Everything You Need to Know to Host a Rainbow Themed Birthday Party

My Daughter’s Rainbow-Themed First Birthday Party

Well, I am beyond excited to share with you my daughter’s first birthday party! You might recall that last week I talked about the inspiration behind this rainbow-themed party. Well, today’s the day for the full reveal.

Before we get into the details, can I just say what a joyous day this was? Truly, one of the best days of my life! That may sound strange. But my baby is such a social baby! She thrives on being around others. And she was undeniably happy on this day. And of course, seeing my child happy brought me unbelievable amounts of joy.

Now, onto the party details…

9 Tips for Hosting a Rainbow-Themed Kids Birthday Party

As I mentioned here, we chose to focus on a few colorfully creative standout elements to really make the party!

1. A Colorful Backdrop for Photos

You might remember the installation done for Discovery Green by The Color Condition last fall. Well, we fell in love with it. And I’ve been looking for an “excuse” to work with the creative team behind The Color Condition. Obviously, Elle’s birthday party was the perfect place for it!

The Color Condition oh so generously sent us this incredible rainbow backdrop you see in all the photos. It truly was one of the stand out pieces of the party! And I’m quite certain it may become a permanent installation in my home.

2. A Rainbow Balloon Chandelier

Now, this is something I’ve been wanting to do forever! Ask anyone on my team; I have been talking about creating a balloon chandelier for months and months, if not over a year.

I was thrilled to finally be able to do so! Lili’s Balloons completely exceeded my expectations. And it’s still up in my house and looking fabulous!

Now, if you’re looking to create a balloon chandelier on your own, the steps in short (according to the experts!) are as follows: (1) just make one long balloon garland, (2) wrap it around your chandelier carefully, securing it with twine or something similar, and (3) make sure no one turns the chandelier on! Ha. Safety first, kids.

3. Rainbow Florals

While no party is complete without balloons, we also feel no party is complete without beautiful florals! We worked with Mibellarosa to create the rainbow floral arrangements of my dreams! Creating a rainbow of flowers can be tricky, because not all the colors are always available readily – particularly blues. But they pulled it off perfectly! The colors were amazing, and they complemented the party so well. These truly are my dream flowers.

4. Rainbow Cake

As I mentioned last week, I was inspired by Flour Shop’s ever so popular cakes. I knew I wanted lots of sprinkles, lots of color, and candy inside. Erica from Wink by Erica worked wonders on Elle’s cakes! The main one that everyone ate was covered in sprinkles, and when you cut it open, the most beautiful, colorful candy came spilling out. And Elle’s smash cake was a mini version of it (minus the candy). Both were perfect, and the guests loved them!

5. Rainbow Foods

It should come as no surprise that we wanted to continue with the rainbow theme even throughout the food! Since the party wasn’t at a meal time, I knew we didn’t need too much food, but of course wanted to offer something. We hired Morgan of The Foodie Chef to recreate our guacamole bar with chips from Siete! The adults (and kiddos) loved it. Morgan also made beautiful fruit skewers so we could offer a healthier snack, too. We also put out Live Love Pop popcorn which everyone enjoyed tremendously!

And then I wanted to make sure to offer something sweet, aside from the cake, as well. We had our favorite cookie maker, Shannon, create rainbows and sunshine cookies that were so delicious, but also served as party decor!

6. A Creative Display of One Year Photos

It was so much fun to have Elle photographed each month of her first year. It was crazy watching how fast she grew, and I’m so grateful to have these beautiful photographs as memories throughout those 12 months. I knew I wanted to display the photos somehow, so we decided on a rainbow assortment of frames on our candy bar (more on that below!).

7. A Rainbow Candy Bar

In thinking about what would make good favors, I immediately thought candy! Who doesn’t love to leave a party with candy?! We partnered with Sugarfina to create the most colorful candy bar, full of all the tastiest sweets for people to enjoy during and after the party. We simply put them in various sizes of apothecary jars, put out little plastic bags along with rainbow stickers to seal the bags shut.

8. Rainbow Invitations and Signage

In carrying the theme throughout the party, we didn’t want to skimp on the invitation or signage! Ashley designed the invitation and Amy illustrated a few beautiful graphics to include. As well, Amy created various signage for the party, all of which coordinated with the invitation.

9. Keep it Kid Friendly

It’s important to keep a children’s birthday party kid-friendly, of course! We created a couple kid-friendly activity stations, one being the inflatable pool turned ball pit and another being a corner with kids instruments. We also put out a couple kid sized chairs so they could sit and eat there, too (and it also made for adorable photo opportunities!).

Rainbow Products

Below you’ll find many of the products found in these photos, along with some other rainbow party items I love!

A Few More Things

Thanks for following along! I hope you enjoyed this peek into such a special family moment.

Are you feeling inspired to throw a rainbow party? Let us know! We’d love to hear your thoughts.

More color, please!

Carrie