Party Time: DIY Decor

Spring has sprung, officially.  This week has been cold and rainy here, and I can't help but think forward to all the summer parties and bbq's ahead!  I love a good party, we all do - but more so, I love to decorate for a good party!  Though after the food and beverages have been bought, there isn't always a lot of room left in the budget for the decorations, am I right?  Don't let that stop you though - you can still make your party sparkle with a few affordable supplies, a few internet searches, and a few good movies to pass the time.  While I won't bombard you with all the great ideas I've come across in one long post, I plan to post pretty regularly in a section I call: Party Time! Today's Party Time will be using one of my favorite (and cheap!) materials, paper!

Let's start with the increasingly popular tissue paper pom pom:

 

These are great!  They don't take you that long, they aren't that difficult, and they make a really great impression at a party.  Plus, tissue paper is so affordable and comes in so many colors!  You could hang just a few here and there, or go all out and have a swarm of them.  If you have multiple areas, try hanging odd numbers of them over each table or area.  I think odd numbers are fantastic.  Here is the tutorial on Martha Stewart's site.

Up next we have Paper Bunting:

I had seen these before and never knew it was called bunting.  "...They have a different word for everything." -Steve Martin!  Soon as I found that out, it opened up a whole new world of techniques to me.  The first few (rough) ones I had done, I used paper and a stapler - but tape, jeez! Why did I not think of that? Faster, easier, more attractive.  You could easily whip up a great set of bunting for your next bash, also at an extremely low cost.  Again, paper & string come in so many great colors that this theme is up to you.  I'm really into the Ombre thing lately (oh, you noticed?) so my next party will definitely have a fade! I found two great tutorials for bunting:

Delightfully Tacky 

and

Cap Classique

Last but not least for today, an old-y but a good-y, is the classic paper lantern.  Remember these from elementary school? I have used these time & time again for party decorations. Take a look:

 

These are such a good standby, and surprisingly few people know how to make them - so you're sure to impress.  Luckily, I found some wonderful tutorials on the interweb for ya.  In the above shot, a paper lantern is used around a glass vase to transform it into a table lantern - this one's new to me so I'm really excited to have found it.  What a clever little candle holder!   In the second we have the hanging lantern, but with a rounded edge, framing the divider of a room.  Using patterned paper is fun here too, or stringing the lanterns up like a garland.  I can't find a good example of that unfortunately, so I will just have to do a whole tutorial on that soon (oh darn!).  Here are the tutorials I've come across:
Design Sponge: DIY Wednesdays
and
Lucky Dylan Weddings

Don't forget these colorful mobiles I posted about before, the sewing machine technique is also extremely helpful & can be used with a wide variety of shapes.

What are you favorite party decoration ideas?  Send them in to me here so I can share them in a future segment of Party Time.  I set up a Party Time Pinterest board as well, click here.  Special thanks to these lovely blogs who have posted tutorials of their work, head over to their blogs and spread the love.  It's party time!

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