How to Make a Photo Banner

My family loves surprise parties. We REALLY love them. Pretty much every important birthday or anniversary in my family equals a surprise party.

My mom’s 60th birthday was yesterday (Happy Birthday, Mom!). My brother and I decided a surprise 60th party was a must.  We knew we had to plan her surprise party before her actual birthday to make sure we could throw her off.  We threw her party back in October; a month before her actual birthday. When my brother and I were planning her party, I knew I would handle the decorations.  I wanted to keep them simple since I feel like I always seem to have 20 projects going on at one time. I thought it would be cool to try to incorporate old pictures of my mom into her party. That’s when my vision was born.

I got a bunch of old pictures of my mom, blew them up so they were the size of an 8 1/2 x 11 sheet of paper.  I printed them in black and white.  Then, I colored in the white parts of the photo with bright colors and designs. My pictures had kind of an Andy Warhol type of vibe. To add more detail (and fun) to the pics, I added birthday hats to my mom and anyone who was in the picture with her. They ended up being hilarious! Since my little nephew couldn’t make the party, I also printed a picture of him with a hat on.

Additional decorations I made were:

– “Happy 60th Birthday!” banner  with glitter paper.

– I wrapped plastic shot glasses with silver duct tape to create mini bud vases and added yellow flowers.

– I also made silver tissue paper tassels for the birthday banner.

The party came together nicely. My mom was SO surprised. I thought maybe she was lying, but when I looked back at the pictures I took and you can see in her face that she had no idea! The party was a success!