So, Christmas is over, New Year is done and dusted and we are well on our way to February…. oh and its pretty much done nothing but rain here in Jersey since Christmas and its Ffffffreezing cold so playing outside just isn’t all that much fun for longer than 10 minutes – all of which makes for some frustrating days with kids buzzing around the house like Bees in a locked hive!
When times are hard and mummy feels like she isn’t in the mood to get a craft organised, there is one thing and one thing only we do in this house…get the face paints out!
We have spent many an hour queueing up at fetes and fairs for a face paint so a few years back I thought I should bring some of that fun back to our home and bought myself a little set of facepaints from Snazaroo. They are great and boy they used a lot!
Obviously there are times when its obvious to face paint – birthdays, Halloween, Easter – well any holiday actually!
In our house there are quite a few other times when we feel the need…
You know those moments when you have family or friends round and everyone has done really well playing nicely but is starting to get tired and whiney – face paint!
You know sometimes when you just feel like throwing caution to the wind and having a no reason at all party – face paint!
I have mastered a butterfly and do a pretty impressive cat and princess too! The paints I bought came with quite a good little book with guides of how to do certain designs and the Snazaroo website is great for this too.
We have recently had two great face paint moments that I just had to tell you about. Bea in particular is a real artist at the moment and just loves painting so has been chomping at the bit to have a go to face paint mummy or daddy recently. Of course, we usually say no! (what boring parents we can be…) lately though, we have just given in – and I am really impressed with the results! She started of course simply slapping on any colour, any where but then she decided she wanted to copy a design of a clown from the book to paint her dad and she did a fabulous job (picture is however censored from your beady eyes!!). She went free style on me and did a really sweet little flower – who knew a living canvas could be a winning place for art!
I loved it too, its a lovely moment in my life as a mummy having your little girl painstakingly painting your face with their eyes focussed on every move and on every choice of colour – very cute.
The second fantastical face paint fun we have had was last week when I let the girls loose with the paints once again but this time on their toy babies! It was as though I had told them they were going to eat sweets all day they were so excited and it was a lot of fun.
The babies were undressed and cloths wrapped around them like hair dressers capes to protect their soft bodies from being painted.
It was really sweet watching the two little mummies tending to their customers so delicately and as though they were real people. They both had very different approaches to painting – Freya pretty typically started off delicately but then went for the all over approach but Bea loved putting ‘make up’ on her little baby. Toes were painted, ‘tattoos’ drawn on arms – the dollys were ready for a pretty big night out – or the lead role in a pantomime!
Once their babies were painted to the girls satisfaction, they did their own ‘make up’ which is after all something they are always dying to do with my make up and are never allowed! It was so sweet watching Bea applying her sisters lipstick and watching her put her own ‘eye shadow’ on too – such concentration!
The girls simply loved it and have told all their friends about it since which is the sign of a pretty successful activity! More importantly, it also wiped off the dolls faces very well with a baby wipe although for some of the darker colours some soapy water was needed – it might be worth testing a bit on your dollys first I guess.
Next time you simply don’t know what to do…Give it a go, let your little artists loose at home – face painting doesn’t only have to be done at fetes 🙂
Have fun
Love Mum on the Rock x
