Choosing Colours

Sometimes the easiest way to decide on a theme for a birthday party or function is to choose a colour theme.  Have you themed your party or function with coordinating colours? Do you want to choose a colour theme but cannot decide what will look good together?  Here are some helpful hints to get you started!

If you are hosting a birthday party, it is a good idea to use the birthday person's favourite colour to theme your birthday party decorations. It can be nice to coordinate with different shades of that colour to break it up a little - for example if the birthday girl's favourite colour is pink, choose light pink and hot pink party decorations with maybe a touch of iridescent or silver to add a little sparkle! It can be nice to add another colour or two to the mix also - if the birthday boy's favourite colour is blue, choose royal blue, orange and lime green for a bright and fun party atmosphere!  Usually 3 colours work well together, less than that can be a little overwhelming and more than that can start to lose the effect of the theme and start to look multi-coloured.  Remember that colour coordination is a personal choice, so make sure you or the birthday person is happy with your choices before you get started.

If you are hosting a function it can be helpful to decide what feeling or atmosphere you are trying to create. If you want a formal atmosphere, choose party decorations in 1 or 2 colours and add silver or gold. Often we will suggest colours that complement each other, or that blend well together. This keeps the function looking simple yet elegant.  For example colour combinations such as purple, lavender and silver or gold, ivory and white work well for a formal occasion. If you are wanting to create a fun atmosphere or to brighten a dark or dull area, choose your party decorations in 2 or 3 brighter colours that contrast each other. This allows your decorations to stand out in the room and helps to create a fun party feel, which your guests will love!  Colour combinations such as purple, orange and green will help brighten up any room and have your guests ready to party!

Look around you for inspiration - in magazines, shopping centres, product logos and even in nature.  Some of our customers have chosen some unique colour combinations such as ivory, gold and apple green inspired by the colours of pistachios (this looked really nice!), or purple, brown and gold inspired by Cadbury chocolate - yum!

When choosing your party decorations and birthday party supplies, think of the room as a whole. For example choose table covers in one colour, paper napkins in another and then your plates and cups in your third colour. Building up your colour theme in this manner brings the room together as a whole unit and looks and feels comfortable to your guests. Many customers make the mistake of buying their table covers, cups, plates and napkins in each of the colours in their theme. While this can work with some colour combinations, in most cases this can look random and loose its effectiveness in the room as a whole.  Psychologically 'top  heavy' scenes can cause people a sense of unease.  While this is not something most people would notice consciously, this concept is used in photography and filming where the weight of the photograph or scene is primarily towards the top if they want their viewers to feel a sense of unease or discomfort...like waiting for the bad guy to jump out at you!  This concept can be considered when planning your decorations - however in this instance we want our guests to feel comfortable and happy (unless you are hosting a Halloween party of course!).  So plan to build your party decorations from bottom to top, darkest colour to the lightest.  Alternatively if you have decided to have one main colour, keep that as your base colour and then build your other colours around that.

Shindigs has a great range of coloured party supplies online.  You can also check out our Facebook Photo Albums for ideas and inspiration for your next party!