BY TARYN JEREZ
If you’re looking to get the girls together for one last summer soiree, hosting a planter painting party may be just the ticket! Think grown up craft night meets garden party! The best part is that flowerpot painting is an inexpensive project with an equally easy set up and skill level.
Here is everything you’ll need to be the hostess with the mostess as you invite your friends to paint and pot with you this month.
Plan the Details in Advance
Once you select a date and time, get a headcount for who’s joining the fun so you can gather all of your supplies. Head to your favorite local nursery or gardening supply shop and grab the following items:
- Terracotta pots – 6” work really well
- Indoor or outdoor Plants
- Paint brushes, varying sizes
- Acrylic paints, different colors
- Paper plates
- Water cups (mason jars work great)
- Large bag of potting soil
- Gardening tools to help pot
- Gardening gloves, optional
- Kraft paper roll or plastic tablecloths
Don’t forget you can make this party B.Y.O.P (Bring Your Own Plant) to keep the cost down as a host, but also to allow each guest to bring a plant of their own choosing. Let them know what size pot you’ll be supplying so they can shop accordingly.
Set Up the Party
Decide if the fun will take place indoors or outdoors and pick where painting and potting will be best for you and your guests. Lay down your kraft paper or tablecloth to keep your tables or sidewalk clean and put out some cups or old jars filled with paintbrushes and water for everyone to share. To make potting easy, you can dump your bag of potting soil into a gallon tub and add a few cups inside for scooping. Set up your party food and drinks away from the paint and soil to avoid any contamination. Have fun serving up some summer treats or patio cocktails!
Get the Party Started
As each of your guests arrive, be sure to invite them to pick a pot, grab a seat and start mingling and munching! Take a few moments to get everyone situated and then welcome them by sharing a little about what the night will look like and how the painting process will go. Make sure everyone knows where to find everything and what order of operations to follow to ensure they get to leave with their painted beauty!
Painting Your Pots
This is really where the fun begins! Remember, while some guests may jump right in, some friends may feel a little stuck. Encourage everyone to check out the Pinterest app for inspiration until they find something they are excited about. Have everyone share their paint colors and squirt a little out onto a paper plate to use as their paint palette. Remember the paint will dry fairly quickly on the terracotta so you can have fun adding multiple colors and layers. Make sure everyone’s pots are fully dry before heading to the potting station! (A great time for seconds on snacks!)
Potting Your Plants
Make sure to have your soil easily accessible to everyone with a few shovels or scoopers of some kind to get the soil into the pots. Keep in mind that each terra cotta pot will have a draining hole at the bottom where soil will spill out a bit, so mind the mess! Invite each guest to shovel a little soil into their pot and place their plant inside, slowly covering the roots up to the top of the plant with more soil. Gently pat the top of the soil line down with your fingers and step back to admire your work!
Commemorate the Night with a Photo
There is a sense of pride when you finish a project! Take the opportunity of having all the girls together to grab a group photo with your planters. You can encourage a selfie of your guests with their plants to share later with the group on social media and have friends vote for the best planter. Make sure before everyone leaves you remind people to take their planter with them and maybe get a few ladies to help with the clean up, too!
My biggest advice is just to have fun and don’t worry about the details. Enjoy the time together hanging out and being creative and that is what will make it a girls’ night to remember.
