Birthday Blast! A Toothless Art Jamming Party!

I love birthdays and all celebrations. As a marketing professional who started my career in events planning, you can imagine why I am just as excited as my kiddo when it comes to her birthday planning. I get especially excited googling for ideas and inspiration for her themed birthdays. From looking for Gruffalo and Harry Potter cupcakes and to planning for our Alice in Wonderland party to a DIY Frozen themed party; our parties are as varied as they come.

This year, with the kid being older and having her own close circle of friends, we decided to do an Art Jamming party at Heart Studio Singapore, her Art school for the past 3 odd years. In one of Heart Studio’s previous holiday workshops, the kiddo wanted to attend one that was on the painting of one of her favourite characters – Toothless, from How to Train Your Dragon. However, as we were unable to do so, we decided to do the workshop as a Birthday Art Jamming party instead. 

:: Invitation and Decor

We started doing the invitations together and in our usual fashion, we created 2 versions: 1 as an official invitation with the other being a reminder email. The artwork is relatively easy where we googled for some PNG files and put it together using PowerPoint. Dumpling directed what she wanted – borders, placement of Toothless and color choices while I put it together in front of her.

It was a small and intimate affair with 10 kids. The décor was also minimal because of a project which my church is working with the Children’s Liturgy group (which Dumpling belongs to) on. I was really proud that Dumpling decided to forgo her usual birthday helium balloons and donated the money to the project instead. What we have is just a simple bunting and in a true “party planner” manner, tent cards for the food.

:: The Art Jamming Session

The children were divided into 2 rooms and we had 2 teachers per studio which is something that I really appreciate from a early childhood professional's perspective in terms of student : teacher ratio. 

Upon entering, the children hunted for their own bags which had their name printed on the tag. Inside the bag was a blank canvas (for their art jamming) and we also included a copy of "How To Train Your Dragon story book". 

The kids were all eager to start their painting and even ran into the studios! From there, it was about 2+ hours of "peace and quiet" for parents to catch up with each other. :p 

Like all of Dumpling's regular classes, the teachers taught the children how to compose the dragons by starting with the basic shapes and outline...

Once that was done, the bodies and heads were painted in...

One of the things which I often struggle with when it comes to planning for her birthday party is if the activity is still fun for boys. With an Art Jamming party, it seems that our decision was a good one. :) 

Bit by bit, their dragons took shape - with detailing, shadows and highlights :) There was no 1 "model" Toothless. The teachers allowed the children to decide what angle and pose the dragons should have.

And for those who do not want Toothless? There were other dragons to choose from! :) 

Once the dragon was done, the children worked on the backgrounds. 

And if you are worried if the painting will dry in time for the children to bring them back, fret not as there are always hairdryers on hand! :)

You may have noticed the kids had different "styles" in the painting of the dragons. Can you spot the difference in strokes and technique? :) 

Look at the gorgeous paintings!

:: The Food! 

Heart Studio does not allow for hot chaffing dishes because of the flammable solvents the studio has. A buddy of mine suggested Pasta Mania which offers takeaway box sets which you can order here. Payment is collected on that day - cash or cheque and the delivery was on time too. :) The food was also packed in nifty individual boxes and it was just "open and place on the table". Disposable ware and black garbage bags were provided too. 

In line with the bunting and thank you tags, we labelled the food with some tent cards and it turned out looking pretty festive and a few of the kids had a good chuckle over the names! :)

 :: The Cake(s)! 

The cakes. We decided to do away with fondant cakes this year once again. I stumbled upon these lovely steamed cakes some time back but have never had the chance to try them but we managed to get a slot this year! Check out the cute cakes! As the main colour for Toothless and the party is loads of black, hence for the cakes, we decided to add in some colours - rainbow and polka dots! 

We ordered a main piece which was larger and that was for Dumpling to blow out and extras which are prepacked for children to bring home too.

Additionally for these cakes, you can choose if you want nutella, ovomaltine or specaloos fillings. The steamed cakes were absolutely delicious - the liquidity ovomaltine oozed out as we took bites of the soft moist cakes. If you are looking to order these cakes, you can visit Little Sweet Tooth Bakes. 

If you are keen to find out more about the Art Jamming Party, Heart Studio's contact details are as follows:

Operating Hours:

Mon-Sat: 11am to 7pm
Last Appointment: 6.30pm

Address and Tel

1 Charlton Lane #01-04,

• Singapore 539631
• T: (65) 6554 7563
• Disclaimer: This is neither a sponsored post nor were we compensated for it. The Birthday Art Jamming was specially arranged for at Heart Studio. Birthday Packages are available for up to 10 kids, making this a perfect cozy party. All opinions expressed are entirely ours though the artworks can be yours. :) 
• Don't have an upcoming birthday party? Heart Studio is also running a Holiday Programme during the December holidays. 
• Enjoy an Early Bird Discount of 10% if you book for a class by this Sunday, 15 November!! (Each class lasts 2.5 hours and fees include material cost. There is no registration fee needed for workshops.)

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