Fall birthday parties have the potential to be one of the most beautiful occasions of the season. If you’re lucky enough to have an autumn birthday you should own it and celebrate with joy. The problem is most birthday party invitations are aimed at summer birthdays. Ice cream, summer flower, luau, these are birthday party themes that are easy to come by. So, what do you do? Make your own! Here’s how:
Supplies You Will Need:
- White or Tea (dark tan) Colored Card Stock or Paper
- Three or Four Cups of Hot Water
- 3 Tea Bags
- 9×13 Pan
- 9 Table Spoons of Water
- Green, Red, or Orange Finger Paint
- Red, Yellow, and Blue Food Coloring
- 4 Small Bowls
- Fork
- Paint Brush
- A Pretty Leaf, Apple, or Pumpkin Stamp
- Wax Paper
If you chose Tea Colored Card Stock, you won’t need the cups of water or tea bags and can skip to step three.
Step One: It’s Tea Time. Steep the tea bags in the hot water until you create a fairly dark, strong tea. Pour the water into the pan.
Step Two: Steep Again. Soak the paper or cardstock in the tea until it’s a nice rich tea color. Allow the water to drip off and lay the paper out on some wax paper.
Step Three: Time to Color. Place 2 Tablespoons of water in three of the bowls and three to the last. Add two drops of red to the first, two drops of yellow to the second, and in the third you can either add one drop of blue or add one drop of blue and one drop of red to make purple. In the last bowl add a quarter size drop of green, red, or orange finger paint according to your preference. Mix them up without mixing colors from one bowl to the next.
Step Four: Paint it Pretty. Using a fork, dip into one of the first three bowls. Splash or tap the colored water randomly onto the paper or cardstock. If the dot is too solid, use the back of the fork to rub it around, adding a bit more tea water if you need the color to slide around better. Do this with the other two food coloring bowls. If you chose cardstock you may have to do this to both sides. If you’re using paper, the color will bleed through.
Step Four: Stamp It! Using the stamp of your choice, dip your stamp gently into the finger paint mixture. The finger paint should be fairly watery. Stamp the image you’ve chosen randomly in a few places on the paper. Again, if you’ve chosen cardstock you may want to stamp the other side once it’s dry. Paper will allow the watery color to bleed through. If you don’t have a stamp, you can glue a leaf to a kitchen sponge and paint the color on before you stamp it or you can cut an apple in half and use that as a stamp. Let the paper dry completely.
Step Five: Write It. You can either use your computer to print the party information or you can handwrite it.
Optional: You can glue on a small fern leaf, sprinkle cinnamon and nutmeg over the paper once it’s dry then shake off to give it a little autumn scent, you can add pressed flowers, or you can fold your invitation in half, punch two holes into the paper where it will open, and tie with a little piece of ribbon.
