Over The Rainbow Party -14yr- Rainbow Cake

INVITATIONS: They read YOU'RE INVITED" in large letters each of which are a different color with "over the rainbow" in a smaller black font underneath. This takes up the entire front of the card with party details inside. I had them printed by an online printing service and actually save a lot of money not buying all that colored ink! The invitations asked guests to wear solid colors.

DECORATIONS: We hosted this party at a clubhouse at our local YMCA. I decorated the entry of the bridge with two balloon bouquets of all the rainbow colors with oversize rainbow pinwheels attached at the bottom. There were two more rainbow balloon bouquets at the door and a ribbon curtain made by attaching lengths of multicolor ribbon to a dowel and securing it above the door. The tables were covered in white plastic tablecloths and butcher paper and we used all white cutlery and plates so that the colorful elements didn't get lost.

There were 2 dozen light blue balloons floating on the ceiling and clusters of white pom poms in a few places to symbolize clouds. In the center we had a sun pinata filled with packets of Skittles. The cake area (my fave) had a giant 3-foot tall 5 I made by attaching cardboard to foam blocks and wrapping the whole thing with strips of fabric in rainbow colors. There were also apothecary jars with Skittles M&Ms sour worms hard fruit candy and rainbow Twizzlers.

ACTIVITIES: guests made their own rainbows at one table with various art supplies. We later grouped all the kids together and took a photo of them with their art. At another table guests made dancing rings with 3-inch metal rings and different kinds of ribbon. We played music about rainbows colors sunshine dancing and friends.

GAMES: My daughter LOVES Minute to Win It so we changed it to 5 Minutes to Win It and played five games with the guests divided into color teams. Whichever team won each round got a prize (rainbow erasers and pencils) and the other teams got consolation prizes of solid color pencils and erasers. After that we had a dance party with our rainbow rings. SO FUN!!!

COSTUMES: The guests all wore solid colors and had solid color party hats. The birthday girl wore a silver tulle skirt and a white t-shirt and a rainbow-colored party hat. She had white leggings and bright pink high-tops. =)

PARTY SNACKS: We had a VERY large tray half with fruit and half with veggies arranged in a rainbow. We had watermelon mango pineapple kiwi blueberries purple grapes and grape tomatoes carrots yellow bell peppers snow peas purple bell peppers and purple cauliflower. At the end of each side there were appropriate dips (ranch for the veggies marshmallow/whipped cream for the fruit) in white bowls. Ritz-style crackers were arranged under the arc of the rainbow to look like the sun We had three glass pitchers with lemonade cranberry/grape juice and blue Kool-Aid and clear plastic cups so the kids could see the new color combos they made. 

CAKE: I made the cake in six thin layers with each layer being a different color of the rainbow it was iced in bright white buttercream so you couldn't see that it was a rainbow cake until it was cut. We had a plastic bluebird on top. We also served tie-dye cupcakes (one spoonful of each color batter into cupcake cups) frosted with the same white buttercream. Each cupcake had a rainbow lollipop stuck in it.

FAVORS: The guests took home their art work and rainbow rings and a copy of the CD we'd been listening to during the party as well as clear cellophane bags of the decorative candy which were folded over and sealed with a rainbow sticker."