Personalized Party Wall
Hi! Sydney here again with another craft for you. Today, it’s personalized party walls. This all started when I looked at the large wall in my kitchen the night before my son’s 2nd farm-themed birthday and said “That could be a barn”. Since then the (sometimes wayyyyy too detailed) party walls have become a tradition. Do I sometimes hate myself for starting this tradition? Absolutely. Is it all worth it when I see the joy It brings my kids? Definitely. I use inexpensive materials and a little creativity and they end up being a HUGE hit and something my kids look forward to every year!
Personalized Party Wall | Past Party Walls
Farm Animal Birthday
Supplies
Red tablecloth (Dollar Store)
Black painters tape (Amazon)
Red and white poster board (Dollar Store)
Used cardboard boxes
Pirate Princess Birthday
Supplies:
Black, Blue, White, Light Blue and Dark Blue Plastic Tablecloths (Dollar Store)
Butcher Paper (cut into strips and drew wood grain on with a sharpie for ship planks)
Wood Dowels and Rope
Black Party Plates (Dollar Store)
White Pasteboard (Dollar Store)
Brown Painters Tape (Amazon)
The Nightmare Before Christmas Party
Supplies:
Black, Blue, White, Light Blue and Dark Blue Plastic Tablecloths (Dollar Store)
Butcher Paper (cut into strips and drew wood grain on with a sharpie for ship planks)
Black Party Plates (Dollar Store)
White Pasteboard (Dollar Store)
Brown Painters Tape (Amazon)
Puppy Pet Store Party
This one was admittedly, insane. I insisted on watercolor painting all of the dogs by hand, making a functional open/close sign, replicate windows with Saran Wrap and went a wee bit crazy with my Cricut. It turned out pretty awesome, though, and my daughter was thrilled. She still has the dogs hung in her room.
Supplies:
A LOT of white poster board (Dollar Store)
Pink and blue plastic table cloths (Dollar Store)
Purple Butcher Paper (Amazon)
Bulletin board borders (Dollar Store)
5 Little Pumpkins Boo-Day Party (Can you tell my son loves Halloween?)
Supplies:
White foam board (Dollar Store)
Clearance black star wrapping paper (Target)
Black and white poster board
Pumpkin placemats (Walmart)
Brown butcher paper
Personalized Party Wall | Tips and Tricks
Now that you have seen some of the previous walls, I wanted to share a few tips to make your party wall amazing. My daughter’s most recent party wall went along with her “Spa Party” theme. I went “easy” with this one and only did the top half of the wall. I started with looking at the dollar store for inspiration. My daughter’s birthday is in the spring so it conveniently lines up with all of the pretty pastel decorations at the stores, which works nicely for me. I started off with a pink plaid plastic table cloth and added two white table cloths on either side. I also added some flower door fringe on both sides to continue our flower theme and pinned them to drape like curtains.
Next, I started on the flowers. My biggest tip for these, as well as a lot of wall additions, is to use paper plates. Walmart has a great paper plate selection in their party area. You can find almost every color you could want and can get them in 7” and 9” plates. They work well because they’re pigmented (unlike painting or coloring) and they’re cheap, $1 for 25 (unlike pretty colors of poster board that normally are around $1 per board). For the small flowers it’s easy to quarter a plate, fold that quarter down the middle and cut a petal shape that ends up being pretty uniform.
I then cut a circle out of another plate, added glue to the tips of all five petals and attached the circle. I repeated the process using whole, half and quarter plates of both sizes to create the other flowers. I attached the flowers, varying the sizes to the top of the wall using a combination of mounting putty and tacks.
I have a pretty specific ‘art’ style, but if you’re needing inspiration you can use the "Magic Media” tool on Canva to give you specific inspiration for what you’re looking for.
For the spa party wall, I cut out a brush, sleep mask, nail polish, popcorn bowl and pizza out of the paper plates because, again, full pigment AND they automatically go with the color scheme.
My daughter in particular insists the she holds a spot on all of her walls, so I drew her in the pajama set she was wearing to the party and used my watercolor markers to color and cut out the headband and under eye masks out of paper plates.
This one wasn’t the MOST intense of all of the walls, but I still loved how it turned out and it really showcases how to use unexpected materials to create something great. I know my kid’s won’t want elaborate party walls forever, so I’ll cherish this time while they’re little and continue to make party walls for the foreseeable future. Stay tuned for other craft tutorials and happy crafting friends!