Homemade party decorations: How to make birthday decorations

Making your own homemade birthday party decorations can save you a fortune on the cost of throwing a celebration.

Plus homemade decorations are fun to make and add a really lovely personal touch to your birthday party!

Whether you need the party decorations for a kids party or an adult’s celebration, you can adapt the colours and styles to whatever type of party you are throwing.

The items you need to make your own party decorations can be purchased extremely easily either at supermarkets or online at Amazon and crafting shops.

There’s a whole lot you can do with a few cheap balloons, some tissue paper, string and glue!

This post has lots of fab ideas for making your own birthday decorations, so pick and choose your favourite ones and then get the whole family involved in making them.

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Simple cheap DIY party decorating ideas

Some wonderful birthday party decorations that you can make yourself include:

Tissue paper pom poms
Polka dot streamers
Paper streamers
Glitter balloons
Confetti balloons
Balloon arch
Bunting

How to make birthday decorations

Making your own birthday party decorations is incredibly simple and can save you a lot of cash when it comes to throwing a party.

When you are deciding what decorations you would like to make it’s worth thinking about how you can bulk buy materials and use them to make several different sorts of decorations.

For example there’s lots you can do with tissue paper and coloured paper. With colourful paper you can make paper streamers, bunting and paper chains.

Balloons

Multi-packs of balloons do not cost a fortune. If you buy a canister of helium then you can fill them yourself at home, which is far cheaper than paying a shop to it for you.

Helium balloons look amazing simply dotted all along the ceiling. Tie ribbons and garlands to them to add an extra bit of colour as they trail down from the ceiling.

If you don’t want to shell out for the helium canister then you can simply blow up the balloons and tie them into a balloon arch (tips for those below) or scatter them all over the floor.

Use some ribbon to tie them to corners of the house as well.

Paper streamers

One of the easiest things you can make is paper streamers. With colourful paper they add a beautiful touch to your party and cost pennies to make.

Use a plate to trace a perfect circle on your paper and then cut the circle out.

Then starting at the edge of your paper circle begin cutting along the edge of the paper. Follow along the edge and keep cutting in a spiral shape. You can check out a full tutorial and beautiful pictures over on the Oh Happy Day blog.

Homemade birthday decoration ideas for kids

Balloon arch

You can buy balloon arch kits where you will need to inflate and construct the arch. These work out much cheaper than ordering a readymade kit from a balloon company.

But it can be even cheaper still if you buy all of the items you need yourself. There are some fantastic tutorials online including this easy balloon garland from Lovely Lucky life.

Key items you will need include:

Balloons (a variety of sizes can look really great)
Scissors
Balloon arch tape – this stuff is amazing. Simply pull the balloon knot through the pre-punched holes on the tape and you’re done.
Hooks – try using Command sticker strips to stick these to your wall so you don’t have to hammer them in. These are for hanging your garland on the wall
Push pins – these are another option for hanging your balloon garland.

Once you have all of your items gathered then you can start to assemble your balloon garland. How you put it together really depends on what sort of look you want to so check out some tutorials on YouTube and pick the ones you like best to follow.

To put it simply you just need to blow up your balloons, then insert them into your balloon arch tape. Once all of your balloons have been put onto the tape then you can hang your balloon arch.

In my experience hanging up the balloon arch is the toughest bit. Wall hooks that stick or are hammered to the wall are the most sturdy option. You could also try push pins but those may not be strong enough to hold up a heavy arch.

There are some beautiful examples of balloon arches and a tutorial over on the Paisley and Sparrow site.

Bunting

DIY bunting is one of the easiest homemade party decorations you can do.

You can keep it simple with different coloured pieces of card. Or you could add letters or get your kids to decorate each piece for the bunting.

There are some great ideas for DIY bunting over on this post.

If you’re looking to make your own bunting we’ve got an easy template for you to download so that all of your bunting triangles match!

Simply click the link below to download your free PDF bunting template.

DIY-bunting-template Download

Paper chains

I remember having so much fun making paper chains when I was little. They are pretty much the easiest DIY party decoration idea on this list.

In fact they’re so easy you could get the kids to make them while you put your feet up!

You will need:

Colourful paper
Scissors
Glue

Simply cut your paper into equal sized strips and then starting with one fold it over to form a circle and glue the ends together.

