Woooooooow – the leaves are so pretty today! All October I have been blogging about different ways to incorporate fall leaves into your birthday party. The first theme was ‘decorations’, last week’s was ‘games’, and this week (I crept a little into November!) we are talking CRAFTS. Crafts are a good alternative if you’re not feeling like playing a bunch of games. They can also double as a gift for the special birthday person by creating something special and specific for them. Hearing there is no need to bring a gift to the party and that they will be made as a group is such a stress reliever for guests.  Low stress = a more enjoyable party.

Here are a few of my favorite fall crafts – these may be free if you have all the supplies already. If not, all these supplies can be found at the Dollar Store and you will surely get out of there spending no more than $12 which is what we’re all about!

• Leaf people – they’re goofy and make great wall art!
  • What you will need:Paper 8 1/2″ x 11″ (white or colored)
    • Glue
    • A pile of leaves
    • Googly eyes, straw, stickers, markers, etc. are optional!

Instruct guests to arrange leaves on the paper in the shape of a person. Usually this is about six leaves (one for the head, two for the arms, two for the legs, and one for the belly). When they have those arranged how they want, they can glue them to the paper. If you want more details on the leaf people (to make them look more like the special birthday person) you could provide twigs or straw (for hair), googly eyes, or stickers. Whatever you want is awesome.

• Paint leaves with straws and paper – a fun and not-so-messy way to blow some paint around! 
  • What you will need:
    • Paper 8 1/2″ x 11″ (white would probably be best)
    • Straws
    • Markers, crayons or colored pencils – whatever you have lying around
    • Watercolor paint
    • Paint brushes
    • Paper cups

Provide paper and straws to every guests. Instruct every guests to draw a tree with lots of branches on their paper – they will be adding leaves with the paint. After trees are drawn, they will dip a paint brush in water, then into the paint, and finally dab it onto the paper so it forms a little puddle. Have guests take their straws and blow the paint to form watercolor leaves on their empty tree branches! It’s so fun to see where the paint goes. Blow harder to get a bigger leaf, blow softer to get a smaller leaf. After everyone is done, LEAF (ha!) them out to dry.

• Coffee filter leaves – fold up, paint, and create unpredictable beauty! These look awesome in front of windows.
  • What you will need:
    • Coffee filters
    • Watercolor paint
    • Paint brushes
    • Paper cups
    • Markers
    • Scissors

Conveniently, in this crafting activity, you will use the same watercolor paint that you used for the trees. Give every guest a coffee filter and have them fold it in half, in half again, and then in half again. Dab puddles of different colored paint all over the folded up coffee filter. Or, you can create watercolor cups that guest can just dip their filters in to get color on them. Markers can also be use to make more defined lines and designs. The main goal here is for the paint to seep through all the layers of the filter to create a groovy pattern. Once the designing part is done, LEAF (ha! sorry it’s too good) the coffee filters folded up to dry. Once they’re dry, it should take too long, unfold the filters. Guests can then use scissors to cut the shape of a leaf or multiple leaves out of that filter. Use fishing line to hang the leaves in front of a window to see the beautiful colors shine through!

Feel free to modify any of these crafting ideas to make them especially amazing for your guest of honor. Crafts like these bring everyone together through ideas, creativity and experimentation. This has been a fun month for birthday ideas. I hope you have enjoyed fall and all the beauty it has to offer as much as I have. You have some big shoes to fill, winter!