Anya's Animal Themed Birthday Party - Birthday Banner

For the last two birthdays, I had used a store bought banner. This time around, I wanted to make one.(As other decor was taken care of, I had time to go into other details). Google gave enough ideas and my heart was set on making a pennant style birthday banner with animal spots and stripes. I finally made it and was quite happy with the way it turned out.

I chose white and rust colored sheets.White was an obvious choice for zebra stripes. Rust was apt for giraffe and leopard spots. The steps to create this spotty, stripy banner are simple:

• Take any thick sheet. Draw a triangular pennant measuring 8.5 inches at the top and 10.5 inches on each side. Cut out one pennant and using this as a stencil, cut out the rest. I made 6 white and 7 rust pennants: 6 for zebra stripes, 4 for giraffe spots and 3 for leopard ones. I did not include Anya's name in the banner. If you want to paint your kid's name, get ready to make more pennants.

• Using a circular shape, trace a circle in the middle of each pennant. This is for writing the birthday alphabet.

• Draw spots and stripes. Paint them using acrylic colors. If you are comfortable, you can paint directly without drawing first. I wasn't so confident, so I drew them first and then colored.

Leopard spots

Zebra stripes

Giraffe spots

The coming together of banner

My hard work paying off

There it is!!

4. Let them dry. Glue a string at the back of pennants and voila! Your customised animal themed banner is ready.

The final look

It was a lot of fun doing the banner. There is something about DIY which gives satisfaction like little else. While making the pennants, I could picture lithe zebras grazing in savannah, languid giraffes munching from trees and agile leopards stalking their prey. So much so, it has left me longing for an African safari! I hope my wish gets fulfilled soon:)