Sisu bIRTHDAY PARTY
HOBBY LOBBY DIY Backdrop
September 3rd, 2023
I am fortunate that all my daughters are around 2-3 months apart in between birthdays so once one ends I start asking the next what they would like their birthday theme to be. My middle daughter was set on a Sisu party. Not a Raya and the Last Dragon party, nope, Sisu was IT. We love to celebrate every birthday (even half birthday get a mini cake) but this time we wanted to do something with just close family since school JUST started. I love decorating even if it's just family so I always try to make it super pretty for my girls. It honestly brings me joy!
I’ve been on the hunt for the infamous Arched Panel Background Stand from Hobby Lobby ($59.99). When I say I’ve been on the hunt I really mean it’s been on the back of my head and I only remember on a Sunday when they’re closed. Luckily my mom and I were going to an event right by a Hobby Lobby and there were 2 in stock so may be they are not selling out so quickly anymore.
One of my key items of a party setup is a solid piece of background. A while ago my dad helped me build a backdrop with 6 wooden pallets from Hobby Lobby but it’s getting worn out so I wanted to see what I could do with this new arched panel.
For $59.99 it’s not bad at all and it can easily be reused over and over again, even covered up with fabric!
THE ARCHED PANEL
The first thing I did was to prime it in order to seal the wood, mainly to prevent mold (hello, Texas humidity!) then I used acrylic paint of my desired palette. This is primer I used. Because of the texture of the wood not being completely flat and it having some flaws I don’t think using vinyl to cover it up would’ve been a good call. It would have probably bubbled up. When it comes to my crafts I am a perfectionist which is also my biggest flaw, so against all my inner doubt I went over the primer with an average of 2 coats of acrylic paint. I just kept telling myself she will love it no matter what! 🥲
These are the paints I used: Apple Barrel Caribbean blue, Purple Iris, and white. Disclaimer, the blue was too bright, truly Caribbean, so I had to mix it with some white acrylic paint to get to the right shade.
BALLOONS
I have heard horror stories about Amazon balloons kits that pop or deflate a few hours after making the garland but I've been very lucky and have not had that experience all these years. These are the balloons I bought this time around. I used every balloon in the kit except the clear ones.
The key for a successful balloon garland is to have a good mix of sizes and it will look even more amazing if there a few of the oversized ones. Fancy may I add! This particular kit had 4 oversized balloons and it was perfect.
WOODEN NAME
I got all my girls names a while ago. I am all about investing in things you can use over and over again. I got my oldest daughter's name from Craftcuts.com but I think they are pretty pricey. I got my youngest and middle daughter's from 48hourmonogram.com and they were much more affordable. I did a coat of paint and a layer of glitter, lastly a layer of modge podge mixed with glitter. I'll do a tutorial on this later! Cardinal rule of glitter craft work, you never use anything thicker than fine glitter. You can leave chunky glitter for slime or hair gels.
CLIPS, ADDITIONAL DECOR
I didn't want to damage the backdrop, even if I repaint in the future the wood would become uneven if the clip pulls the paint off. Luckily these worked perfectly. The instructions say to use them on paint AFTER 7 days but I did not have that much time and they still held strong to support the wooden name. God bless them. I also put these in the back of the arch to hold the garland.
A super fun game that we try to find for home parties for our kids is this. We try to find a "Pin the tail on the donkey" version to match the theme of the birthday, a couple of years ago we did Frozen and you had to put the snowflake on Elsa's hand. All ages participate, yes, even grandparents!
The donut stand from Oriental Trading was a hit! We sang happy birthday and everyone rushed to get their favorite donuts. I like that you can get at least 2 uses out of it since the back and front are the same, just switch the hooks to the other side.
Sisu bookmarks were an adorable and useful favor for our family. I got the template from the Attachment Mummy blog and just uploaded it to Cricut Design Space to cut in each color neatly. Let me know if you need a video on that!
