Need some decorations fast, easy, and on a budget? I did when I was asked to help out with my mother’s 50th birthday party. In this post, I will go over two very easy designs, (1) Banners and (2) DIY Photobooth.
Banners
This was amazingly easy and super cute. All you need are a few things:
- Cardstock – I would argue that a good book of multi-color cardstock is a must-have in any household. There are so many adorable things you can do with it and it’s inexpensive to keep around. Joann’s almost always has coupons for 40% off one item so I paid $6 for 100 pages.
- Letter stickers – They sell these in different sizes and a pack comes with 4-5 of every letter so it will last you through a few different occasions as long as you can creatively incorporate Q’s, Z’s, and X’s.
- Paper trimmer or good old fashioned scissors. The paper trimmer just saves a ton of time but not necessary.
- Hole punch
- Twine or ribbon. Jute twine is another great resource for loads of different projects. It goes with every color and gives a more rustic look and feel.
With those materials, I really don’t need to give much direction. See for yourself:
I also created one that said “Fifty”, “Five-O”, and my personal favorite “Dinosaur”.
DIY Photobooth
I will be the first to admit that the photobooth was a little “ghetto”, but it worked and you can’t argue that these little gifs that we made were totally worth it!
How did I do it? I bought a $6 plastic easter table cloth from Joann’s. Any plastic tablecloth will do, though I would recommend ironing it first! You can see all the dark creases on the backdrop which is not ideal. I then created another banner and strung it across the top. The photos were taken with the new iphone 6 live photo feature and my husband converted them into gifs using the Live Gif app. Now we just post on facebook and fun memories for all!
Bonus: Cupcake Display!
And of course, you can’t have a party without cake! As cake for 50 people can be quite expensive, I elected to make my mother’s favorite: red velvet cupcakes with cream cheese frosting. I really shouldn’t have to say the “with cream cheese frosting” part as it should be a universally understood truth, but apparently it’s not quite there yet. You can reference the cupcake recipe here. And then arrange into the appropriate number!
