Established 2011

Girls trip ideas › Paint and sip

Paint and sip girls trips, talent not needed, the girls very much required

Everyone swears they used to be the creative one. Here’s the weekend that settles it: a canvas each, your own artist host, a drink in hand and a room full of your girls, with somewhere to stay while the paint dries.

See the paint and sip weekendsPick your city
Where
Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane
Group size
From six of you
Price
From $399 per person, somewhere to stay included
Goes home with you
A canvas each, and the stories
Friends painting bright canvases along a long table in a studio with a pink and orange mural

Why the girls keep picking a paint and sip

Same picture, same steps, completely different paintings.

The catch up has been circling the group chat for weeks. Dinner gets floated, then drinks, then a long silence and a meme. Then somebody types the words paint and sip, and suddenly the whole group remembers they’ve always wanted to paint.

Some of you paint every chance you get. Others haven’t held a brush since school. Both belong at this table. Your own artist host takes everyone through the picture step by step, then hands over the creative freedom, and that’s when things get interesting.

It’s a catch up with something to do with your hands, so the talk runs sideways over the water jars and nobody has to carry the conversation. By the end there’s a row of canvases that all started from the same brief and look exactly like their owners, which is how friendship works, only messier.

Time with your girls was never meant to be squeezed in around everything else. It belongs with the essentials, and it looks good on canvas too.

What happens on a paint and sip girls weekend

Paint by numbers, the girls trip version.

A paint and sip with My Ultimate is a painting workshop with your own artist host, a canvas each and a drink in hand, built into a whole girls weekend with somewhere to stay.

  1. A friend with a glass of bubbles eyeing her blank canvas in a studio hung with bright paintings

    The studio’s yours.

    A studio that’s just for your group, or your own living room turned into one. Nobody at the next easel you didn’t arrive with.

  2. Two friends in aprons pulling faces and raising cocktails at a painting table

    Everything’s set out and waiting.

    Your canvas and brushes are ready before you sit down. All that’s left to decide is which colour goes on first, and who’s pouring.

  3. A woman painting a line portrait on canvas and photographing it, with rosé and flowers on the table

    Step by step, then all yours.

    Your artist host walks everyone through it, from the first sweep of colour to the very last highlight. It starts careful. A few sips later the brushstrokes get braver and the commentary gets louder.

  4. Two friends cracking up at their easels during a paint and sip

    Every canvas goes rogue.

    Same picture, same steps, and the canvases start drifting apart almost straight away. One goes moody, one goes full sunset, one’s somehow gone abstract and one takes a turn nobody can explain. The whole room keeps stopping to admire a single brilliant brushstroke.

  5. The girls holding up their finished pop art portraits after a painting workshop

    Canvases up.

    The whole row gets held up for the gallery shot, a very small exhibition with a very loud opening night. Then every canvas goes home with the person who painted it.

  6. The girls doing their make up on the big white sofas in the apartment

    The brushes just get smaller.

    Back at your apartment the paintings get propped against the wall, acrylics make way for eyeshadow palettes, and the outfit vote happens right in front of the new gallery. Somehow every look ends up matching someone’s canvas.

Three ways to do a paint and sip girls trip

Pick your city, pick your studio.

Each one is a whole girls weekend with the paint and sip built in: somewhere to stay, the food, the drinks and where to next, already in an order that works. Each city’s page has it alongside every other girls weekend there.

Prices are from, per person, for a minimum of six. Accommodation can cost more on busy dates such as school holidays, so we confirm the price for your exact dates.

A friend adding colour to her canvas mid painting workshop

Melbourne

Paint the town, starting with the living room

Canvas and Cocktails Weekend

The grazing turns up at the door and your artist host turns the living room into a studio. Then it’s cocktails and share plates in the heart of the city, because every artist needs a launch party.

From $399 per person, minimum of six

What’s included

  • Overnight accommodation in a chic city apartment
  • Paint workshop at your apartment, your own artist host
  • Take home keepsake: your canvas
  • Grazing platters delivered
  • Cocktail on arrival
  • Delicious shared plates
  • Reserved seating at an inner city bar

See every detail of Canvas and Cocktails WeekendCompare Melbourne’s art and craft weekends

See Melbourne girls weekends
Two friends in paint splattered aprons laughing together at a painting class

Sydney

Soft life, wet paint

Soft Life Studio

A morning at the easel in a private BYO studio, a lazy lunch that’s allowed to run long, then a bottle of bubbly on a rooftop with nowhere else to be. Even the paint is taking its time.

