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Patty’s Art Party Teaches Kids About Art & Artists

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Natali Carrera

Natali Carrera is a devoted coffee addict who also loves her twelve-year-old son, husband of 17 years and bargain hunting at Target. She works in the field of education and is also a freelance writer and YouTube vlogger (as a hobby). She's been told "bubbly" is the best descriptor of her personality, though she wonders if what people really mean is that she talks too much. Natali is a lifelong Fresno resident and Fresno State grad.

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Birthday party ideas and fun activities for kids are among the most shared and viewed posts I’ve contributed to FresYes over the years, so when my son attended a birthday for the first time at Patty’s Art Party and had a blast, I knew I had to share it here with you.

Patty's Art Party

Patty’s Art Party

Patty’s Art Party is a private business owned by Patty Semrick, a retired, credentialed Fresno Unified teacher with many years of experience teaching art to children.

Patty provides opportunities for kids to experience art through multiple mediums, including clay, fabric, fibers, paint, wood, pencils, colored pencils, and oil pastels. Additionally, children who take art classes or participate in art parties learn about great artists such as Picasso, Van Gogh, Riley, Thiebaud, and Kahn, and their works.

Patty offers art birthday parties, daytime summer art camps, and classroom presentations for teachers and schools. The birthday party my son attended at Patty’s was a Degas-themed session, as the birthday girl especially loves Degas’ famous ballerina paintings.

My son was a bit hesitant as to whether he’d enjoy himself at the party (he’s not that into ballerinas) but Patty did a great job adapting the art lesson for the boys in attendance. She provided them with the option to use a form similar to the ballerina she helped the girls to paint, but create a football player if desired. (Of note: the boys weren’t required to paint the football player, nor were the girls required to paint the ballerina — both options were available to each painter at their choosing.)

My son can be slow to warm up and a bit shy in unfamiliar places and with unfamiliar adults, but he found Patty to be “friendly, cheerful, precise and good at giving instructions.” (High praise coming from him, I assure you.)

Patty's Art Party

Patty’s Art Party

patty's art party

Patty’s birthday parties are available for up to 10 children, including all art supplies for just $125. (She’ll throw in a cake, punch, and all the paper goods too for $35.)

A few of Patty’s birthday theme choices are: Crazy Cakes, Picasso Portraits, Party Pirates, and Australian Adventures.

Patty’s summer camps are currently enrolling, and are a reasonable $100/week for half days and $200/week for full days for children ages 6-10. Camp sessions take place the weeks of June 12th, 19th, and 26th, July 10th, 24th, and 31st, and August 7th. Each week offers campers a different theme, so a child with a strong art inclination could take Patty’s classes all summer and learn new things each week.

For more information on birthday parties, summer camp, or classroom presentations with Patty, contact her at (559) 779-0344 or email pattysartparty@gmail.com.

Thank you Patty for continuing to bring a love for art to the children of Fresno!

Patty’s Art Party

 

[For more ideas for children’s birthday parties, check out my post on “10 Tips for Throwing a Fun and Budget-Friendly Kids Birthday Party”]

10 Tips for Throwing a Fun and Budget-Friendly Kids Birthday Party

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Natali Carrera

Natali Carrera is a devoted coffee addict who also loves her twelve-year-old son, husband of 17 years and bargain hunting at Target. She works in the field of education and is also a freelance writer and YouTube vlogger (as a hobby). She's been told "bubbly" is the best descriptor of her personality, though she wonders if what people really mean is that she talks too much. Natali is a lifelong Fresno resident and Fresno State grad.

Latest posts by Natali Carrera (see all)

My son recently turned 10 and with that came the annual task of planning a birthday party that would both delight my child and not leave my checking account in ruins. He always prefers a party in our backyard — we rented a bounce house for his party when he was a toddler and ever since then, that’s what birthdays are about to him.

