While my products and posts are typically targeted towards kids, lately a lot of adults have been buying paint kits. I don’t know if it’s covid, getting older, inflation or what! But, having a night in with some friends and doing a fun activity in sweatpants, is definitely my jam. I’ve always loved crafts, especially when it doesn’t require a lot of skill and can be completed in a night. Add some friends, drinks, music and a good catch up and you’ve got yourself a perfect evening. Let’s chat about what makes a good craft night.
First things first: The mood
Decide the vibe. Are you having an upbeat get together with drinks flowing before going out on the town? Is it you and a couple of friends gabbing and catching up because you haven’t seen each other forever? Or maybe it’s a date night and you want to do something different together? Whoever it’s with, think about the atmosphere you want to create. This includes: type of music, lighting, where you’re going to paint and flow of the evening.
Here’s some Spotify playlists to get you started:
- Wanderlust - good, easy talking music
- Lofi Covers of popular songs 2023 - popular instrumental beats
- 90s hits | Top 100 Songs
- Biggest Hit of All Time
Next: Food and drinks
Food is always a nice “cherry on top” when visiting with friends and adds to the vibe. You could make a feature drink, like a summer lemonade or buy a specialty tea blend. You could even indulge in crafting your own martini’s or a bottle of wine. For food options, a charcuterie board is always a crowd pleaser, or you can simply provide chips, depending what kind of group you’re hosting.
Now: The Painting Begins
Okay! Now for the good stuff. Everyone needs a paintbrush, access to a paint palette, some sort of color mixing dish and water to rinse off their paint brushes.
Acrylic paint goes an incredibly long way, especially if adults are painting, so you don’t need a lot. Each of our kits comes with paint. If you want more, you can purchase additional ones online in a variety of colors. Here’s the link.
In my experience, painting 2 -3 concrete pieces per person is ideal. Some people are incredibly artistic and detailed and will take much longer than the average person. It takes about 30 minutes to paint one of the pieces.
Here’s a list to make sure you have everything.
Checklist
- 1 mini paint kit per person OR 1 regular paint kit per 2 people
- The mini paint kit will give everyone 3 concrete pieces, 2 paint brushes and their own paint
- If shared with 2 people, the regular paint kit will give each person 3 concrete pieces, 1 paintbrush each and sharing of paints.
- Mixing dish - plastic yogurt lids - 1 per 2 people
- Water to rinse paintbrushes - 1 per 2 people
- Paper towel - for resting pieces on and wiping paint brushes
If you want more information on best practices when using acrylic paint, check out my other blog here.
Final Thoughts
I’ve seen some adults take their painting parties very seriously and even go as far as having prizes and voting for best painted with different criteria. The same principles would apply if I was hosting a painting party for kids but I would include a theme such as a unicorn party or dinosaur party and tie that in with matching paint kits.
I hope you keep a painting party open as an idea the next time you want to host an evening in. They are so much fun and don’t require a lot of materials or work to get everything organized. You can make it as elaborate or as relaxed as you want.
Happy painting!
Nikki
