DIY 4th of July Backdrop
The 4th of July is my favorite holiday and every year we have a block party. I usually go all out with literally any and everything red, white and blue. I’ll make patriotic desserts and decorate all of the tables and canopies with flags and whatever else i can find or make. And honestly, no party is complete without a cute backdrop for taking pictures!
Last year my best friend, katie and I made a flag backdrop out of balloons. We saw some cute picture on Pinterest and thought “oh that will be easy peasy”. Um…no! We were a hot mess. None of the balloons would stick or stay in place, they kept popping, it was so hot and then when we were finally done and ready to take pictures half of the balloons had melted or popped. It was a disaster!
This year I wanted to simplify things and take as much off of my plate for the day of as possible. This backdrop can be made in advance, rolled up, thrown in the closet and will be ready to go when it is time to start decorating.
Alright, let’s get to it!
Supplies:
- 6- 54 in x 108 in table cloths: I just did two of each color from the Dollar Store. You might want to grab a few extra just in case you mess up!
- scissors
- twine or any other heavy duty/strong string
- 2 Command Strip hooks or heavy duty tape
- Balloons and balloon arch kit: (this is optional) I will get into this a little later in the blog post.
Grab your scissors- Let’s do this!
- First, start by unrolling the table cloth…not so fast! You will only unroll it part of the way. The table cloth is 108 inches long- when you take it out of the package just unroll it enough to make it the full 108 inches, but don’t unroll the width. This is kind of hard to explain and I have have a reel showing how it’s done on my Instagram Page.
- Once you have the full length of 108 inches then fold it in half to make 54 inches- this will just make it easier to cut.
- Lay the table cloth flat on the ground and start cutting 2-3 inch strips (picture bellow). These do not have to be perfect! The edges do not have to be perfectly straight and every strip does not need to be measured. Once it is all done you will not be able to tell.
- Now that you have all of your strips cut, it’s time to hang your hooks. This backdrop will be 6-8ft long, so start by measuring 8 ft and the tie the twine around the hooks- leaving about 2 ft of extra twine hanging off of each side (this will be used later when it’s time to hang it up).
- Starting on one side, grab a red strip, find the middle of the strip and hold it over the string- using your other hand go behind the twine and grab the strip from the bottom and pull it through the loop, slightly tighten the knot and move on to the white strip, then the blue. You will roatate between red, white and blue until you reach the other end.
That’s it! You are done!
Now it’s time to roll it up and put it away until the 4th!
- After I was done i just folded it up at the top and then used the extra twine to tie a loop around the strips and then folded it in half and shoved it in the closet. lol
This backdrop is so forgiving and there is so much room for mess-ups. I messed up a few times and you can’t even tell. The strips are not even on the bottom and it still looks good. This was so easy to do and it only took me about 30 minutes. You can also switch up the colors and use this for any other event or party.
So, pop open a seltzer tonight after the kids go to bed and knock this out while catching up on your favorite show! You got this!
The Set Up:
I will finish this backdrop on the day of by adding a Balloon Arch
- The night before I will blow up all of the balloons using an air compressor and go ahead and put them on the balloon arch tape- this is a whoooooole other blog post, but it is a lot easier than it looks and you will be a pro after doing it just one time.
- Unroll the back drop and lay flat while you get organized.
- I like to hang my backdrops on a. fence post using push-pins or on a garage door using tape.
- Make sure you don’t put the backdrop up too high because the balloons will go over the top to add extra height.
I can’t wait to see your 4th of July Pictures! Have fun and stay safe!
xoxo
Les
