How to Make the Sesame Street Party Decorations

Earlier I shared pictures from Lily’s Sesame Street Themed 2nd Birthday party. A few people have asked about birthday wreath and the ribbon ball. Given my husband deleted all the photos on my camera up to the party (for some reason when he tried to upload the photos to the computer they uploaded to the camera disk instead and then the disk was wiped clean), below is my best attempt to provide guidance on how to create these items.

 How To Make a Balloon Wreath

This was easy to make. I used a straw wreath, about 225 balloons and 225 flower pins. Use the flower pins as push pins to secure the balloons to the wreath. This cost a little more than I expected ($20-30) but I was particularly on the color and out of convenience purchased the balloons at Target and Michaels. If you get a dollar store pool noodle (that you cut and tape to form a wreath) instead of a straw wreath and use dollar store ballons you can do this for even less!

How to Make a Ribbon Ball Centerpiece

You need a styrofoam ball, ribbon, push pins (about 200) and scissors. You may want to leave the packaging on the styrofoam ball because it sheds otherwise. I cut the ribbon in 2.5 – 3 inch pieces. I cut 20-30 pieces at a time. Loop the ribbon then pin it to the ball. I used half inch and inch wide ribbon. I used 7 different ribbons but had plenty left over. I tried to not have the same colors touching each other but when ever possible.

To make the stand, I placed another piece of styrofoam in an Ikea pot I had on hand, pushed two dowels that I painted white into the pot and the ribbon ball. I added a couple of rocks on top of the base styrofoam to keep it from tipping over. I secured the dowels together with ribbon and covered the base with tissue paper. Ta-Da you have a centerpiece!  It took a little longer than I expected. My guess is it took 3-4 hours. I spaced it out over a couple of evenings.

How to Make Circle Punch Garland

To make this you need cardstock paper, thread, a sewing machine and a circle punch. You can cut the circles by hand if you don’t have a circle punch but the hole punch would make this much easier. Once you punch your circles, thread your machine, lower the tension and then begin sewing a straight hem down the center of the circle. The sewing machine pulled my circles together in a close knit regardless of the slight gap I left when sewing. If you are like me and need pictures, I found this great tutorial on The Curbly House that I’d recommend.

How to DIY a Cupcake Stand

There isn’t much to this at all. I was looking for cheap materials because I thought this may be a one time use cake/cupcake/cookie stand. I found the red melamine plate for $1 at Walmart and the candle stick was $3.99 at Ikea. If you want something that makes more of a statement add some height with this Ikea candle holder.

Ikea

Or if you want something cheaper, this Dollar Tree candle holder is a great option (which just happen to be out of stock when I stocked by). You can leave it as is or spray paint it the color of your choice!

Dollar Tree

Use a strong adhesive and glue the candle holder to the bottom of the plate or tray. I put a book on top of the plate to weigh it done and help it adhere. That’s all there is too it!

How to Make Iced Cookies

Ok, so I cheated a bit here. For the sake of time, I purchased sugar cookies at a local grocery store. They were buy one get one free and they are yummy (and I was short on time) so I couldn’t pass them up. All I did was ice them. You can make your own icing but this time I used Betty Crocker cookie icing pouches.

Lay the cookies out on a cookie sheet. Knead the icing pouch and start by outlining the cookie with icing. Then zigzag the icing within the outline.

Take a toothpick and spread the icing around the cookie staying within the outline.

Add sprinkles and let the icing set.

Once the icing has harden, you can stack the cookies if desired.

How to Make Tissue Pom Poms

To make these tissue poms poms, I folded a stack of 8-10 sheets of tissue paper (per pom pom) like an accordian and I wrapped a twist tie in the center of the folded tissue paper. Round the edges to create a scalloped look.  Then gently separate the sheets of paper. Visit the Martha Stewart tutorial for images for each step.

To wrap up, I received several inquiries about the Thank You signs used for the gift bags. Click the image or link below to access the template.

Thanks for visiting!! I hope you found this helpful! Please let me know if you have any questions!

Linking to: Between Naps on the Porch, Made by You Monday, Tip Me Tuesday, Wow Us Wednesday, The Frugal Girls and Tatertots and Jello