Birthday Gifts You Can Make - Part One - Play Dough

I have been meaning to write this post for ages, and now that we are off to a birthday party tomorrow and we have been making these gifts the time is right...

We received an invitation to Aven's birthday party one day when we were out. When we walked up to the front door we saw a crayon colored invite scrolled around Quin's forgotten sunglasses, stuck in the door. What fun to find an unexpected invitation for "Casual Backyard Fun"! The thing that most struck me about this invite was the line that stated "Gifts are OPTIONAL & stickers, pencil crayons, or little Dollar store balls, etc. are very welcome - save yer $". This was such a nice and refreshing sentiment. Since we usually make the gifts we give, it made me feel that our effort will be accepted and appreciated.

So, today, we got to work. The first thing we made was play dough. We made two batches, since Quin was in need of some fresh dough. We hope Aven loves it as much as we do.

I was given this recipe by a friend who works in a day care and it brought back the days in high school when I worked in a day care center...


Play Dough
2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1/2 cup salt
1 Tablespoon Alum Powder (I buy it in bulk at a health food store)
2 cups boiling water
3 Tablespoons cooking oil (vegetable)
food coloring

Mix dry ingredients. Add water and oil. Mix well until it forms a dough. Divide into however many ball you need for the number of colors you want. Knead dough balls until they no longer sticky and add food coloring according to the colors you want to make.

I usually make 4 - 6 colors. There are mixing charts on the back of the food coloring package. Here are some colors to get you started...

Pink - 1-2 drops of red
Orange - equal parts red and yellow
Purple - equal parts red and blue
Black - 3 drops red, 3 drops blue, 2 drops green
Brown - 2 drops green, 2 drops red, 6 drops yellow
Turquoise - 1 drop green, 3 drops blue
Lime - 1 drop green, 9 drops yellow

Here is an extensive chart from a cake decorating site here.

My goal is to experiment with nature dyes one day.

We like to make a rainbow of play dough colors for our special friends. We package them in reusable plastic containers that can be used again. We include a copy of the recipe so that the child and their parents can make more play dough. I am looking into glass containers we can give play dough in. I was thinking of canning jars...

Stay tuned for Part Two.