Mad Craft #8: An Angry Bird Fourth Birthday Party – DIY Hats, Banner, and Cake Topper

My son was adamant that he wanted an Angry Birds themed party.    Being a February baby means that a mid-winter birthday needs to be indoors so we normally don’t have the party at home.  You’d think that would make it easier.  I thought so, too.   I figured, “Angry Birds?  Round characters with simple geometric designs.  Easy peasy!”   And this year I was determined to have his birthday near his actual birthday.   It almost didn’t happen.  We all got a nasty, snotty virus and I scheduled the party a mere three weeks ahead of time.

Angry Birds shouldn’t be a problem.   They are easy to draw.  Easy to trace.

Except…

It kind of sucks when you cut out 28 birds and pigs for party hats, a banner, and a handful of table decorations.  Multiply that by eyeballs, tail feathers, crest feathers, beaks, pig noses, and eyebrows…   I stopped counting when I got a hand cramp.   This series isn’t called Mad Craft for nothing.

You do the math.   I am not ready to know the actual number.  I’m still feeling quite delicate.

You can order all the decorations you want, obviously.   If you have the cha-ching.  Go for it.    If your party is months in advance, that will be best for a DIY.    If you have a working craft cutter like Cricut or the old Wishblade use them (I can’t use my old Wishblade because this computer is not doing so well…I fear if I try to make it do something like read a new peripheral it will quit altogether).    I was working on a tighter budget since we invested in the party space.  February weather in the northeast USA is not a good time to gamble on an outdoor party unless you are snow tubing.   As it happens, the day was a gorgeous 55 degrees.   That’s my luck.

 

Angry Birds, Go!

For Angry Birds Assembly You Will Need:

Scissors
PDF files to cut tracing outlines (I used these from Learn Create Love)
Fine point Sharpie or marker to draw beak lines and pupils
Poster Board @ $1.00 each (depending on your needs — I used):
2 red
2 blue
1 yellow
1 white
1 black
1 orange
2 dark green
1 light green

*I had very little leftover.  I was down to the lowest of the low corner scraps with black — I recommend 2 for the amount I made.   You may want more of each color if you make more birds or don’t trace as closely.
**Tip:  Don’t use glossy poster board. You can use the matte side of a semi-glossy posterboard.

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To make the head band party crowns, I cut a 3-4 inch band out of the poster board.  Each I put on one central peak to reinforce the birds.  Each poster board gave me three bands cut from both ends and one side, plus three to four angry bird bodies.  The triangle yellow bird was the most efficient use of space.   I decided to match head bands to birds, except the black Bomb Bird which got orange.  And Boomerang and the minion Pigs which got light green bands but dark green bodies.   Connecting the headbands with glue sticks works okay, but two staples works much better.  Face them outward to prevent poking.

If you need longer head bands for bigger heads then use the long side of the poster board only.

The green poster board I got was a little glossy on one side and I didn’t notice, so I couldn’t use a sharpie to draw on the nostrils, eyebrows, or ears.  That is all scrap poster board pieces you see in the pictures.

I made:
7 each red, yellow, blue
5 black
3 white
3 boomerang (big beak)
9 pigs
1 King Pig

Tip:  If you aren’t confident with drawing pupils or beak lines free hand, you can use a pencil to make crude carbon paper.    Turn your paper over and cover the back of whatever you want to transfer with pencil lead (in this case a pupil).  Turn it over and place it over the eye you want to transfer to.   Trace it on top.   Voila!   The pencil lead will transfer like a print.  Kids will think it is awesome to do.

 

Angry Birds Birthday Banner and Table Decorations

 

You can print out the letters (more cutting) or buy letters and they will work fine.  However, I decided that I would channel the Pig Building part of Angry Birds instead.   I cut simple black strips out of leftover black poster board. Uneven and crooked works just as well as perfect.   Forming the letters with askew straight edge pieces created a nice haphazard effect.  Letters with curves are a challenge, but you can use folds and small pieces creatively to get the right look.

To make a table decoration, simply tape the bird body to a paper party cup.  I used the paper ones from the dollar store.

Angry Birds Cake Decorations

 

When I ordered the cake they didn’t have any Angry Birds in stock.   I pilfered one of my son’s gifts (Angry Birds Telepods I got on a ridiculous discount) for cake toppers, and I built a Pig Fortress out of Kit Kats and leftover white melting chocolate from the ill-fated troll cake pops from my daughter’s Frozen Birthday Party.

The white chocolate cooled very fast and held up beautifully (remember this is a Northeast Winter,  not a Deep South summer, okay?)    The sling shot came out great.    Party snack becomes party decoration in five seconds!

 

Angry Birds Treat Bags

I love cheap cost-effective stuff.

Homemade Silly Putty Birdie Eggs

8oz Elmer’s Glue
diluted with 8oz of water
1 tsp Borax
dissolved in 8oz of warm water
Food coloring (optional)

Optional:  plastic eggs ($1.00 for 8 chick eggs at the dollar store.)

Pour the glue into a bowl.  If using an 8oz glue bottle, fill it with water and shake it good (waste not!) and add to the bowl and mix well. Add food coloring now if desired.    Dissolve the borax in the warm water.  Add this solution to the glue + water mixture.  Watch the magic!   Knead it with your hands until it gets squidgy.  Drain off excess fluid.    This amount will fill 16 medium-sized, plastic eggs half way.    Put some tape around the tiny molding holes to prevent the putty from oozing out.  Don’t be fooled by pin sized holes…it will ooze out.

Use child labor to fill the goodie bags.  Make them work for their party.