Hi Sheila, you might try doing a search on Etsy.

For this purpose, I shop on Etsy for beads.

Chris, I’m so delighted that this idea is inspiring you! Let me know how your jewelry parties go! 🙂

I often shop on Etsy.com. There bazillions of jewelry suppliers there, and you can find what you’re looking for by using the search bar at the top of the Etsy website. 🙂

Thanks for asking, Annie! For jewelry-making parties and workshops, I’ve used the type of beadboard you can see in this post (photo 2 shows more of the board): How Do You String Your Beads?.

They nest together very well, and a stack of 10 or 12 of them isn’t overly bulky. Many online suppliers have beadboards similar to these – and if you order 10 or 12 of them, you can often get a lower price per beadboard.

Thanks for your lovely comment, and I wish you lots of fun and good luck at your jewelry parties and workshops! 🙂

I had a question, Rena. You mentioned giving each of the attendees their own bead board. Do you use the regular ones you buy at the craft stores or something a little easier to pack? I’m just imagining having to buy and store that many bead boards (if you figure between 10-12 people) and didn’t know if there are any that are a bit flatter and easier to pack up.

Thanks for always sharing such great ideas. I always learn something from you and from everyone who comments.

Hi Kristin,

It really depends on the group of children, and what else is going on during the party.

One of the first times I provided the jewelry birthday party activity, it was for a group of 9-year-olds. They were well-behaved and concentrated on the activity – and created some nice looking bracelets. However, they’d been swimming for about 2 hours straight before the jewelry making, so they were probably ready for a more restful activity.

At other parties, with lots of music, activities, etc., it’s hard to get the party guests to sit and focus long enough to make a piece of jewelry because they’re too worried about missing out on something else that’s going on.

I would ask the parent hosting the party about what else is planned for the party, and how likely it is that particular group of children would sit down and complete a jewelry activity before jumping up again.

If you’re concerned about children being too young, you might also consider a quicker and simpler jewelry project instead of a bracelet.

Wishing you a wonderful time with your jewelry parties, Kristin! 🙂

Also, don’t worry – whatever you decide to do, the children and parents will love it and be thrilled with what you provided. 🙂

So relax completely, have fun with this, and don’t over-plan or over-think it. Keep it very simple and let things go with the flow when you get to the party.

When you do activities with kids, previously-made plans don’t always work, so don’t plan too much.

It’s best to focus on simply getting the jewelry supplies into the children’s hands, giving them a minimal amount of instruction, and enabling them to enjoy creating jewelry together.

That’s all it takes for a successful party. The parents will take care of everything else, and the kids will have fun no matter what you do. Your part is easy and fun.

I’ve never done contracts for these parties, although you certainly can if you want to. A partial payment up front and cancellation fees might be a good idea too. You can see my comment above for Gretchen about how I handled payment.

I always let the parents be in charge of choosing and sending out whatever invitations they (and the birthday girl) chose, since the party was at their home and the beading activity was just one part of the overall birthday party (there’s always cake, games, gifts, socializing, etc. too).

But if you wanted to create jewelry birthday party invitations and offer that option to the parents, they might appreciate that.

Anyone who’s there can take pictures of the girls’ arms, especially since nearly everyone has a camera in their phone these days. Usually the parents take photos, and sometimes I took them too.

Good luck and have fun!

So, now I’m thinking about the kits and what to put in and how many beads. How do you figure out what’s the right number and mix of beads? What if there are extra beads they don’t use? Do you ask them to return them to a bowl or a box? What if there aren’t enough of the ones they like or they don’t like some of the beads in the kit? Do you bring extras to switch them out? Do you have extra kits and they get to choose among them?

I bought a bunch of beads the other day, but there weren’t many actual gemstone strands cheap enough. Which stones do you all use? I also bought 99 cent strands of pretty glass pearls in different sizes. How do you differ your offerings for the younger and older crowds?

Where do you look to keep up with what’s popular with the different ages?

I have been reading Rena’s blogs and I really like the wire edge ribbon as packaging idea, as opposed to the organza bags. I’m wondering if the folding could be used as an activity after the bracelet making. I could come with the sections precut. But would it hold a bracelet or would it need to be glued on the sides? On the other hand, you can buy a package of 10 organza 3″x4″ bags for $1.40. That’s certainly cheap enough.

I was also curious as to whether you have contracts, expect partial payment up front, have cancellation fees, etc. If so, can you share a sample here?

Do you supply or send out invitations with your proprietary information on it?

