Looking for a creative and engaging way to bring friends, family, or classmates together? Host an acrylic paint party! Whether at home, school, or for a special event, these easy tutorials for all ages will help you unleash your inner artist—no experience required!
All of my tutorials are 100% free and can be used in a variety of settings. Try them for a date night, holiday family event, school or community fundraiser, birthday, bachelorette or shower. These are also classroom tested and great for early finishers or introduction activities to more advanced techniques.
This post will walk you through recommended materials and then give you several ideas for having a paint party at home or in a larger setting. I will link a short video to give you a glimpse of the steps and then the final product. There will also be a full length step by step painting tutorial for each of the subjects.
Materials to Host a Paint Party:
***This post contains affiliate links to products I truly love and use in my classroom and professional practice. If you use these links to buy something I may earn a commission at no additional cost to you. Thank you for supporting this public school teacher’s side hustle!
I am posting links from Amazon as well as Blick Art Materials. I love Amazon for the easy shipping, and I always use Blick Art Materials to buy supplies for my high school art class.
Acrylic Paint
You don’t need expensive paint to have a successful painting, although quality materials do make a difference! For my classroom, I buy this brand from Blick Art Materials. They are student grade but have good results. Some teachers, including me, complain that they are very thin and not all of the colors (we’re looking at you, chrome yellow!) work as well. Add a little white and they will make the colors more vibrant and opaque.
Blick Studio Acrylics, Utrecht, Golden or Liquitex are higher quality. Any heavy body acrylic paint will give you a more opaque and professional experience. It depends on your group experience and budget if this is a worthwhile investment.
Amazon often has deals on random brands of acrylic, and I’ve tried a few out here and there in a pinch. Read the reviews and just remember your always get what you pay for.
You can also use craft paint like Apple Barrel for a more budget friendly option.
Canvas or Paper
The size of your canvas or paper depends on your time constraints and budget. If you are painting at home for a date night or family activity, you can splurge on nicer or larger canvases. Class packs of canvas panels are great for the classroom and larger settings, and I have been loving painting on a tiny canvas lately! Its a quick way to get fun results, and you can make multiples.
Another option is to use a quality watercolor paper. I love painting with acrylic, or oil, on paper because you can crop your paper if you are unhappy with your composition. Paper does requires framing instead of just hanging it on a wall like a canvas, but they are also great for making cards.
Brushes
I would personally rather have nicer brushes than nicer paint. A bad paint brush will ruin any painting experience, and nothing is worse than the bristles coming out and getting stuck to your paper. Avoid those cheap colorful plastic brushes that come in giant sets. Even elementary aged students will notice their crappiness.
I have found and used sets of brushes on Amazon that have a great price point and variety of brushes within each set.
These are the brushes I love to use in my classroom, and they last a long time for the daily abuse use that they get.
Palettes
I buy these plastic palettes and lids for my classroom, and they work well for mixing colors and working on paintings for multiple sessions. If you are planning to paint again, invest in a palette you can use over and over. If you are hosting an acrylic paint party as a one time event, use paper plates or disposable palettes for easy cleanup.
Inspiration Images
Looking at images while creating is one of the best ways to be successful with any work of art. My favorite way to paint is 100% observational, but that is not always possible in a crowded classroom or comfortable for the absolute beginner. No matter what your subject matter is, take time to find images to look at while painting. If hosting a large group, preselect simple images for your participants to look at.
Each tutorial listed here will discuss strategies for finding images that align with the end goals of each painting.
Easiest Acrylic Painting Ideas for a Paint Party
These first three tutorials are super beginner friendly and can be successful for people who have very limited painting experience.
Simple Abstract Flowers
Limiting the color palette to two similar colors and white will make sure that the finished result is harmonious and not muddy. Look at simple flowers, tie dye or simple star burst images for inspiration.
These shorts videos will give you a concise view of the process and the final product.
These two tutorials are completely step by step and will walk you through every step of the process.
Heart Acrylic Painting
This heart acrylic painting is the easiest of all easy paintings. My 5th grade students created these with their leftover paint for Valentines day cards. You can create a fun textured background with brushes or a variety of tools (my students always ended up finger painting) and then paint a heart of any color on top.
These shorts videos will give you a concise view of the process and the final product.
This is the full length tutorial that will guide you through all my steps.
Seasonal Acrylic Painting Ideas
Everyone loves seasonal decor, and gathering your friends and family for a holiday themed paint party is a great way to celebrate important occasions.
Easy & Cute Ghost Painting
This painting is so stinking cute and super easy. You may notice a trend…simplify your color palettes! This one only requires black and white. You could get fancy and add silver or other accent colors, but I like the spooky monochromatic vibes.
Here is the short version:
Here is the full length version:
Easy Pumpkin Painting
I did this painting on a tiny canvas, and I loved the monochromatic results! Choose a color scheme and then you will use white as the base color for you pumpkin.
Here is the short version:
Here is the full length version:
Acrylic Pumpkin Painting with Textured Background
This painting requires a little more skill with color blending, but it’s still super easy, and more patience since your background needs to dry first. I love to use textured paint scrapers to create a dynamic background.
When it’s dry, mix warm colors and white to create a 3D life like pumpkin!
Here is the short version:
Here is the full length version:
Pumpkin Pie Painting
This painting is great for learning or reinforcing color theory. In the video, I use the primary colors and white to create a warm pumpkin like color. If you aren’t interested in color theory, buy pre-mixed tans and browns. I recommend Burnt Sienna and Raw Umber.
You can look up any dessert or pie, it doesn’t just have to be Thanksgiving themed. It’s also fun to buy desserts and paint them while they are sitting right in front of you. When you are finished painting, you have a delicious treat waiting for you.
Beginner to Intermediate Acrylic Painting Tutorials
These next few tutorials are a little more challenging, but not by much! They may require a little more patience with dry time, more complex color schemes and rely heavier on inspiration images.
Acrylic Cloud Painting
This cloud study is only more challenging because people have an expectation of what clouds should look like. I still use a limited palette, but you could level up and look at sunset and sunrise images. There are millions of cloud inspiration photos to look at on the internet, and I bet you have several on your camera roll as well!
One of my still unreached teaching goals is to take my high school students outside on a nice cloud day and paint plein air.
This would also be such a fun date night or small party idea. I am imagining painting with my family during a beach trip sunset or an Oklahoma back porch sunset with friends. When in doubt or the weather doesn’t cooperate, let Google images be your sky.
Here is the short video:
Here is the full length tutorial:
Monochromatic Moonlit Night Acrylic Painting
This painting always has such great results! You pick a base color and start with a white moon, gradually mixing until the sky gets darker. You can keep it simple with black and white or pick any color for your sky. In the tutorial, I will discuss inspiration images to perfect your branches. Make it a winter landscape by adding snow!
This has also been a highly successful lesson I have done in the 5th grade classroom. Read here for more details:
Here is the short video:
Here is the full length tutorial:
Acrylic Coffee Cup Painting
Cozy coffee cups make a great subject, and you can play around with your background and style of mug to show off your personal style!
Here is the short version:
Here is the full length tutorial:
Now you are ready to paint!
Hosting an acrylic paint party is not just about creating art; it’s about fostering connection, creativity, and confidence among participants. They make great school fundraisers, family bonding experiences and give interest to events like bachelorette parties and showers. I am a huge advocate for adding any amount of art to your life, even if it’s just for fun!
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Let me know what you have tried and what works for you!
