How to Throw a Rainbow Color Party

A Rainbow of Brilliant Colors is a Shortcut to Instant Joy

Have you ever noticed how certain pops of color – especially when unexpected – spur a jolt of pleasure? And how an entire rainbow of color multiplies that effect? A color party is not only a marvelously beautiful way to throw a party, but it’s a certain ‘happiness producer’ as well. When you use color in your environment you create a visual backdrop of joy, and that is what a color party is all about. Here we’ll embrace the rainbow’s array of colors with plenty of vivid decorations and a colorfully delicious menu among other ideas.

Bright and colorful ombre rainbow background — Photo by Alexander Grey

Disclosure: Some of the links below are affiliate links. This means I may earn commission if you click through the link and finalize a qualifying purchase. This does not affect the price in any way.

How to Throw a Color Party

1. Paint Your Space with a Rainbow of Colorful Party Decorations

Close-up photo of a pile of sequins arrayed in rainbow colours, a fun decoration for a color party — Photo by Alexander Grey

A color party is probably the easiest type of party to decorate for. All you need to do is buy classic party decorations in the six or seven different rainbow colors and decorate your heart out! String rainbow crepe paper streamers all over your space – draped from the ceiling, strewn across tops of doorways, or over the backs of chairs. Scatter multicolor tissue paper confetti everywhere (a colorful mess is a beautiful mess). Use tissue paper in any colors to crinkle up out of vases or cups, or tape it over your windows for a colorful light filter.

If you already own anything in bright colors (or, better yet, rainbow stripes) such as blankets or throw pillows, display these front and center. Whatever decorative items you have that are bright and colorful are fair game for a color party color pop. Even colorful paper plates or napkins can become decorations when you hang them on the wall or from the ceiling. (Some may see this as tacky; I see it as delightfully colorful…to each their own!). There are so many creative ways you can take this, and you can usually find inexpensive party supplies if you know where to look. And, with a little time and motivation, you can easily DIY your party decorations. Grab some string, tape, scissors and construction paper in all colors and craft your own colorful banner in whatever shape or size. Make a paper chain.

Close-up photo of vivid rainbow-striped party plates, an excellent choice in serveware for a color party — Photo by Mikhail Nilov

Choose any of these delightfully colorful decorations to brighten up your color party space in no time:

Brightly coloured diagonal stripes — Photo by Katie Rainbow 🌈

2. Prepare Colorful Food and Beverages

Time to craft a colorful menu! Whether you provide all refreshments or whether you request that guests bring any-colored dish to share, food is one of the best ways to engage your guests in a color party theme. Health-conscious hosts will delight in the fact that produce alone provides every color of the rainbow. Prepare a colorful fruit and/or veggie platter with everything from rainbow-colored carrots (they grow naturally in purple, white, yellow, and other hues, too) to green snap peas. Or fix colorful produce kababs (recipes below).

For drinks, serve fruit juices of various colors – grape and orange are the two most common. Smoothies are a very easy way to mix up healthy and tasty concoctions of varying colors, and these can even be spiked if desired. There are plenty of smoothie recipes in the fruit party post, but for extra-fun colorful drinks, check out two color-changing cocktails below. Hint: you may learn a fun fact about cabbage juice.

A colorful bubble art piece with swirling rainbow colors, a beautiful addition to a color party — Photo by Daniel Olah

Color party foods:

Color party sweet treats and libations:

Rainbow fruit popsicles
Rainbow frosting cake
Rainbow swirl cake or this rainbow cake
Rainbow bright cupcakes or these rainbow cupcakes or more rainbow cupcakes
Color-changing cocktail
Magical color-changing margarita

Color party inspiration: abstract holographic rainbow lines in radiating disc patterns against a black background — Photo by FlyD

3. Create a Bright Mood with Happy Color Party Music

While there isn’t any one specific style of music linked to the rainbow’s colors, bright colors lend themselves to happy music. So your color party probably isn’t the time for noise music or early aughts hate rock. Play music that you and your friends like, but prioritize whatever makes people feel happiest. There are also rainbow-specific songs like Over the Rainbow, The Rainbow Connection, and other less-known numbers. Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds is fitting, and probably so are plenty of other light-hearted Beatles’ songs.

A hollow triangle is illuminated by rainbow-colored lights — Photo by Evie Shaffer

I have a form of synesthesia and have always associated songs with unrelated visuals. Before I knew the song’s title, I used to call Nirvana’s cover of Bowie’s The Man Who Sold the World ‘the rainbow song’ because I pictured each note of the chorus arpeggio as a progressing color of the rainbow. Just an example (and yes, I know Nirvana isn’t upbeat music), but just to show that if there is already any music that you visualize as colorful or rainbow-esque, play that! There is no one-size-fits-all – your audio choice depends on your taste. Just keep the playlist positive and plan it with some thought!

