Rain Theme Party

Rain, Rain come and play,
And celebrate Jenny’s birthday,
“Rain is fun!” is what we say,
So please come and help us play!

This rain-themed party invitation is simple to make by decorating folded cardstock with clipart, a sticker or a drawing of a rain themed item, such as an umbrella, rain boots or rain cloud. For the invitation pictured, the umbrella is actually a magnet that I taped to the front of the card so that the invitation could be hung on the fridge as a reminder of the upcoming party. Inside, the above “song” was followed by the date, time and location of the party.

Other suggestions for rain-themed invitations:

Cardstock cutouts in the shape of an umbrella or rain cloud.

A photo of the birthday child in the rain.

Umbrella coloring pages (ask guests to color them in and bring them to the party to receive a door prize).

To make the rain fall from above, cut the shape of rain clouds and raindrops out of cardstock and hang them from the ceiling. Hang kiss-shaped candy from the clouds to look like raindrops falling. Other rain-themed decorating ideas include:

• Cut paper placemats into the shape of clouds.
• Place cocktail umbrellas in drinking cups.
• Use rubber ducks and rainbows to complement your rainy-day theme.
• Cut small clouds out of cardstock and write the names of you guests on them. Tape them to rainbow colored straws and use them as place cards when you set the party table. Pour beverages from watering cans, so they “rain” into the cups when serving.

To make this rain-themed centerpiece, you’ll need:

• A pair of rain boots
• Ribbon
• Lollipops
• Cocktail umbrellas
• Stryrofoam balls
• Bamboo skewers
• Kiss-shaped candy

Directions:

1. Tape the lollipops to the bamboo skewers.
2. Insert the umbrella sticks into the lollipop wrappers
3. Place a Styrofoam ball into each boot. (If needed, stuff the toes of the boots with paper to hold the balls in the heel section of the boots.)
4. Stake the skewers into the foam.
5. Tie the boots together with decorative ribbon.
6. Scatter the kiss-shaped candy (raindrops) around the boots.

Have fun with these ideas for a rainy day buffet:

• Cloud shaped sandwiches, pancakes or quesadillas.
• Apple umbrellas.
• Rainy day cupcakes: Top a frosted cupcake with a toothpick umbrella. Stand a graham cracker teddy bear under the paper umbrella.
• Rainbow cookies
• Rainbow fruit platter.
• Mud puddles: Fill a mini pie shell with chocolate pudding and top with gummy worms.
• Non-alcoholic mudslides.

In "umbrella ball," a bubble-style umbrella is hung upside down, and kids toss balloons into the “bucket.” Place several of these around the party space (use over-the-door hangers or hang them from curtain rods) and fill with balloons to serve as party decorations, as well. Additional rain-themed activities:

• Rain Gear Relay Races
  Divide players into two teams. Send the first player in line for each time to retrieve a rain coat, boots and hat. When they return, each player must put on all of the gear, then take it off and pass it to the next player in line. The first team whose players all complete the task of putting on and taking off the rain gear wins.
• Rain Cloud Craft
  These easy decorations can also be made by guests as a party craft. Cut the shapes of clouds out of cardstock paper. Have kids color and decorate the clouds with a silver lining by outlining the shapes with glitter pens. Use ribbon to hang rain drops (kiss-shaped candies) from the clouds.
• Umbrella picture craft.
• Rainbow crafts.
• Rain-themed coloring pages.
• If the weather is warm, dress them in rain gear and head outside to have water balloon fights under a “raining” sprinkler. If you're lucky enough to have actual rain, puddle stomping is always fun (ask kids to bring their own rain boots).