Now thread another strip through that circle and glue its ends together. Repeat until you have a long chain.

These can be strung over the party food table or hung down from the walls.

DIY cake topper

There are lots of gorgeous homemade cake toppers you could try making yourself.

I made these animal cake toppers with party hats for my daughter’s 5th birthday and was thrilled at how they came out.

DIY party hats for plastic animals to make a homemade party cake topper

They’re incredibly easy to make! There’s a full tutorial over here.

All you need is:

Colourful paper or card
Mini pom poms – these aren’t essential but make a great finishing touch for the top of the hat.
Plastic animals – I like the Scleich ones but there are lots you could find
You could also add mini balloons to your animals – I love these ones

Another easy homemade cake topper is a mini banner or bunting.

For this topper you will need colourful card, ribbon or string, two sticks of around 20 to 30cm length. Follow these steps:

Simply cut the card into tiny diamond shapes. Fold these in half do they form triangles.
Thread your triangles onto the string and put glue on the inside to stick them in place.
Tie each end of the string to your sticks and you’re done.

Giant candles

These giant candles by DIY Dreamer are seriously impressive!

They would make a great centrepiece in a party room.

Homemade balloon wreath

This homemade party decoration has absolutely blown me away and I am definitely going to make it for our next party!

It’s so creative and the final effect looks amazing, but you don’t need tons of expensive stuff to make it!

Get the full tutorial over on Where the Smiles Have Been.

Homemade glitter balloons

I absolutely love the look of glitter balloons. But having ordered them from companies in the past I know how expensive they are, especially if you want to go for a big effect with them and have lots for your decorations.

Making your own glitter or confetti balloons is actually incredibly easy!

You will need:

Hi float – not only makes your balloons last longer but gives the glitter or confetti something to stick to.
Balloons – They need to be clear so that the confetti or glitter is visible. Consider what size your purchase, as you can buy larger clear balloons. It really depends what look you want to create.
Glitter or confetti – This confetti is super cute if you want pastel colours and this glitter would work well.
Ribbon
Helium – You don’t have to fill them with helium so you can save money on this particular element.

There’s a wonderful tutorial in the video below. But the stages to make your own glitter or confetti balloons are:

Add the glitter or confetti to the balloon. This may be easier if you use a small funnel.
Fill balloons with Hi float. This will make the glitter or confetti stick and you need to do this before you fill them with any air. Skip using the Hi float if you want your confetti or glitter to sit at the bottom of the balloons rather than stuck to the sides.
Inflate your balloons and tie a knot. Tie ribbons around where your knot is and you’re done!

Party food

There are a ton of things you can do with homemade birthday party food that not only make delicious treats but also provide decorations for the party.

Some ideas for party food that will also make your party look beautiful are:

Simple cupcakes. Colour the icing depending on the theme of your party and you have instant pops of colour.
Fruit skewers
Cake bites
Marshmallows dipped in chocolate
Sandwiches cut into stars

Homemade tissue paper party decorations

Homemade party decorations made from tissue paper

Tissue paper is super cheap and so versatile when it comes to making decorations.

Check out these great DIY tissue paper decoration ideas.

Tissue paper pom poms

Pom poms are such a beautiful touch to party decorations. Making your own means you can pick and choose the colour combinations you use.

You will need:

10 sheets of tissue paper per pom pom
Wire – Jewellery making wire works well
String – invisible string looks better when hanging them white ribbon looks nice too

To make tissue paper pom poms you need to:

Lay 10 sheets of tissue paper flat.
Fold the end in about 1ins to 1.5ins and repeat, folding it accordion style (fold, flip over, repeat).
Fold in half in the centre.
Wrap wire around the middle then twist to secure and trim the wire.
Use scissors to round the edges of the pom pom.
Now gently easy the tissue paper apart, pulling one sheet at a time out to create your pom pom shape.

There’s a wonderful step-by-step tutorial with images at One Little Project.

Tissue paper balloon tassels

These balloon tassels by Ashlee Marie look so impressive and yet they are so cheap to make!

Head over to her site for the full tutorial.

Tissue paper pinwheels

Follow the exact process above for making the pom poms but this time don’t pull the sheets away.

Instead after you have tied the wire around your tissue paper fan out the paper so that it forms a big circle and glue the ends together. It should resemble this when you’re done.