It’s Friday, so let’s talk about a few more ways to use your Silhouette to customize your next party! Although my son’s birthday party was all about construction, you can adapt many of these ideas to fit your own theme. This is one of the reasons I love my CAMEO…and also the reason I bought it so many years ago. You can literally type anything in the software in any font and have your machine cut it out in any number of materials.
Click here for Part 1, which includes even more ideas for throwing your own DIY construction zone party!
Custom Hard Hats
Who doesn’t love a personalized party hat? These “hard hats” were super easy to make using plastic hats I purchased online (Oriental Trading) and a little bit of white vinyl.
To make these, I simply created a square that was about 2.5″ x 2.5″ and typed “Chase’s Birthday Crew” in all caps inside of it using the “Here & Now” font. This font (also used on the invitations) has a fun, modern vibe with letters not quite straight up and down…perfect for a kid’s party!
I used matte white vinyl and the standard settings for “Vinyl” in the Silhouette Studio software to cut the decals. Weeding three dozen of these was pretty easy thanks to that square I placed around the text. The font is also thick enough that I didn’t have trouble with any delicate pieces (a deliberate move!). Using a bit of transfer paper, I applied a decal to each hat.
The hats were placed at the entrance to the party with a “Hard Hat Zone” sign to encourage guests to play along. Though the hats were sized for kids, you would be amazed at how many adults spent the whole party wearing them!
Construction Signs
We had a construction sign for almost everything at the party, and they were all done in Silhouette Studio as well. Using Yellow Silhouette Adhesive Cardstock, I traced common construction signs from photos on the internet or made a few up on my own (if you’re typing your own signs out, Arial font looks pretty close to the real thing!).
Once printed, I adhered the adhesive cardstock to a sheet of Silhouette Chipboard for added sturdiness and rounded the corners with my We R Memory Keepers Corner Rounder (½”). Above are just a few examples of the signs we hung all over the yard and throughout the house (“Dump Station” was the diaper-changing station 🙂 ), but here are a few others we used:
- Daily Wages (party favors)
- Dump Presents Here (gift station)
- Party Zone (on the mailbox)
Party Favor Labels
After creating the first 75 dumptruck party favors, I realized that I would need about a dozen more goodie bags for the kids who would be attending…and I was already exhausted! Instead of assembling any more handmade boxes, I opted for yellow and orange paper bags I bought at the local party store and added a custom label I printed on Silhouette Printable White Sticker Paper instead. This way, the bags still had a handmade touch, but didn’t take forever to finish.
And since I was already printing a few, I figured I’d just print 75 more, have my Silhouette cut them out for me, and attach them to the back of the dumptruck favor boxes as well. Although a small detail, I think the stickers were a nice touch, especially on the simpler party favors, and took hardly any time at all.
Road Sign Temporary Tattoos
I saved the best one for last…this party element was a last minute idea that almost didn’t come to fruition, but I’m so glad I made the time to make these because it was easily the most popular activity. Temporary tattoos of any kind seem to be a hit, but you can have a lot of fun picking out cute and funny road signs for a construction party!
Most of the signs I used were real, but a few were fake for comedic purposes. I made sure to include cute ones for kids (duck crossing, construction vehicle images), funny ones for adults (beer humor), and just regular road signs that many guests had fun just finding the right place to apply. A little over a hundred tattoos were printed on Silhouette Printable Tattoo Paper and cut by my machine. To make the application simple, I separated the tattoos in this orange veggie tray from the dollar store and added water and sponges to the center compartment.
I hope you enjoyed these ideas for throwing a DIY construction zone party and I would love to hear your comments! If you missed part 1, you can click here to see even more ways to customize your party with your Silhouette. And remember, you can adapt many of these projects to fit your own theme…what’s the next party you’ll be throwing?