramics you chose, or go with paint splatter or rainbow decor. It’s easy to gather an assortment of decorations in every color of the rainbow. For a classy look, try a pastel rainbow color palette.

Here are a few of our favorite rainbow decorations:

It can be fun to make your space colorful and get people in the mood.

You can create a vibrant studio atmosphere with colorful tablecloths or hanging lanterns. Brightly colored balloons and streamers can also add to the festive mood.

Set up painting stations with colorful paints and palettes ready to go.

Food & Drinks

Get colorful with food and drinks for your ceramics painting party! 

Mini sandwiches, fruit kabobs, and assorted cookies would work well.

Here are some ideas for what to serve.

For any party:

Rainbow veggie tray: Turn a classic party appetizer into the perfect painting party centerpiece. Group veggies by color for a beautiful rainbow veggie tray.

Fruit salad: Layer fruits by color in cups for a rainbow fruit salad or parfait

Layered rainbow cake: Every painting party needs a layered rainbow cake!

For a kids party:

Rainbow drinks: You can make your own rainbow drinks with these slushies or arrange store-bought drinks in a rainbow for a fun display. Use Bubly, Jarritos, Calypso lemonade, and/or Izze brand drinks. 

Paint brush rice krispies: These adorable dipped rice krispies look just like paint brushes.

For an adult party:

Painted macarons: Adults will appreciate these paint splatter macarons.

Rainbow cocktails

Rainbow sparkling water: Offer this fun and refreshing mocktail

For more ideas, check out this rainbow foods roundup for recipes.

Serve food with paper plates and napkins in a rainbow of colors.

If you’re going for a pastel rainbow look, we recommend these supplies:

Game Ideas

Ceramics painting will be the main event, but you’ll need to keep your party guests entertained while you give the art projects time to dry. 

Make your own Pictionary

Keep the party artsy with a game of Pictionary! To make your own game, create index cards with illustration prompts. For kids, the prompts should be everyday objects and popular characters.

For adults, you can use common phrases and pop culture references. Set up a large pad of paper on an easel so everyone can see and participate.

Twister

Pull out the Twister mat and spinner or make your own. This classic colorful game can be fun for kids or adults.

Final Details

Playing light, cheerful instrumental or acoustic music can boost the creative atmosphere.

Remember to set up a drying area for the finished works. Lastly, each guest gets to take home their mini ceramic piece as a memento of the fun and artistic day

A ceramics painting party is part fun, part art class, and entirely creative! It's the perfect party for kids and adults who love arts and crafts.