Rainbow Birthday Party Decorating Ideas

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I’m excited to share with you some of my favorite rainbow birthday party decorating ideas from A’s first birthday! This post contains affiliate links.

A might be two already but yes, we’re still working our way through her first birthday party here on the blog! That’s because there were so many fun ideas that we tried.

In particular, I’m excited to share with you our one-year-old rainbow birthday party decorating ideas that we tried. Most of these would work for any playful, modern rainbow themed party, not just a baby’s.

There were so many fun DIYs and some cool things we bought to go with the theme. I’ll work my way through them below, and I’ll try to share alternatives when I can’t find the actual item we used.

Table of Contents:

Rainbow Birthday Party Decor Color Palette

I based my entire color scheme off the paper goods I found at Target. I brought the plates to Michael’s and purchased some pages from their open stock cardstock to make other decorations. It’s not an exact match.

If you’re good at colors, when choosing your rainbow birthday party decorations, look for the same base color in different tones and tints.

Otherwise, stick to a simpler palette.

Rainbow birthday party paper goods

While you can go ahead and purchase an exact set of paper goods, sometimes I like to mix and match what works instead to keep things from getting too tacky!

You can check out the rainbow party supplies collection that I heavily based my party on here.

Dinner & Salad Plates

I started with these dinner and salad plates at Target. The modern rainbow design is still playful and totally appropriate for a first birthday!

I wanted to keep things cheerful, rather than going for a somber boho vibe in all neutral. This has just the right amount of muted color.

You can also stack with these mint plates if you want to make things more mature.

Drink & Luncheon Napkins

I started with the napkins that match and then went on to stack them with bright striped mint napkins. Again, the goal was to add an infusion of color and make things more interesting.

The napkins I used are no longer sold at Target, but you can match them with these as well.

While the napkins have polka dots – and not rainbows (it seems the designers at Target agree with me that it needs a little variety) – I still wanted to mix up the patterns a bit!

Tablecloth

Your tablecloth makes a huge impact – it sets the background for your entire table. I usually avoid matching, printed table cloths (unless that’s the only themed element) and aim for something solid instead to serve as a bold backdrop.

A’s rainbow party featured a mint one. You can also go with peach or that fun tangerine that’s in the rainbow. And if you’re avoiding plastic use, opt for an inexpensive textured fabric one that you can wash and reuse after the event!

Cutlery

I went simple with cream knives, spoons, and forks similar to this from the Dollar Tree. (Dollar Tree no longer seems to have that color).

I always have extras after a birthday party, so keeping it neutral gives me more use.

Cups

Clear party cups blend in and leftovers can once again be reused after the party.

The Spritz rainbow line at Target doesn’t seem to come with cups but you can match it with mint or cream ones as well.

Rainbow birthday party room decorating ideas

Creating a rainbow vibe when you’re short on time (and don’t have too much cash) can be challenging. The easiest think to work with is balloons – they fill a large space easily – however I chose not to (more on that below.) Here are a few of the things we did to make a rainbow vibe.

Boho Rope Rainbow

I crafted a boho rainbow special for the party and hung it over her high chair. The goal was to make it as large as I can handle, however I wish I’d done it even bigger.

Learn how to make a rope large macrame rainbow here.

Rainbow Banner

Before the party (even before I found my paper goods) I designed an SVG set special for the event so that I can DIY elements like a rainbow cake topper, DIY rainbow keychains as party favors and more.

You can get the SVG right here.

I turned the basic rainbow into a garland as follows:

1. Resize the rainbow as large as you’d like it and cut from coordinating cardstock using a Cricut cutting machine. The cardstock is four colors (rust, mustard, mint, and teal) plus cream.

2. Arrange your rainbows as you’d like the arches to be. Place a dot of glue on the bottom tip of each arch and place the cloud over it. This connects your arches.

3. String a piece of string or twine through the arches as you’d like them to hang. I wove it over the top arch, under the second, back over the second, and then under the top.

4. If you’d like, you can stagger it with another space. I found one I liked in Design Space. Since the event had a lot of polka dots, it made sense to stick with those. I used slightly irregular circles, but even circles can work as well.

The idea was to have a large statement decoration to really cover our bases in creating a rainbow vibe. I hung it between our dining and living room so that people can see it when they walk in.

High Chair Tutu and Mini Banner

From the same SVG file, I made a high chair banner. You can use this idea to make a pennant banner even if you’re not doing a first birthday. Just repeat the rainbows on the pennant background. You will need a sixth color for that. Here, I used a very pale peach.

As you can see, I also made a tulle high chair tutu. Once again, you can use this tutorial as table trim as well if you’re not throwing a first birthday party.

Balloon arch

We didn’t do this for a one-year-old party because balloons present a choking hazard and the party was inside our home. If you’re doing this for an older kid, a baby shower, or not in the house, balloon decorating kits really fill a room quickly.

You can get a kit in your chosen color scheme on Amazon. Or get the kit that matches these paper goods at Target.

More rainbow party supplies

The Spritz rainbow party supplies that I based the whole event on has more cool rainbow birthday party decorating ideas. They have garlands and a pinata, streamers, and more.

Rainbow birthday party table decorations

Wooden Rainbows

While “sale” shopping at Michaels (bad mistake for the wallet) I picked up some blank wooden rainbows. They no longer seem to carry them, however Woodpeckers Crafts has even more awesome larger ones.

Get 5% off your Woodpeckers order using code MOMSANDCRAFTERS

Coordinating acrylic paints turn them into fun rainbow birthday party decorations. I glued them using wood glue on dowels and propped them into different chip bowls, cups, etc.

You can also use these as a cake topper!

And finally, I wish I’d thought of this before our party! You can get a large Waldorf-style stacking rainbow to use as a centerpiece as well and then repurpose as a toy!

Pom Pom Garland

Did you notice that Target pom pom garland on the table? I fell in love with it at Target, and while I could have made my own (learn how to make pom poms from yarn and then thread a string through the center) but I have to draw the line somewhere!

I decided to use it on the table instead of hanging it and loved how it looked!

The food!

As you can see from the photos, the food itself served as rainbow birthday party decorations! I dipped pretzels and marshmallows, decorated cookies, and picked up a package of appropriately-colored, Kosher-certified Trader Joe’s sour jelly beans to match.

I plan to do a separate blog post detailing the food, so stay tuned!

What are your favoirite rainbow birthday party decorating ideas? Comment below!

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