DIY- Superhero backdrop
Charlene Lizette
I had way too much fun prepping for Charlie’s 3rd Birthday Party so obviously I have to share my DIY’s with you. First things first, your local dollar store is going to be your best friend! Seriously, all the supplies I purchased came from my local dollar store.
Here’s a list of all the items you will need to successfully re-create the Superhero backdrop I made:
1 x measuring tape
1 x metal ruler
1 x exacto knife
1 x cutting board
1 x painters tape
1 x glue stick
1 x scissors
1 x scotch tape
1 x pencil
2 x black bristol boards
1 x yellow bristol board
assorted wham/pow signs (optional)
balloons (optional)
Skyline:
Once you have all your supplies, you are going to use the measuring tape to measure out the length you want your city skyline to be. I measured out my dining room table since I was going to use it as the focus table with snacks, food, treats, drinks etc. Obviously you can make your skyline length whatever you want it to be. I then proceeded to cut out rectangular buildings from the black bristol board, I knew I wasn’t going to have time for fancy designs, but there are tons of different building structures you can create. Check out some of my fav Pinterest ones here.
I then placed my measuring tape on the floor in the exact length of the table and laid out my buildings to ensure I had enough to cover the length. I decided I wanted 4 large buildings and the rest in different sizes, that was just what I found aesthetically pleasing. Once I had my buildings laid out I grabbed my yellow bristol board and started playing around with window sizes. My windows ended up being 2×2 inches. Again, this looked proportionate to my buildings, you will have to decide what looks best for yours.
Using the metal ruler I marked my yellow bristol board at 2 inches length wise and 2 inches width wise with a pencil. Make sure you use a cutting board when using an exacto knife unless you want your furniture sliced up. (trust me here, been there done that). I love metal rulers because they are great when using exacto knives, they won’t slice through plastic rulers, trust me, been there done that as well. Fun tip: in Interior Decorating at Humber College I learned: measure three times, cut once. Also, run your exacto knife on the cut line 2-3 times to ensure it’s fully gone through the bristol board.
Once I had all 1 billion windows (obviously being dramatic here) I started placing them on my buildings to see what would look good. I just made sure each buildings windows aligned and that they were all centred, not crooked. I used a glue stick once I was happy with my design and started gluing away until I had completed my buildings.
Then came the fun part of putting them up on the wall. If you are placing the backdrop so its behind a table, make sure your table is up against the wall so it acts like a ruler for you. This will make sure your buildings are straight. I used painters tape to stick my buildings up and it worked flawlessly. Painters tape also doesn’t ruin walls, win win!
Wham/Pow Decals:
On Etsy I found these amazing WHAM/BAM/POW signs at LemonBlvd .
They were super inexpensive so I bought them and got them printed at my local Reprodux for 10 bucks. I asked for thicker paper to ensure they would be durable and reusable.I cut them using scissors during tv shows and it didn’t take long at all. Once my buildings where up I just played around with the signs until I was happy with the style and also stuck them on using painters tape. I felt they added that extra je ne sai quoi to the backdrop
Happy Birthday Sign:
At my local dollar store I found these medium sized alphabet stickers for $1.50 a pack (talk about a steal) I bought two just in case. I had some red construction paper in one of my craft boxes so using those I started cutting out Starburst shapes similar to the wall decals, but just in smaller sizes to compliment the alphabet letters. I winged each individual one and thats why they all look different. I did find this Starburst template on Pinterest in case you didn’t want to risk the shape. I had a few starbursts not end up very” starbursty”.
Balloons:
My cousin had a credit at Party City so she was able to get the balloons for Charlie’s birthday. Family for the win! I love Party City for a multitude of reasons, but they sometimes tend to be expensive. I’ve found some Dollar Stores in my area that offer helium balloons and characters at pretty reasonable prices so I totally recommend seeing if thats an option for you as well.
Hopefully this DIY was helpful and useful in creating the perfect backdrop for your little ones birthday party! Make sure if you are local in the GTA you connect with The Superhero Company and get your very own Superhero to attend your babes birthday! Use CHARLENEVIP10 for a 10% discount!
If you have any questions feel free to connect with me!
xo C.