How To Host An Epic Paint Fight

I have wanted to have a paint fight for the longest time, and this summer I finally made it happen! It was as amazing as I had hoped it would be. We had so much fun that everyone involved wants to do it again!

I feel that I planned it all out fairly well, but I have also learned from the experience. Here's a guide on how to orchestrate your own paint fight, comprised of what I did and what I will improve on next time.

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FIRST, THE PAINT 

• Use washable tempera paint

You know, the stuff for kids to use in school. I bought several gallons of it in a set to save money. We had way more than enough paint (about 6 gallons for 8 people)! If you plan to have a big crowd or if you want to make this an annual tradition, go with this big paint set or this one for an even larger group. Or you could buy this smaller paint set for a one time fight with a small group.

Here's a tip: Try mixing a little white paint into each bucket. The colors won't be as bright, but you can stretch the paint out a bit. Plus, you won't have to just throw away that bottle of white.

• Mix water and paint into buckets

We only used about half a gallon of each color and mixed in equal parts water in large buckets. BUT! You can make the paint go a lot farther if you do 1 part paint to 3 or even 4 parts water. This will make it easier for clean up too.

• Add dish soap

We didn't think to do this until after our fight, but we will definitely do it next time. When the paint dried on our skin it was very uncomfortable and it took a long time to wash it off. The soap will help with that! 

   UPDATE

 August 21, 2020    

This year, we watered down the paint a lot and we added dish soap. The paint washed off so easily! Plus, it went much farther which meant more time for fun. You can easily make a 6 to 8 gallon tempura paint set last for at least 4 paint fights this way.

SUPPLIES 

1. Buckets for mixing paint and water                                                     
2. Plastic or foam pump guns (the watered down paint won't ruin them)

 
3. Reusable water balloons. They are easy to refill and perfect for repeat paint fights in case you want to make it a tradition. 

4. Paint Twister! Dump paint straight from the bottle onto the mat so it doesn't run everywhere.                                                                            

 UPDATE 

August 21, 2020  

This time around, I asked guests to bring their own buckets. That way, I only had one to wash after the fun was over. And we didn't use a Twister mat this year, because spraying each other with the pump guns was the most fun. Plus, cleaning the Twister mat was a huge pain.

 
We also laid out a tarp to catch the paint. The idea was to create a sort of paint slip'n'slide, but by the time we were done with Paint Twister, we weren't in the mood to slide around.

Note: I didn't use water balloons because . . .

A. Filling balloons with paint sounds like too much messy work.

B. Water balloons often just bounce off people and explode on the ground anyway.

C. We would have to pick up the balloon pieces afterwards.

I went with these water fight sponges instead of balloons and they worked great. Plus, they are reusable!

WHAT TO WEAR 

1. As much white as possible. (But I'll bet you already knew that.) Don't expect to keep your clothes afterward. The paint is washable but we found it definitely does not wash out of white clothes.

We wore white T-shirts like these ones and kept our paint stained shirts after.

My husband even wore white shorts and long white socks to make the colors show brightly. 

And next time we host a paint fight, I will get myself these inexpensive white shorts. 

All our white clothes were dyed in a lovely mess of pastel colors after we washed them.

These colorfully stained white T-shirts would make an especially fun keepsake for kids. And these white shorts are perfect for little kids to wear in a summer paint fight. 

2. An old swimsuit or tank top to wear underneath so you can just take your messy clothes off when it's time to clean up.

3. A white bandana, a white hat, or a shower cap to protect your hair. The paint does wash out but it can stain your hair temporarily. Of course, you can use any old hat, but it's more fun to wear white so the colors stand out all over. 

4. Goggles (such as these ones) or safety glasses (like these). You'll want kids' size safety glasses for little ones. Most of us were fine with safety glasses, but some green paint got under my husband's glasses and into his eye. So, we will get goggles for round two. 

   UPDATE 

August 21, 2020  

If you want a keepsake from your paint fight, get yourself a nice white shirt and wash it after. The colors will be pastel and it looks pretty cool. Also, I think I want to wear a white dress like this one or this one at our next paint fight so I can spin while people spray me with all the colors. Then I will wash it and keep it!

If you want to go all out, trash your wedding dress in a big paint fight!

Related Post:

How To Take Your Little Kids To The Utah Color Festival 

Get yourself some goggles like the ones my sister and cool nephew are sporting. 

CLEAN UP 

1. Trash bags for paint clothes 
2. Old towels 
3. Shampoo 
4. Dish soap 
5. Old washcloths 
6. And lots of moisturizer.

After the fight, everyone walked back to our house from the park and washed off with the hose.

If you have to drive to and from your paint fight location, line your carseats with old towels or trash bags. Be sure to do this BEFORE the paint fight. 

Wearing a swimsuit under your clothes is especially important as it will allow you to remove your messy clothes and avoid getting excessive paint all over your car. 

Store your paint clothes in a trash bag until you get home to wash them. 

You could also bring a second 5 gallon bucket of water to get the worst of the paint off your skin with dish soap before getting into the car. 

Dish soap works the best for getting the paint off. It would have helped a lot if we'd had some old washcloths to scrub with too. 

If the paint doesn't dry out your skin, the dish soap will, so be sure to have some lotion on hand.

Once home, it took me about 30 minutes in the shower to get completely clean. And that was after getting some of it off with the hose. 

You may want to keep your clothes to resuse for another paint fight, a color powder war, or for yardwork.  

So, you want to keep your paint clothes:

First, spray off as much paint as you can with a hose. Then soak them in a bucket or bath tub. Rinse and repeat until most of the paint is removed before putting your clothes in your washing machine. 

Washing the buckets for reuse was one of my least favorite parts of clean up. It doesn't take much scrubbing if you use a decent amount of dishsoap with a high pressure hose. It's just inconvenient. 

Cleaning the Twister mat was the absolute worst. We won't be using one again. And a tarp would make a fun slip'n'slide, but you might hate cleaning it off. 

LOCATION AND PREP 

Whether it's in your yard or at a park, it's easiest to mix the paint, water, and soap on sight. 

I filled a large bucket with water to take with us along with each bottle of paint and empty buckets. 

Then we spread them out in a circle along with the pump guns and sponges. 

A paint fight requires a lot of clean up but not much preparation. Hooray!

PAINT FIGHT! 

We simply counted down from three and then went crazy. A couple people said it was over too soon. But, man, was it wild!

The pump guns made it go by really fast. You could do without, or maybe just ask people to fill them a little at a time.

We didn't have any rules or a winner; we just went crazy. 

But you could assign a color to each person and whichever color you see on other people the most in a certain amount time, say five minutes, would be the winner.

You could have a lot of fun blending colors to get a unique shade for each person.

Unfortunately, I didn't have enough buckets to play with this idea, but maybe next time. White paint will enable you to really get some variety while mixing colors.

Last, but not least, be sure to take a before and after picture for the memories!

Let me know in the comments if you have any questions! 

And if you do host your own paint fight, come back let us know how it goes!

Hi! My name is Kait. Follow this link to learn more about me and my blog