Planning for this year's Three-esta has me reminiscing about previous birthday party DIY projects. Last year was a Tea for Two theme, consisting of a Disney Beauty and the Beast garden tea party set-up. The year before that was a Breakfast Party theme. One DIY decoration that I've had for both of these, and for the upcoming Three-esta, is boxed streamers. I've never been good at twisting streamers, so I do this instead. The folding technique was something I used to do with straw and candy wrappers as a kid. It creates a 3D box effect and gives the streamers a more striking appearance.
This was last year's Tea for Two Party ⬆️ I used light pink and yellow for the streamers, which don't have a lot of contrast. For this tutorial, I used more contrasting colors. You can also use two streamers of the same color for this decoration.
Materials:
- Streamers (Two colors, or just one)
- Stapler
- Scissors
- Measuring tool
- Glue
- Decorations for the banner ends (optional)
1. Cut one strip of each color streamer. Make sure they're the same length. Measure the streamers a little longer than you wish the banner to be.
2. Stack two streamers on top of each other and staple the ends together.
3. With long ends of streamers facing toward you, fold the top (pink) streamer over so that the streamer goes to your right. The first fold will be a triangle shape.
Here's what it should look like. ⬆️
4. Fold the bottom (yellow) streamer over the pink triangle fold away from you.
Here's what it should look like. ⬆️
5. Fold the pink streamer back over the yellow streamer, bringing it to your left side.
Here's what it should look like. ⬆️
6. Fold the yellow streamer over the pink streamer, bringing it toward you.
Here's what it should look like. ⬆️
7. Keep repeating this folding technique until you get to the end of the streamers. The hardest part is not mixing up the long streamers. It gets easier as you keep folding.
You will end up with something looking like this. ⬆️
8. Staple the last fold.
Voila!
Now for the end pieces...
9. Cut six strips of streamer. They should all be the same length. Three will be used for each side.
10. Cut the strips into smaller strips and staple them together.
10. Staple them to the end of your streamers.
11. Glue on your choice of decorative element. I used paper cactuses for our upcoming Three-esta. Flowers are a good choice, too.
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