DIY universal birthday banner

Doesn't your face just light up with excitement when you hear the words "birthday party" together?  Ours does! (:    
With 5 kids between us (and one on the way) we know a thing or two about celebrating birthdays... and thought it would be easier to create a universal birthday banner vs. making one for every.single.birthday... and lemme tell ya, this has made it EASY PEASY on this momma to simply pull out & hang up:

  Of course we still go all out for our own birthday... tradition is breakfast, massage/pedi's, lunch, shopping, double-dinner-date with hubby's, birthday cake with kids and off to a movie.  For real, we spend ALL day together and it is a BLAST! (:

 (We hit the big three-oh in December and some of our very fav bloggers/IRL besties threw us a  s w e e t  80's party!  We love you Kristyn, Kristy & Katie... aka: K Fab! And yes you, Jamie! Muah!) 

No matter what age, we can bust out this bad boy that matches most party themes and can be celebrated with a toddler, tween/teen, adult or even a grandparent... do grandparents still have birthday celebrations?  If not, they should!
Anyway it's all one piece so it's a snap to pack up and transport from party to party.  

Let's make one, shall we? (:

To get started you'll need just a few things...

cheapie birthday banner, colorful strips of ribbon, white cardstock, vinyl lettering or printed letters and craft supplies: hot glue, glue spray adhesive, scissors

1. Snag a colorful birthday banner from the dollar store to use as your base.  They look flimsy but we assure you they hold the weight of the cardstock, ribbon and glue just fine ;)

2. You'll need 4-5 strips of colorful ribbon to go in between each banner so dig in your stash to see whatcha got.

3. Cut the strips in various lengths, between 4-6" each.

4. After getting a nice cold diet coke from your local corner store (a MUST when crafting Lolly Jane style!) lay out your supplies on a good sized work surface, (like my dining room table.) 

5. Trace one of dollar store banner triangles to see how big to cut your cardstock; we left about 1/4" of the border peeking through.  Cut cardstock to size.

6. Once your triangles are cut, glue them onto the plastic dollar store banner using a spray adhesive.  

7. This is the step where you'll need your "happy birthday" lettering... we used our vinyl cutter but you can print the letters directly on cardstock or even free hand them (;

8. Fold the strips of ribbon (grouped by color family) in between the lettering and hot glue closed.

9. Admire your work and new birthday banner that can be used for parties of all ages!

So how do you celebrate birthdays?With a banner?Decorate the birthday person's door?Chalkboard or white board note?

XOXO, Kelli
PS: We will be hosting a giveaway of our favorite camera bag at our whatcha got weekend linky party tomorrow night... be sure to come back and enter! Wee!
See you then!(: