one of my closest friends has a daughter who is turning two this weekend… but she lives states and time zones away from us. so, unfortunately we can’t attend her fabulous birthday party. the toddler’s momma told me that the party theme, per her kiddo’s request, is ORANGE! orange EVERYTHING! they’re going to have orange decorations, the guests all have to wear orange, and they’ll dine on orange sherbet & vanilla ice cream cake, mac & cheese, and other orange goodies. they’ll be bobbing for oranges and throwing orange and white water balloons. what an awesome birthday theme idea, right?!
novi and i decided that if we couldn’t attend the party, we’d get into the orange spirit from afar… so i initiated a scavenger hunt whereby novi had to find (and mommy could photograph) everything orange she could spy. we looked all over the house: in cabinets, pantries, drawers, toy bins, etc. we walked around our yard and our neighborhood. we walked to a local farmer’s produce stand and went to our grocery store. i snapped away with my nikon d40
. (older kids can perhaps do the photography part themselves.)
after my little color-hunter was sound asleep and (undoubtedly) dreaming orange dreams, i photoshopped the images together into a zesty grid with a dorky little message on top for the birthday girl. here are the citrus fruits of our labor:
this grid will go to the birthday girl, but if you’re just doing this for fun, you could create a grid to print and frame for your child’s bedroom, playroom, or bathroom. you could print the photos to make a collage or photo book. you could just keep them in your computer and let the photos cycle as your screensaver that your child will see and remember each time they’re sitting on your lap at your desk. there are so many creative things you can do with the finished product. i should mention that it gave my daughter a huuuge smile to see the grid when it was complete, so that sense of accomplishment and things coming full circle can be important for a little one to witness.
for those of you with toddlers, i should remark that this kept me and my 2.5-year-old daughter busy for about two or three hours (including our walk and trip to the grocery store) and she remained focused and into it. sweet! you don’t have to hunt for colors, as anything goes in a scavenger hunt, but colors are a fun and eye-catching i-spy sort of thing to do with a very young child. go forth, hunt it, and shoot it! (but only with your camera!)