From $499 per person, minimum of six

What’s included

  • Overnight accommodation in a chic city apartment
  • Paint workshop in a private BYO studio, your own artist host
  • Take home keepsake: your canvas
  • Hot grazing platters and bubbles on arrival
  • Discounted cocktail menu
  • Rooftop garden drinks with a bottle of bubbly

See every detail of Soft Life Studio

See Sydney girls weekends
Four friends proudly holding up their flamingo sunset paintings

Brisbane

The club is back in session

Creative Club Catch Up

Every group of girls is secretly a club. This one calls a proper meeting: a studio that’s all yours, grazing at the apartment, then dinner and bubbly under the neon lights.

From $449 per person, minimum of six

What’s included

  • Overnight accommodation in a chic city apartment
  • Paint workshop in a city studio exclusive for your group, your own host
  • BYO drinks welcome
  • Delicious grazing plates delivered
  • Bubbles on arrival
  • Delicious shared plates with neon glam vibes

See every detail of Creative Club Catch Up

See Brisbane girls weekends

What kind of girls group a paint and sip suits

Everyone faces a canvas, not an audience.

The chat happens sideways, over the water jars, which is why it works for groups that don’t all know each other yet, and for the ones who’ve known each other forever.

Three women of different generations in aprons, smiling and holding up their beach paintings

The ones who paint every chance they get.

This is your happy place with better company. Bring your opinions on colour; you’ll have an audience for them.

The ones who haven’t held a brush since school.

It comes back faster than you’d think, right down to tucking a spare brush behind your ear without noticing.

The club that’s been meeting online.

If the group chat has been running one reaction at a time, this calls a proper meeting, with everyone in the same room.

Every generation at one table.

Mums, sisters, daughters and the aunties. A brush, a glass and an easel each, and nobody has to find something in common to talk about.

Friends from different chapters.

School friends, work friends, sisters and somebody’s cousin, elbow to elbow. By the second hour they’re swapping colours.

The group that needs a slower weekend.

Something happens to time when there’s a paintbrush in your hand. You look up for the next colour, an hour has gone and nobody minds.

What pairs well with a paint and sip

The rest of the weekend, sorted around the canvas.

Every paint and sip weekend already works on its own. These are the things that sit beautifully beside it, and a few of them can be added to the weekends above.

Grazing at the apartment

The lids come off and the coffee table disappears. Already in the Melbourne and Brisbane weekends, and an extra on the Sydney one.

More on grazing delivered

Brunch the morning after

Mimosas, the canvases still drying in the corner and a full review of last night. An extra on the Melbourne and Sydney weekends.

More on bottomless brunch

Tarot readings

A little mystery once the brushes are down, and a new reason to stay up talking. An extra on the Melbourne weekend.

More on tarot readings

Cocktail making

One creative session leads to another, and this one you get to drink. An extra on the Brisbane weekend.

More on cocktail making

High tea

Tiered stands, tiny sandwiches and a very civilised gallery opening. An extra on the Brisbane weekend.

More on high tea

A VIP nightclub booth

For the girls who want the opening night to keep going. An extra on the Melbourne and Brisbane weekends.

More on nightclub booths

Life drawing

Same easel energy, a model and a lot more giggling. Its own weekend in every city.

More on life drawing

Clay and pottery

Hands in the clay instead of the paint, and something handmade each to take home. Its own weekend in Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane.

More on clay and pottery

A rooftop

A bottle of bubbly up high once the brushes are down. Already in the Sydney weekend.

More on rooftop bars

Terrarium making

A tiny garden instead of a canvas. Its own weekend in Melbourne, Brisbane and on the Gold Coast.

More on terrarium making

Candle making

Pour, scent and set a candle of your own. Its own weekend in Sydney and on the Gold Coast.

More on candle making

Every creative girls trip idea

Good to know before your paint and sip

The small things the girls will ask about.

