I had a phone call yesterday morning in the middle of the morning rush.
"Simone," my caller said, "I'm in a panic. My daughter's first birthday party is this weekend and our face painter has cancelled. Do you know anyone?"
I had to tell her No, I'm sorry. I have never once used a professional face-painter for any of my multitudinous parties.
Three kids. Ten years. Twenty Two Parties. And not a professional face-painter between them.
I gave my caller the suggestion I am giving you now.
Two. Dollar. Shop.
That's right. Almost every party we've had has involved face-painting of some kind. All courtesy of the local dollar store.
It began with Dash's third birthday party when I bought six jars of $2 facepaint to use at his Animal party. I shoved a paintbrush at an unsuspecting mama and asked her to do her best.
Seven years and umpteen parties later my face-paint collection has grown and been added to, but the principal remains the same. DIY Paint-Facing Rulz. End of story.
These days I usually hand the collection over to Miss Fab and her arty friends. They have fun being creative, the little kids get their faces painted. The results are colourful and we never get any complaints from the customers.
So if you are thinking you need to hire a professional face-painter for your parties, think again. Here's what to do instead...
- purchase 6-8 pottles of facepaint from the dollar store in a range of colours
- also purchase a couple of cheap eyeliner pencils in various colours (black, brown, silver, gold) - perfect for detailing
- add some pottles of glitter (glitter can be easily applied to wet paint for a sparkly look)
- perhaps have some cheap eyeshadow in various colours also
Set up your Face-Painting table with:
- a plastic cover (to protect against spillage)
- a mirror
- a jar of water
- various sized paintbrushes
- a bottle of moisturiser*
- some tissues and/or wet-wipes
- your face-paints
- extra chairs for the waiting children who will be queuing up to have their faces transformed by local artistes
Co-opt some artists for the duration of the party. These could include:
- older arty children
- creative mums
- willing grannies
- clever daddies
- older teenage cousins
*Make sure your face painters know to apply moisturiser to each child's face before painting. This stops the skin feeling itchy and scratchy as the paint dries*
The initial outlay cost is minimal (around $25 max) and the bonus is that you can put your supplies away and bring them out ready for your next party (or an impromptu theme night, or just-because random dress-up fun).
DIY Paint-Facing Rocks. I swear by it.
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