Bunch Family

A collaborative art project sharing memories and resolutions makes for a great party activity

Kids and parents can all take part sharing their favourite memories of the last year as well as their hopes for 2011.

Establish an art corner for this particular party activity. (We can’t even tell you how many times we’ve accidentally dipped a chip and realized we just ate paste rather than some sort of sour cream-based concoction. Kidding! But wouldn’t that be awful? Don’t let it happen at your party.)

• Spread out a sheet of mural paper (postal paper will do) on a table
• We’re also way into the idea of using dozens of mini canvases (You can find 1″x1″ or 2″x2″ at your favourite craft supply store)
• While we would never dream of stifling anyone’s creativity, we suggest coming up with a palette and offering your guests four colours that compliment the mood of the party. (playful primaries? sophisticated charcoal and eggplant? gold and silver uberglamour?)
• Especially if you’re going the mini-canvas route, we say use pastels rather than paints or markers or crayons. They’re smudgey and you get great saturation.
• Set up a hand-washing station. You just know some tiny pastel hand-print will find its way to your sofa or tablecloth.
• Inform your guests as they come in that they should draw a picture of their favourite memory from 2010 as well as a hope or resolution for 2011.
• When everyone’s contributed, tape your collaborative masterpiece to the wall, or arrange the mini-canvases together on the wall to create a little mosaic.
• Take pictures of the finished product to send to all your guests. (Kids will probably want to take home their mini-canvas works of art, but if you have the kids do two each, you can keep one for the mosaic and they can still take one home)

If you do this project, please send us a copy of the final product! We’d love to share it.

Photo by Scott Billings via Flickr.