It’s that time of the year again, party planning is in full swing. My daughter Ilianna will be turning 3 soon and a flamingo themed birthday just made sense. I was going through all my party, entertaining boxes and came across some crepe paper rolls. You know that thin crumple looking paper that we tend to wrap hand rails and spindles with. Comes in a lot of colours but the traditional application of it is far from exciting, don’t get me wrong I’m guilty of it too. I thought to myself, there has got to be another way of putting these rolls to use. You know me, anything on a mom budget is always welcomed, until it comes to the cake or decor I just have to have. Anyways I quickly looked it up on Pinterest and got some ideas. I’ve always wanted to make a backdrop and this was the perfect opportunity for it.
We usually take our cake photos inside in our dining room area. We have a framed mirror on the wall behind our dining table and so my plan was to have the backdrop hang off the mirror. The backdrop would not only serve as a beautiful background for our photos but would also help continue the theme. In this case since it was all about flamingos, the pink crepe paper I found stored away was perfect for the job. I was lucky enough to have the rolls on hand and some twine from a previous project. The only other item I needed was a pair of scissors. However if you don’t have crepe paper or heavy duty string at home you can easily find them at your local party/dollar store. Furthermore make sure to pick colours that match your theme. If you want to use one specific colour like I did, then at least make sure there is a visible contrast.
First I measured out how much twine I needed. Therefore decide where you want to hang your backdrop, then use a piece of tape to help hold up one end and cut where it seems fit. Keep in mind, you need to leave some extra string on both ends for hanging purposes. A piece of tape alone won’t due for the end product. Instead I recommend those peel and stick hooks that can easily come off once your done. In my case since I was using the mirror, I was able to make a loop on both ends of the twine and hook it onto the two top corners of the mirror.
Once I had my twine, it was time to cut the crepe paper to the length I wanted. I decided to do a double length. You can also however do a single or even a mix, completely up to you. Either way I suggest before cutting, to measure out how long you want your backdrop to be. Do you want it right to the floor? or half way? again up to you. I decided to have it end about three quarters down the wall. As I mentioned my dining room table is in front so it really doesn’t matter. Once I had my desired length I placed the twine on top and proceeded to make a knot.
As you can see from the photo above, the twine is inside my loose knot. Then I continued by gently pulling the ends to tighten the knot. I then went ahead and did the same to a darker pink crepe paper, alternating as I went. The photo bellow is a perfect example as to how the knots will look on your twine. Continue this until you reach the end while keeping in mind that you need to leave some twine on both ends for hanging later.
Once I was finished that, I cut smaller pieces of the crepe paper and tied them in between the other knots. Again I doubled up the crepe paper on purpose, to help create volume along the top of the backdrop. I also made sure to alternate the colours of the smaller pieces as well. Once I finished that I took my scissors and proceeded to cut each loop, this too helped with the volume I wanted.
I trimmed the bottom of the backdrop once I had it in place. I cut the the dark pink crepe paper a tad shorter then the light pink one to create some interest along the bottom. Once again that’s up to you.
Lastly I went through all the knots at the top and gently pulled the loose ends in different directions to help once again achieve that volume.
Finally as you can see from the photo bellow, the end result. My crepe paper backdrop will most certainly be a perfect addition to all our cake cutting photos. On top of that it also serves as decor for our flamingo party, another bonus in my books.
I ended up having a bunch of cut offs from the crepe paper and so I took those and made confetti. Which I can now add to my tables to help continue the colour theme or zip them up in a bag and save them for another party.
