Ideas for a Rainbow Themed Kids Party

There are loads of things you can make to go with a rainbow themed party ranging from really easy to more complex stuff. Here are some ideas starting with the most simple to the more complicated:

• Different coloured vegetable sticks
• Different coloured fruit salad, fruit skewers, fruit flan etc
• Rainbow coloured vegetable egg muffins
• Rainbow layered jellies
• Rainbow coloured cupcakes, biscuits etc
• Rainbow layered birthday cake

Vegetable Sticks

This could not really get anymore simple- get veggies in the colours of the rainbow and cut them into sticks. Arrange them on a serving platter in rainbow order and add a dip to the centre. Easy, healthy and it will really brighten up the rest of the brown party food!

• Red- Peppers,Baby Tomatoes
• Orange- Peppers, Carrot Sticks
• Yellow- Peppers
• Green- Cucumber, Peppers, Celery, Mange Tout
• Blue and Purple- Red Cabbage

If you wanted to do the same thing with warm, cooked veggies you could try:

• Red-Roast Peppers
• Orange- Sweet Potato Wedges
• Yellow- Baby Sweetcorn
• Green- Roasted Courgette/Zucchini, Steamed Broccoli, Green Beans
• Blue and Purple- Aubergine

Fruit salad, Fruit skewers, Fruit flan

It doesn't really get any better than fruit when you are doing a rainbow theme- bright, all the colours of the rainbow and a healthy treat that you know the kids will actually like. In the end we opted for fruit flans with the rainbow colours going round in order. Skewers would also look really effective and you could make individual portions for each child to save on waste. Alternatively you could just do a big fruit salad with all the colours.

• Red- Strawberries, cherries, raspberries
• Orange- Oranges, satsumas, melon,
• Yellow- banana, pineapple, mango
• Green- grapes, kiwi,
• Blue- blueberries, blackberries
• Purple- grapes, plums,

Rainbow Coloured Vegetable Egg Muffins

I made these for the our rainbow themed party and they turned out really nice- They are really simple to make- all you need is lots of different coloured chopped vegetables and some eggs and cheese. For the full recipe click here.

One word of advice don't make them too far in advance as the red cabbage goes a funny colour and bleeds.

Rainbow Layered Jellies

I made these as well. They are relatively simple but take a bit of planning as you have to wait for each layer to set before you can add the next. I managed to do two layers a day so ideally you want to start three days before your party.

Buy jelly in the colours of the rainbow and mix up your first colour which will be purple. Add a small amount to the bottom of some plastic cups. Leave to set before adding your next colour and so on. Warning- make sure the jelly has fully set before you add the next layer or the whole thing will collapse.

Rainbow Coloured Cupcakes/ Biscuits

I went with cupcakes which we iced with the colours of the rainbow. You could also make the actual sponges different colours but this tends not to be as vibrant and would require a lot of good quality gel food colouring. As well as cupcakes coloured biscuits could be nice. We chose to arrange our cupcakes into a rainbow shape and used individual meringue nests as clouds.

Rainbow Layered Birthday Cake

The idea of this cake is that you make seven coloured sponge layers and stack them all up i in the rainbow order and then cover in white frosting or icing. The real beauty of the cake is when it's cut to reveal the rainbow effect.This is the piece de resistance at any rainbow themed birthday party and it isn't actually that hard to do either since all the fancy work is inside you can get away with just giving the cake some white frosting and sprinkling some hundreds and thousands or other fancy sprinkles on top. There are loads of recipes on the internet and quite a few youtube videos as well telling you how to create the effect. I used the BBC recipe and it tasted yummy and turned out not bad looking - I would have liked more vibrant colours but hey ho.

I used Dr Oetekr gel food colouring and Betty Crocker's Frosting.

Whether you've hired a hall or you're just having the party at your house the rainbow theme lends itself really well to great colourful decorations. This is what we did for out rainbow themed party:

• Rainbow Paper Chains
• Rainbow Balloons
• Rainbow Confetti
• Rainbow Pompoms
• Rainbow Bunting
• Rainbow Art

Rainbow Paper Chains

Obviously paper chains need little explanation but basically I bought sugar paper in all the colours of the rainbow then made 1 long paper chain in each colour. I hung these in rainbow order across the width of the room. In case you really don't know to make a paper chain you cut strips of paper and glue on end to the other to make a hoop. You then take a second strip and link it through the first hoop to make a second hoop and so on to create a chain. Very simple but still effective. The best part of paper chains is that they are so simple you can get the kids making them.

Rainbow Balloons

The hardest part of this was actually finding a shop that sold all the rainbow colours. In the end it was Poundland that stocked them. I simple made clusters of all seven colours and tied them together with yarn and hung them all over the hall. You can do more fancy things if you feel up for it like make a balloon banner or arrange the balloons in rows and stick them to a wall to create a cool rainbow backdrop for photos to be taken in front of. You could then get the photos printed and use them as personalised thank you cards.

Rainbow Confetti

You can easily make this with some coloured paper and a cutting stamp. I have a star one so made rainbow star confetti for the tables to be decorated with.

Rainbow Pompoms

These are may absolute favorite decoration. They look so effective and are so easy to make. I I made one large pompom of each colour and suspended them from the ceiling over the table.

To make them you will need:

- 8-10 sheets of tissue paper in each of the colours of the rainbow

- some wire or pipe cleaners

- some scissors

- some string or yarn

Method:

1. Take the layers of tissue paper and concertina it backwards and forward
2. Fold the concertinaed paper in half and then unfold. Where you have left a fold line to mark the middle tie round the wire or pipecleaner
3. Carefully pull pull out each layer of tissue paper on both sides of the wire to create your pompom
4. Tie the string round the middle (where the wire is) - this will be used to suspend the pompoms

Rainbow Bunting

This is obvious- if you can buy some great- otherwise you make your own from string and different colored card fairly easily. If you are good with a sewing machine you could even make some nice fabric bunting to use again and again.

Rainbow Art

This is a fun activity to do with your kids before the party. Simply collect a load of crayons and arrange them in rainbow order and tape them to the top of a canvas. Melt the crayons using a hairdryer to create a really cool drip effect picture. We used ours as a sign to show people the way to the party.