4. Establish Guest Participation

Diagonal striped painting of many bright colours, a beautiful piece of art to display at a color party — Photo by Alexander Grey

Guest participation involves how you’d like your guests to participate or contribute to your party. One great way for your guests to participate is to bring a color-based dish or drink to share. This both frees you up from having to put the time and money into as many refreshments (though you should always of course still provide a few decent hearty dishes and basic drinks) and it invites an exciting element of surprise to your menu. Which color is most represented? Who will bring what? It will be fun to find out!

Another awesome way to get your guests to participate in your color party is to have everyone dress in one specific color or in all the colors of the rainbow. So maybe someone comes in red, another in blue, another in purple, another in a Spice Girls-inspired rainbow tube top. So many colorful options! As always, with any participation you request of your guests, communicate as much when you initially invite them.

Checklist of Items You Need

Bright rainbow-colored paper arranged in a zigzag line pattern — Photo by Katie Rainbow 🌈

Now that we’ve covered what you’ll need to do for a color party, here’s a list of what to acquire for it:

Rainbow-colored party decorations
Colorful food and beverages
Bright, happy party music
Rainbow or specific color-themed party outfit

Preparation Checklist for Your Rainbow Color Party

Vertical overlapping rainbow stripes — Photo by Magda Ehlers

Most of these steps for party preparation apply to any type of party you host. So while we covered color-specific details and ideas above, below are basic party planning guidelines to neatly order each step of the process (you can find more thorough details in the Best Party Practices posts):

1. First, confirm that people can come on any chosen date

Choose party date/time, and preferably alternative date(s) as well
Choose guest list and establish minimum number of guests you’d like (to make it worth your effort)
Six weeks out, confirm guests’ interest in the party and availability on chosen party date(s). The only details you’ll need to share at this time include what type of party it will be (color-themed); any requested participation; party date and general time of day; and your address (or other location if elsewhere)
This first step is just to get people to confirm that, barring unforeseen circumstances, they are able and willing to attend and will save the date to do so. If your preferred minimum number of guests confirm interest and availability, have them secure the calendar date for your fabulous rainbow color party!

Curving stripe pattern in various bright colours — Photo by Clark Van Der Beken

2. Then, proceed with the fun planning

Once you have your color party date established, you first need to get out your calendar and map out when you plan to do every step of preparation. This means you schedule time for each preparation activity that you’ll need to do. If you don’t schedule time on your calendar early enough, you may find yourself overwhelmed and unprepared the day of the party. Don’t do that to yourself! Check out the How to Be a Good Party Host post for more clarification on exactly what you can do to be confident, prepared, and ahead of the game. Here’s a general overview of what you can expect to do leading up to the party:

First, sit down and schedule time on your calendar for each step of party prep as listed below
Create invitations with all the details and send them out 4 weeks before the party
Order any party supplies and decorations 3 weeks out (so they arrive in time to set up)
Shop for any party supplies/decorations you don’t order online, as well as non-perishable food/drinks
DIY any party supplies and decorations
Acquire perishable food/drinks early enough in advance to prepare in time
Set up decorations
Prepare food/drinks (depending on how long things keep)

Close-up of vivid colours in a soft rainbow prism — Photo by Ravi Kant

3. Day of Party

It’s very important to get as much party prep done far enough in advance that you have some time to yourself to relax come party day, especially if you’ve been busy. So be sure to plan your day-of-party preparations early enough to have that time and space to yourself as well. Within those amply planned/set-aside time slots, you can expect to do these preparations during the day of your party:

Complete any last-minute food/drink prep that are too fresh to do any earlier
Set up any quick/easy last-minute supplies and decorations (if not up already)
Prepare fun party music playlist
Get dressed in your favourite rainbow color party outfit or specific color of your choice
Once everything’s ready, take the time to do whatever self-care activities put you in a good head space so that you feel amazing and can be a genuinely relaxed, energized, and happy host 😊

A vivid rainbow ray runs horizontally across a black background. Achieve this affect at a color party using prisms to cast rainbow lights — Photo by Rafael Garcin

All Set to Host a Sparkling Rainbow Color Party

Every part of the party planning process is meant to be enjoyable – from planning the menu to putting up decorations. At the end of the day, the goal is for you and your guests to have a great time – no matter how everything pans out. As long as you put thought and care into party preparation and keep a flexible mindset to accept when things turn out differently, your rainbow color party will be an awesome event that everyone will love!