Party Art
The missing piece to your party!
Guest Blogger: Meryl Rose

Let me first begin by thanking Mammalicious Finds and Haley Pendergraft for the fabulous opportunity I had to review Haley's most fabulous product - Party Art®.
Before I share my thoughts on this product, I bet you are wondering what is Party Art? On her website, http://www.shoppartyart.com/default.htm, Haley describes Party Art in this way:

Party Art® is more than an activity; it’s a one of a kind piece of art created by family and friends.
Each guest is given a puzzle piece and with paintbrush in hand, they create a one of a kind piece of art for your special occasion. Whether you are the next Picasso or you can’t even draw a stick figure, everyone will roll up their sleeves and have a great time.

Once all of the pieces are painted, the puzzle is assembled and framed. Your guests will be amazed by the masterpiece they’ve created!

I didn't need much more than that description to intrigue me!! I couldn't wait to have my party!! I sent out a bunch of emails to friend's of mine inviting them over for a Summer Celebration where we would be painting together with our daughters. I knew there were 20 puzzle pieces and in my perfect world I wanted either 20 people to each paint their own piece or 20 mom/daughter groups who would each paint one piece together. Twenty people were supposed to show up, but in the end 16 people came - 6 Moms and 10 kids. The girls ranged in age from 5.5 to 11 years old.

When everyone arrived, we opened up the Party Art box and were really impressed with the materials and packaging. Inside the box was a fabulous white wood frame (very substantial weight); paint brushes ( a much better quality than the ones you typically have lying around the home); and 12 different tubes of acrylic paint. Before even touching anything, we all thought everything had the appearance of being impressive and high quality.

Example

Now the fun begins. . .

I told everyone that the theme was Summer Fun with Friends, Moms & Daughters and that each person would get their own piece to paint. They could either put the pieces of the puzzle together and paint one large picture with their moms or they could just do their own thing. As you can see by the pictures, some did a scene together and some did their own thing.

Some sketched out their drawings on paper beforehand and some just jumped right in. The skill set ranged in that some of the people at our party loved art and drew really well and some were lucky if they knew had to draw a circle. But whatever the level of talent, the beauty of this project was that it didn't matter one bit. And while the end product was beyond impressive to all of us, the fun that was had made the most impression.

Sometimes the girls were painting next to their moms, sometimes the girls were painting next to the other girls, leaving the moms to paint and have some mommy time together. But whatever the pairings, you could see smiles and hear giggles and laughter coming from everyone. Each person was not only excited to paint their piece - but to see how it would look when it was interlocked with everyone else's.

The girls were a little disappointed when they didn't see their favorite purples and pinks in the tubes of paint, but rest assured the paint is mixable and the options became endless!! When some of us were having a little trouble painting words with paintbrushes, someone came up with the brilliant idea of using a blow dryer to quickly dry the paint on the puzzle piece and use a Sharpie to write on it when the paint was dry. This worked beautifully!

When we were finished painting, we decided to go swimming to wait for our pieces to dry. ..when we came back in about 1 - 2 hours later, the pieces were dry enough to put into the frame. The pieces are numbered on the back - so this makes it easy to figure out! When we were all done, you could hear all sort of "oooohhhhs" and "aaahhhhs" coming from the moms and daughters. We all truly felt that we created a masterpiece together and that not only was it fun, it was a really impressive piece of work at the end!

There are so many fabulous occasions that would be great for Party Art - graduation party, baby shower, wedding shower, milestone birthday, bar/bat mitzvah, going away to college, moving, retirement, teacher appreciation, etc. The Party Art is just under $50 and when you consider that the purpose is for a significant event and the project will last a lifetime, $50 seems to be very reasonable for what you get - from the packaging, the product, the supplies, the fun and even the customer service (I had the opportunity to speak with Haley and she was just delightful to talk to!) - this would be $50 well spent.

Next time you are looking for a special gift, please consider Party Art. It was a fabulous way to spend an afternoon with friends and the end product is just fantastic. I wish Haley nothing but success with Party Art.

Party Art...Mamma and Kid Tested--Mamma and kid approved!

Shop Party Art Web Site

Reader Discount:
Enter customer code: pa4309 to receive $10.00 off each item purchased
(2 Party Arts would be $20.00 off). That's an awesome discount!