Who doesn’t want their party to be fabulous and talked about for weeks to come? Well, those kinds of parties usually cost plenty, but they don’t have to, if you make a lot of the decorations yourself. There’s lots of projects you can make for pennies, keeping the saved money for food and entertainment.
One way to get a festive mood happening in a hurry is to cover one wall – or several walls – with wrapping paper. Tape the paper in place, then use wide ribbon to make a cris-cross design, complete with bow. Foil wrap really catches the light and sparkles brightly, but any gift wrap will work fine.
The gift wrap idea works well as a tablecloth, too. If you want, have a piece of clear plastic cut, at any sewing supplies department, and cover the wrapping paper so spilled drinks won’t damage it. The plastic is about a buck a yard and can be found where fabrics are sold.
If you want to have a theme party for a child, but simply can’t afford the party supplies featuring the preferred cartoon character, make your own! Cut Dora, Spiderman, Batman, or other images from magazines, posters and other sources. Use wide tape to affix the cutouts to ordinary drink cups, banners, windows, doors and other areas. Place them on a cardboard backing to make place cards, table centerpieces and more.
Add lots of light to the party by dragging out some old Christmas lights. The white or clear type are perfect for other occasions. Use empty recordable CD canisters to house the lights. Lights must be battery-type for this project. Place the battery pack inside the canister, then wrap the lights all around, and snap the lid on. These lights can sit on tables, steps, banisters, and in windows.
Trash bags often have images of the season printed on them. You’ll find ones with Halloween, Christmas, Easter and other themes. These make great tablecloths or door decorations. Cut the sides out of the bag and hang or lay them as decorations.
Purchase ordinary balloons, then glue on wiggly eyes, hair pieces, paper bow tie cutouts, and other accessories. Or, just draw funny faces on the balloons and hang them. For theme parties, make a little grass skirt for the balloons, or even get camouflage material and make a vest-type cutout for the balloons.
A fun decoration that kids will love to make is cut from old school pictures or similar photos. Cut the face out of the pictures, for each person attending the party, and glue it to a pipe cleaner. Fashion the pipe cleaner(s) into a stick person. Glue the feet to party notions like mini plastic skateboards, or even a wooden shape. The figures are whimsical and can be used for place markers or other decor.
Nothing beats construction paper when it comes to cheap party decorations. Use it to cut out place mats, letters, and shapes for the party, like palm trees, skulls-and-crossbones, farm animals, hearts, soccer balls or other designs.
Cut cartoon characters out of magazines, and affix them to magnetic sheeting, to give the visitors when they arrive. Another party favor you make yourself is a pencil or pen topper. Wrap a colored pipe cleaner around a pencil. Slide it almost all the way to the top. At the top end of the pipe cleaner, glue on a little charm, a shaped wooden piece, a foam animal cutout, a faux jewel, or another novelty. The pencil toppers are wiggly and fun for all ages.
It’s enough that you’ll wrap up a small fortune in food and beverages, so save what you can on decorations, while still jazzing up the place. There are many different party decorations and favors you can make for pennies – so go, get started!
Reference:
- Purchase cheap party supplies for any theme: www.orientaltrading.com
