6 Awesome Artists for a Craftacular Birthday Party

2/3/17 - By Sona Charaipotra

You know the drill: You're planning a NYC birthday party, and the kids are all over the clowns, magicians, and balloon-benders. They’re all creators these days, and they want hands-on fun with a definite takeaway at the end. That means two hours of running around for parents, right?

Or you can just hire someone to do the heavy lifting for you. You’ll end up a hero if you stick with any of these six awesome arts-and-crafts-inspired party people—all of whom bring supplies, set things up at your apartment or rented space, get crafty with the kids, and clean up for you. It is as amazing as it sounds.

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Try treat shop Bread & Spoon's sweet cooking projects for kids, a fun paper-craft, or even jewelry making.

Bread & Spoon
Where: Manhattan, Brooklyn, and New Jersey
Specialty: Cooking and Crafts
Two-for-one? Talk about a steal. Get your cake and crafts in one easy package, courtesy of Bread & Spoon, a Jersey City-based treat shop that offers customized parties delivered to your location in Manhattan, Brooklyn, or northern New Jersey. Services include supplies, kid-friendly supervisors, set-up, and cleanup. Kids can bake and decorate cupcakes or make chocolate bark (all GMO-free and mostly organic), then focus on an amazing activity, such as making clay and metal jewelry, shrinky-dink necklaces (customizable to your kid’s favorites), sewing and stuffing pillows, painting, or even terrarium construction. Even better: Bread & Spoon can cater your party with food platters for kids and adults making it a truly one-stop shop.

Brooklyn Craft Farm
Where: Brooklyn
Specialty: Clay, collage, photography, etc.
Craft-a-go-go? That’s what Brooklyn Craft Farm calls its delivered-to-your-door parties, which can be customized for kids ages 4 and older. Supervisors show up early, set up, spend an hour or so crafting with the kids, then do all the cleanup. Crafts are tailored to the birthday kid’s taste, from making Minecraft T-shirts to decorating a tote to handmade plush toys and robot trash cans. Brooklyn Craft’s got something artsy for every kid. Tight on space? It has partnered with a few locations in Brooklyn for on-site events.

RELATED: 12 Great Birthday Party Spots for Manhattan Preschoolers


A glittery mosaic-making session from Craft Studio to Go will wow your kid's birthday party attendees.

Craft Studio to Go
Where: Priced for Manhattan; other areas incur additional charges
Specialty: You dream it, they make it
Based on the Upper East Side and an off-shoot of the Craft Studio event and party space, this all-inclusive craft company brings to life your kid’s ideal activity, from puppet-making to chocolate painting and retro button-making to fill-in-the-blank, in a convenient, party-sized package. It includes everything from prep to supplies to well-trained activity supervisors. Add-ons mean extra fun. Options include everything from "princess treatment" to nail art and temp tattoo parlors.


Pop open a Creativity Can at an e.t.c events party and the crafty possibilities are endless.

e.t.c. events
Where: Manhattan; additional travel costs for other locations
Specialty: Themed art and baking projects.
Working with Creativity for Kids and its Creativity Can, e.t.c. events customizes arts-and-crafts-focused parties for children, centering on themes such as decorating your own cake, making fruit and vegetable prints or customizing tote bags. You can request an event built around memory-box construction or doing fashion illustrations, which might be a fun and focused activity for older kids.

Kids Party with Ruby
Where: Throughout New York City, New Jersey, and Long Island
Specialty: Sand art, spin art, and tutus. Oh my!
Want real bang for your party buck? Multitasking artist Ruby does a little bit of everything: face painting, henna tattoos, temp tattoos, and more, plus, a 1½-hour craftacular sand art, spin-art, or tutu-making shindig that covers ground for parents on a budget. Plus, she'll show up dressed as your kid's favorite character. What more could you ask for?

Imagination Lane
Where: Manhattan
Specialty: Art parties
A full hour of crafting play comes with this arty party that brings artists, supplies, and inspiration to a shindig near you. We’re not just talking paint on canvas here, although that's an option. It offers scrapbooking, mosaics, ceramics, and fabric painting, stuffed animal making, hero, and princess themes, and more. Plus, it does all the cleanup. And let’s face it, that’s the hardest part.

Top photo: Decorate and bake your own cake with an e.t.c. events kid party. All photos courtesy of their venues.

This post, originally published in February 2016, has since been updated.