Who takes the pic of the girls’ arms after, you or the host?

Whew! I’m really looking forward to hearing your answers. As you can see, I have a lot of questions.

best wishes to all,
Lori

Also, despite everyone’s best intentions, my bead boxes wound up in a mess every time I had the children choose their own beads. I decided kits were neater, easier, and faster.

The only way I might have them choose their own beads is if I brought a “bead soup” box of all sorts of beads mixed together.

I never did a memory wire bracelet party, but it sounds like a good option. One possible hitch with younger children might be that the memory wire end can poke and scratch if the kids aren’t careful while stringing their beads onto it.

Don’t worry about your jewelry activity not taking up enough time (see the discussion in the comments above) – everything will work out fine, and a good time will be had by all! 🙂

Thank you, Marion! That means a lot to me, coming from a teacher. Children usually really get into making a jewelry project – so as well as being a fun time for all, I love the new perspectives I get from seeing the project and materials through their eyes.

I’ve been reading you for so long, but never had a chance to write you.
I this article was of a great importance to me, as it gave me good guidance in starting my beading parties.

I started my business recently, already had 2 parties (one adult and one 6-7 y.o.). All of them had a blast.
The birthday girl received a gift made by me (a bracelet) in nice pouch, everybody had beading boards in front and decorative pouch, I helped them with attaching the toggles.
However, not a lot of business was generated (I moved to a different country, so I’m still establishing my network). I do have FB account and I believe the word is slowly getting out there. Gave couple of my friends flyers to post at their place of work, so keep fingers crossed.

You can see photos on my website: beadingbash.ca

Regards,
Marija

Gretchen, I’ve learned that as much as possible, it’s best to operate the way established businesses do – collect payment up front for things.

However, because the final head count of people making bracelets isn’t certain until after the bracelet activity begins, it’s hard to collect payment up front. (Sometimes more or fewer girls than expected attend the party – and sometimes the adults or other relatives decide to make a bracelet too.)

But I’ve never had a problem with the birthday girl’s parents paying gladly at the end of the party. They appreciate the great activity / party favor, and that you provided a major part of the party!

Be sure to leave the parents with some of your beading birthday party flyers to share with other parents.

Each group of girls is a little different – so you never quite know what to expect! 🙂

And the younger the girls are at the party, the more likely they are to be excited, hyped up on sugar, and focused on keeping up with the rest of the group – so their attention span is likely to be short.

Also, at parties where the parents have lots of activities lined up, the girls are often so excited to do it all that they rush through each activity to get on to the next one, and the next – and they don’t really slow down enough to fully experience any of it!

Sometimes girls are worried about being left out when the crowd races on to the next activity, so they’re distracted and rush through their bracelet to avoid being left behind when the group hurries on to the next thing.

And of course each girl is different – some will quickly choose a handful of beads, randomly string them, and be happy with the result.

Other girls will painstakingly examine your whole bead collection, select each individual bead carefully, and re-arrange them several times on their beadboard before they start stringing.

At some parties one or two girls decide to spend more time making their bracelet and stay with me instead of doing the next activity.

But it sounds like your part of the party was a success, Pam. I don’t think 35 minutes sounds too fast. Because the party is also the gifts, cake, socializing / playing / games, and any other activity the parents planned.

Also, I like your idea of showing them the color wheel and talking about color theory – neat idea!

I think you’ll find that when you do parties for older girls, they’ll spend much more time selecting their beads and designing their bracelets. I’ve had some pretty lengthy jewelry making sessions with teen girls.

I just had my first girls birthday beading party, from all my reading here I decided to take the plunge.

I’ve been bead shopping and preparing, but was a little disappointed with the results. There were 9 nine year olds at this party. I had prepared a short talk on what we were going to do and how these were real gemstones. I also briefly went through the color wheel and how bracelets can be done monochromatic, complimentary etc. I was all excited….the girls went up and got there beads.

Some just got 12-15 beads and strung them on the clasp and were done in 15 minutes. Others I was surprised with how well they chose there colors, shapes and pattern for the bracelet.

Overall, the group as an average made their bracelets in about 35 minutes. How does everyone make this into a 1-1 1/2 party length.

I thought I was well prepared, but not for them to be finished in that short of a time. It seemed as if they all just wanted to move on with the rest of the party celebration.

Please share your thoughts and ideas. I’ve put a lot of time and effort into getting this business started, but I don’t want to get discouraged. Any help with positive and negative comments would be well appreciated.

Thanks,
Pam
Build-A-Bracelet Bead Parties