Children get excited about birthday parties days, even weeks, in advance. So, one way to get them to calm down a little and, in fact, put all that excited energy to good use, is to get them involved in the decorating side.
This has the added bonus of helping you, of course, in making sure you get it all done quicker. Well, that’s provided you supervise them closely enough. Anyway, here are some of our favourite party decorating ideas your children can join in with making:
Photo backdrop.
Kids love to take selfies and images of themselves and friends, and they will be super-keen to do so at a party with their smart new clothes on. So, give them a fabulously colourful backdrop to stand in front of.
Make a backdrop using plenty of fabric or crepe paper and design it in horizontal lines, like this. A vertical version would be just as stunning. This particular backdrop is stuck to the wall using glue dots, but you could use blue tac too since this shouldn’t leave any marks either.
Balloon arch.
Blowing up then tying balloons together so that they form a colourful balloon archway is a really striking party decoration. And you don’t need to stop at one either – have two in several colours.
All you need for this is several packets of balloons, some thread, a handful of uncooked beans and plenty of puff.
Wall décor.
One way to really brighten up a rather plain wall is to adorn it with a huge, colourful ‘hello’ or the birthday boy/girl’s name. It could be any word you like in fact, just so long as you have enough tissue paper.
Once you have your sheets of tissue paper in front of you, cut them to size and scrunch up into balls then stick onto a large cardboard sheet. This will already have the word spelled out in large lettering and it’s just a case of filling in the letters with the tissue paper balls. Not difficult and inexpensive but fun to make.
Lollipop stuck runner.
This table runner from glued together lollipop sticks is a little more time-consuming to make than our other DIY party ideas above so it may be a good idea to start around a week before the party date. That’s if you want to get the kids to decorate each individual stick with felt pens or paint.
If you’re running out of time though you can attach all the sticks together using tape on one side and then simply spray paint them by splashing a wet paintbrush at them. Yes, the kids will love this since it’s guaranteed to make a mess. To save your décor, crafter Aileen Allen @athomeinlove suggests: “I’d recommend laying down more paper than you think you’ll need and wearing clothes that you don’t care much about, because the paint will get everywhere.”
Find more great kids party decorating tips and ideas at Captain Fantastic today.