What to wear

The outfit you’re going out in afterwards. Maybe not your favourite white top.

Drinks

The Sydney and Brisbane studios are BYO, so the girls bring what the girls actually drink. In Melbourne the workshop comes to your apartment.

Your canvas

Everyone takes her painting home. Expect it to be propped against the apartment wall for a gallery photo first.

Photos

Somebody will want the canvases-up shot. What goes on socials is the group’s call.

Paint and sip girls trips with My Ultimate, at a glance

What it is
A painting workshop with your own artist host, all the art materials and step by step instruction, inside a whole girls weekend.
Where
Melbourne (at your apartment), Sydney (a private studio) and Brisbane (a city studio exclusive for your group).
How long
About two hours of painting. The weekend around it runs from check-in to check-out.
Group size
All three weekends start from six of you. Fewer? Tell us how many when you check your dates.
Price
From $399 per person in Melbourne, $449 in Brisbane and $499 in Sydney, with somewhere to stay included, for a minimum of six. Accommodation can cost more on busy dates.
How cheeky
As gentle as you like. If the girls want a model, that’s life drawing.
Who runs it
My Ultimate Girls Trip, part of My Ultimate, female founded in 2011.

Canvases from real My Ultimate paint nights

Hung, labelled and very slightly overvalued.

A painter leaning in to add cherry blossoms around a pink and blue Eiffel Tower
Paris, in pinkAs it always should have been.
A painter in an apron smiling beside her painting of two lovebirds, a glass of red at her elbow
Two lovebirdsCloser than any couple at the table.
A painter beside her soft pink cockatoo painting, a glass of white in hand
The pink cockatooSoft, pale and very pleased with itself.
A laughing painter holding up her painting of four birds on a wire
Birds on a wireFour birds sitting perfectly still, which is more than the rest of the table managed.
A painter in sunglasses holding up her painting of a cat and a dog in sunglasses
Date nightA cat, a dog in sunglasses and nobody asking why.
A row of painters at easels painting bright sunsets, the city lights glowing behind them at night
Sunset, after darkTen sunsets, ten opinions on orange.
A painter in sunglasses laughing over her shoulder at an outdoor painting table
En plein airFancy words for painting outside with a drink.
Hands holding a paint palette loaded with bright colours
The paletteWhere every good idea, and every mistake, starts.

Every one painted by somebody who wasn’t sure she could.

Real girls trip reviews

In their own words, exactly as written.

Two women in white hotel robes jumping on hotel beds, laughing

I actually love organising trips and was a little hesitant about using a company because I didn't want to lose control over the weekend.

That wasn't what happened at all.

I still made the decisions. I still chose what felt right for my friends. I just had better information and didn't need to personally manage every moving part once we got there.

Would definitely use them again.

Sharon Matthews, 52
Three women in sunglasses at a marina bar holding glasses of rosé and laughing

The thing I would recommend My Ultimate for is not one particular inclusion.

It was the overall thought behind the weekend.

Everything was close enough together, there was time to actually enjoy where we were and the weekend never felt like we were ticking items off an itinerary.

It felt easy, but clearly quite a lot of thought goes into making something feel easy.

Kelly, 47

All My Ultimate staff that I have spoken to or emailed has been fantastic. I feel I have been listened to, and bookings were made to Tayla's wishes. The paint and sip, this was great, a lot of fun and everyone enjoyed themselves, even the ones that "can't" paint. Highly recommend. …

Rebekah Q., verified review

Read more girls trip reviews

My Ultimate has been creating unforgettable girls weekends since 2011, so we know a thing or two about bringing the girls together.

  • 2011Female founded and still founder-led
  • Thousandsof My Ultimate celebrations every year
  • 4.7on Google
  • IATAregistered and accredited under TIDS
  • Your hostup the front, talking the room through every brushstroke
  • Proudmajor corporate sponsor of Share the Dignity
A big group holding up their mountain paintings outside under fairy lights at night

Booking a paint and sip class, or a whole girls weekend

Same brushes, a very different weekend.

Plenty of groups book a class and have a lovely time. Then comes the bit after: where to eat, who’s booking it, how the wet canvases get home, and everyone peeling off in separate rides just as the good stories start.

