At the beginning of October, my daughter and I hosted our first seasonal Matchless Beauty Mother-Daughter Art Party!  We had so much fun with four other mother/daughter couples snacking, taking silly photos, connecting, making memories, and creating collaborative art together.  We enjoyed ourselves so much that it wouldn’t be fair to keep the idea all to ourselves.  So here’s what you need to do to host your -own- Mother-Daughter Party!

Why should I host a mother-daughter party?  Our lives are getting busier, aren’t they?  We can feel the pressure to get kids involved in everything we can, leaving less opportunities for quality time.  It’s especially hard when you have multiple kids!  So, because my passion is nurturing mother/daughter relationships through meaningful experiences, I organized a simple mother-daughter art party so moms and daughters can enjoy some one-on-one time doing something fun.   YOU, mama, can organize a simple party, as well, to foster positive mother-daughter relationships in your friend-circle, neighborhood, and community.  Imagine the impact you can have!

Leah, you did an art party.  Let’s just get this outta the way right now–what if I’m not “good” at art?  Breathe a sigh of relief…you don’t have to be an artist!  In fact, most moms aren’t “good” at it, so you’d be in welcome company.  Just do the best you can and encourage other moms and daughters to do the same!  A “perfect product” is never the goal of art (or a mother-daughter night for that matter!). However, if you’re very uncomfortable with leading a step-by-step art lesson like I did, pick something that you ARE comfortable with.  How about:

• Mother-Daughter Baking Party
• Mother-Daughter Cooking Party
• Mother-Daughter Wreath-Making Night
• Mother-Daughter Fashion Show Party
• Mother-Daughter Craft or Scrapbooking Night
• Mother-Daughter Dance Lesson Night
• Mother-Daughter Jewelry-Making Night
• Mother-Daughter Science Lab Night

Okay, so I have an idea on what kind of party I might do.  How do I begin?  So glad you asked!  Here’s what I did to pull this party together.  This is also available in a printable checklist here.

Before the Party

*Pick a date that works best for your family in this season that will not make preparing for your special event stressful or an afterthought.

*Pick an activity and do a run-through. Chose the activity based on your comfort level, but seek to make it high-quality and an excellent take-home/experience!  I developed mine from an inspired art piece I saw on Pinterest. Time yourself so you know how long it takes, but also accommodate for the unexpected.  Take photos of your process!

*Plan the parameters of your party.  These were mine based on my daughter’s age, the activity level, and our goals:

• One daughter per mom.  I wanted one-on-one time, not two- or three-on-one time.  The art lesson required this and helped set aside special time for one child with her mom.
• Ages 6+.  This lesson required following directions and focus that a younger child would struggle with.
• 1.5 hours long–enough time to eat a snack, talk for a bit, complete the project, and do silly photos.  We did not leave time for free play with toys–the goal was not a playdate for kids, but mother-daughter bonding.
• Light, simple snacks: celery/carrots, store-bought bakery cookies, ice water and apple cider.
• Charge of $10 per couple to cover materials and cost of snacks.  They took materials they used home with them.  I made no profit on this event.
• RSVP by the week before so I could purchase materials and plan accordingly.
• Only up to 10 Mommy-Daughter couples, as my space would allow (we only ended up with 4 other couples, but it was still amazing!).

*Send out invitations a month before.  I created a Facebook event and invited every friend on my list who has a daughter 6 – 10 years old, as well as posted on my personal page.  I took a photo of the art we’d be doing.  I gave an overview of the evening and when I needed RSVP’s.  Remember, even if you get just ONE yes, that mother-daughter couple are worth it!

*As RSVP’s come in, write down a list  since people RSVP in various ways.  Follow-up the week of for last-minute RSVP’s.  Text them, send FB messages, call them, whatever’s clever.

*Purchase materials. I charged $10 at the door that covered materials and they not only took home their finished art, but they took their oil pastels, paint brushes, and pencils home with them as well.  I saved the receipt in case of last-minute cancellations so I could return unused materials.    I also asked each mom to bring a smock for her daughter.

*Prepare demo art with your daughter and practice your “presentation”.  Nobody expects you to be perfect, but being prepared is important.  Complete the demo with your daughter ahead of time, and do everything you can to feel prepared.  I wrote a step-by-step list that I posted on my demo wall space.  I wanted my presentation to help our guests end up with high quality art, so the steps were easy to follow, no matter their artistic level.  I “pre-drew” some dots on their papers so they could easily follow the steps for drawing their owl before they colored it.  My daughter and I enjoyed doing the demo art together before everyone got there so our guests could see the finished product AND so my daughter and I could help others during the party.

*Prepare your space–no need for anything fancy!  Lay out some dollar store disposable table cloths, the basic materials, and any extra materials you might need for clean-up.  If you’re doing a photo booth for silly photos, gather some silly dress-up materials and designate a space for that.

At the Party

*Arrive on time. I asked everyone to do their best to be on-time so we could make the best use of our time.  Everyone was early/on-time so we all enjoyed snacks for a few minutes before we got started.

*Introduction. Before we started the art, I asked each mom to introduce themselves and their daughter and every mom was to say something they appreciated about their daughter (all the daughters felt too shy to share what they appreciated about their moms, but that’s okay).

*Mom tips. I gave a few quick tips to moms about how the art doesn’t need to be perfect, about how the goal is to enjoy doing this together and that both her and her daughter will be creating the owl collaboratively.  I pointed out the three steps that were written down.

*Give the basic steps and wait as they are completed. For our owl drawing, I walked them through, line-by-line, for drawing the art.  One of the goals is for moms to allow their daughters to be creative, so the moms guided the daughters as I gave each step.

*Provide the next steps and more tips as they work. For us, that was coloring the owl, which mom and daughter did together, free-style.  I gave them some quick tips on working with oil pastels…how the colors can blend, how to fill in the color thoroughly, how mom can work on the wing while daughter works on the head.  We talked about symmetry.  I also gave ideas on designs.  Did they want to add a shooting star to the sky?  Did they want to add swirly lines to the owl’s wings? As they worked, I walked around and complimented their work and gave some fun facts about owls.  I also snapped some photos of each couple.

*Wrap up with final steps.  For this project, it was painting over the colored owl artwork with black watercolor paint to make the colors pop.  The girls loved the effect!  Each whimsical owl looked so unique and colorful!

*Extra time at the end was spent taking a photo of each couple with their finished art, more silly photos and grabbing another snack.  I’m able to print directly from my phone to my printer, so each photo I took was printed for take-home (or texted to the moms).  The photos were a riot!

After the Party

*Send a thank-you.  I put together a simple thank-you photo of my daughter and me that shared the date for our next party in January.  I also posted it on FB, tagged each mom, and asked them to save the date.

Afterthoughts

My daughter is having a hard time waiting until our next party in 3 months, so I’d call that a success!  The moms gave very positive feedback and I believe they are going to try and join us for the next party!  My goal for this was nurturing the mother-daughter relationships around us and I believe we did that.  And the truth is, I’m having a hard time waiting for January myself!  If you want a simplified version of our Mother-Daughter Party Format, click here for the free printable pdf or head on over to our “Resources” tab above.  Happy Partying!

xoxo,