I came across Joker Jumpers (either through a friend or Craigslist, I can’t quite recall) and we’ve used their services for at least the last five years, if not more. They’re super reliable, their rentals are always clean and on-time, and they offer competitive if not better prices than everyone I’ve compared against.

kids birthday party

Joker Jumpers always has fantastic inflatables at a great price. This year, we upped our game a little bit and rented a bounce-house/slide combo. This, along with a fancy dive/jump “olympic” competition served as entertainment for the entire party. Easy peasy!

My ongoing positive experience with Joker Jumpers led me to think about the other things I’ve done to plan budget-friendly birthday parties, and to seek out advice from other parents to share here with you, as I think all of us parents could use a hand keeping the whole raising humans thing within financial reason.

Besides using Joker Jumpers, who’ll bring you an awesome bounce house for just $60 all day, here are 10 additional tips.

1. Skip the cake

Order churros instead! My son (and I!) both love cinnamon and sugar and somehow, I got the idea to see if Costco would allow me to order a big batch of churros from their snack bar ahead of time, like you can with their pizzas. Answer: YES!

For just $1 a piece, you get giant churros that can easily be cut in half for two kids to enjoy. Cut them into gradually smaller pieces and stack them into a pyramid and you have a churro cake! Voila! Impresses children and it’s cheaper than a bakery cake too.

kids birthday party

Ever wonder what a Costco pizza-sized box filled with churros looks like? Now you know!

2. Plan the party during an event held by ValleyPBS or the Fresno Chaffee Zoo

Both of these local organizations frequently host family-friendly events such as Pancakes with Clifford or Breakfast with the Animals. Invite your child’s friends to attend and bypass all the setup, cleanup, and event planning! These events are often affordable or even free for members. For information on ValleyPBS’s Family Circle Membership (which offers monthly events for families) or a zoo membership, just follow the links. (Thanks to Loren Nikkel, parent of two girls, for this tip.)

3. Throw a party at California Pizza Kitchen

I’ve written about this before, but it’s worth an additional mention. For just $10 per child, party-goers will enjoy a kitchen tour, get to make their own custom pizzas, decorate pizza boxes, eat ice cream sundaes for dessert, and enjoy some of the friendliest, most patient customer service you’ll see anywhere – all before the restaurant opens for the regular business day.

kids birthday party

Party guests at California Pizza Kitchen begin their behind-the-scenes restaurant tour with Manager Kelly Baker.

kids birthday party

Decorating pizza boxes while their custom pizzas bake in the oven — how fun is that?

4. Visit the Home Depot

Got an industrious little one? Enjoy a hands-on experience by inviting their friends to a free kids workshop at Home Depot! My son has participated in these before, and has built a wooden car, a jewelry box, a birdhouse, and more. Each child receives an apron and a pin for each project they complete, too! For a schedule of local kids workshops, click here. (Thank you Karla Rojas, mother of two boys, for this idea.)

5. Scavenge for candy at Powell’s

Did you know that Powell’s Sweet Shoppe in Clovis, for a small fee, will host a scavenger hunt for kids during which they hunt down 34 types of candy and get to keep it all at the end? It’s true! Check it out. (Thanks for the lead on this one, Jennifer Downing, mama of three from Clovis.)

6. Let the kids build and take home Lego creations

JJ Johnstone, who has two boys, suggests purchasing Legos inexpensively on Craigslist (or maybe ebay if Craigslist pickings are slim at the time) and allow each child to build something they get to take home as their favor. She also says baking a rectangular cake and topping it with cupcakes placed upside-down then frosted makes for a simple and fool-proof Lego cake!

kids birthday party

Start searching for old Legos online and in thrift stores weeks before the party.

7. Serve nacho average party food

Natalie Wallis, mom of two from Fresno, suggests not serving a big meal and instead making fun, affordable buffets for your kids’ parties. She likes to set up a nacho bar and plans to do a sundae/banana split bar this year to change things up. These options are affordable, and kids will think you’re the coolest for serving them!