A My Ultimate paint and sip comes inside a whole girls weekend. The apartment, the food, the drinks and where to next are already lined up around the canvas, so the night keeps going, and the paintings get a daylight viewing in pyjamas the next morning, when the critics have softened considerably.

Somewhere to stay, already in it.One big living room for the getting ready, the gallery, the couch debrief and the morning coffee.
Nobody heads home early.The night out gets everyone together. The hours afterwards are where the best bits happen.
You’re in the photo.Canvas up, glass in hand, not on your phone working out where to next.

Meet Nyree, who started My Ultimate in 2011

Send it to the girls

In your words, ready to paste.

Girls trip idea: a paint and sip weekend. Our own artist host, a canvas each to take home and somewhere to stay for all of us. Nobody needs to have held a brush in years.

Melbourne from $399pp, Brisbane from $449pp, Sydney from $499pp. Who’s in?

https://www.myultimate-girls-trip.com.au/paint-and-sip-girls-trip

Planning a surprise? Check who’s in the chat before you paste.

Where you can do a paint and sip girls trip

Where are we going?

Pick your city to see its paint and sip weekend beside every other girls weekend there, prices and all. Found the one? Check your dates.

Four friends sipping rosé in a vineyard at duskMelbourneMelbourne girls weekendsFour friends on the bow of a boat raising glasses towards the Sydney Harbour BridgeSydneySydney girls weekendsA city skyline and river at golden hour, boats moored belowBrisbaneBrisbane girls weekendsFour friends laughing over drinks on an oceanfront deck at sunsetGold CoastNo paint and sip weekend yetSee every Gold Coast girls weekend

In Melbourne you can also compare every art and craft weekend side by side, prices and inclusions on one page. Want to make something on the Gold Coast? Terrarium making and candle making weekends run there.

Know what the girls want? Start a Melbourne girls trip wishlist, or check available dates for your group or call or chat with us on 1300 339 734.

Paint and sip girls trip questions

Asked a lot, answered here.

Still deciding? See what pairs well with a paint and sip, or pick your city and see the weekends.

Do we need to be able to paint?

No. Your artist host takes everyone through the chosen artwork step by step, from the first sweep of colour to the last highlight. If it’s been years, it comes back faster than you’d think, and every canvas goes up for the photo.

How long is a paint and sip?

About two hours at the easel. The rest of the weekend carries on around it: the apartment, the food, the drinks and wherever the night goes next.

How much does a paint and sip girls trip cost?

The three paint and sip weekends start from $399 per person in Melbourne, $449 in Brisbane and $499 in Sydney, with somewhere to stay included, for a minimum of six. Accommodation can cost more on busy dates such as school holidays, so we confirm the price for your exact weekend when you check availability.

Can we BYO?

In Sydney and Brisbane the studios are BYO, so bring what the girls actually drink. In Melbourne the workshop comes to your apartment.

Is there a nude model?

No. A paint and sip is all canvas and colour. If the girls want a model, that’s life drawing, and it’s its own weekend in every city.

Does it work with mums and a mixed-age group?

Yes. Everyone has an easel and a glass of whatever she likes, and every generation ends up at the same table.

What if some of us don’t drink?

The painting doesn’t need a drink. Tell us who isn’t drinking when you check your dates.

Do we take our paintings home?

Yes. Everyone takes her own canvas home, usually after a gallery photo against the apartment wall.

What will we paint?

A chosen artwork, step by step. Everyone paints the same picture, and no two canvases ever look alike.

What goes well with a paint and sip?

Grazing at the apartment, brunch the morning after, tarot readings, cocktail making, high tea or a VIP nightclub booth. Some are already in the weekends and some can be added; each city’s page shows what’s in each weekend.

Can we just book the paint and sip class?

A paint and sip with My Ultimate comes inside a whole girls weekend, with somewhere to stay. Pick your city to see the weekends in Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane.

Can we do it at our apartment?

Yes, in Melbourne. On the Canvas and Cocktails Weekend your artist host comes to your apartment and turns the living room into a studio.

How many of us do we need?

All three paint and sip weekends start from six. Fewer than that? Let us know how many of you there are. We cater for groups of many sizes.

Is a paint and sip the same as a sip and paint?

Yes. Same thing, words the other way round.