8. Have some backyard fun

Noemi Valenzuela, mom of two from Fresno, suggests hosting an outdoor movie night with a projector and a sheet, and having each child bring their own chair or blankets and pillows. Additionally, she suggests having a water-themed party, no in-ground pool required, as she has had great success purchasing Dollar Tree water guns and setting up home bases in kiddie/wading pools around the yard.

9. Throw a $5 movie party

Megan Crutchfield says with her two girls, the best and most affordable birthday she’s ever held was reserving seats in advance at the Sierra Vista movie theater in Clovis (she says you can even do this for the $5 movies!) then treating the kids to Big Kahuna Frozen Yogurt next to the theater afterward. Rumor has it, if you bring your movie stubs, you’ll even get a discount off your yogurt purchase!

 

10. Plan a weekday party

Last but certainly not least, savvy party-planner and budget-minding mom of six girls Lacey Dunkin says “Weekends are more expensive than weekdays. Some places include Friday in their weekend prices, some don’t.” So, be sure to pay attention to cost differences when you schedule parties outside of the home.

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4 sisters celebrate birthdays by collecting pads and tampons for women in need

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Kendra Gilbert

Writer at FresYes.com
Kendra Gilbert is a writer born and raised in Clovis. She has written for publications from Boston to Los Angeles and loves writing about fashion and people most of all. The abbreviated list of things she enjoys outside of writing includes: thrifting, photography, harmonica, beer, movies, hiking and skee ball.
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Collecting pads and tampons for women in need

Birthdays are that one special day a year when everyone celebrates you! You, the birthday boy or girl. For four sisters from Fresno, their special days this year were an opportunity to help women out during that time of the month. Instead of asking for presents, Socheath, Sorany, Sotheary and Sovanny decided to hold a collection drive for feminine hygiene products, hoping to give to women and girls in need the most simple gift of all: the ability to manage their menstrual cycles.

“People tend to think of food, water, and even clothes on their go-to donation list. Yes, those are incredibly important, but feminine hygiene products are usually nowhere near the top of that. For as common and normal as menstruation is, it’s sad to see how little it’s taken into consideration in donations.”  – Sovanny

fresyes-sisters

Although still very much a taboo topic of conversation, there’s been lot of talk recently about periods. The tampon tax has been debated in the news. And social media is full of posts about collection drives and menstrual inequality awareness campaigns going on around the world. After deciding they wanted to give instead of get for their birthdays, the sisters — being women, after all — resolved to bring Fresno’s focus to the feminine with their drive.

“Women’s periods don’t magically disappear just because we don’t talk about it. So let’s talk about it.” – Socheath

Spanning the five-week period from early September to mid October when the sisters were born, the collection drive aims to gather 111 packages of pads and tampons for girls and women at the Fresno Rescue Mission. Why 111? That is the sisters’ cumulative age (Sovanny turned 19 on Sept. 7, Sotheary turned 25 on Sept. 16, Sorany turned 32 on Sept. 30, and Socheath will turn 35 on Oct. 14). But after adding a second organization, the Renaissance Scholars program at Fresno State, to the recipient list, and receiving more donations than expected, they’ve tripled their goal. The deadline, however, remains the same. With less than a week to go, they’re hoping to reach their new goal of collecting 333 boxes of pads and tampons.

“I think that with every year that passes we realize that there are only so many different possessions that you can gift or trade with your sisters. You become more humble and understand that growing older changes you and what you find to be important. We are blessed to have all the things that we need and want, so what can we do to help others?” – Sorany

fresyes-sisters-2-2012

If you’d like to donate, you can send a message to any one of the sisters on Facebook: Sovanny Vorn, Sotheary Var, Sorany Var and Socheath Var.

Check out the video below to hear second youngest sis, Sotheary, talk about how the idea for the collection drive came together, the special bond the sisters have, and how not only women, but men, have supported their effort (i.e. gone to the store and bought tampons and pads)!