party-prep

If you frequently host birthday parties, summer barbecues, or baby showers, you likely spend exorbitant amounts of money buying cheap, fragile, plastic "Happy Birthday" banners and paper streamers that instantly rip, get thrown in the trash the next morning, and look incredibly generic.

The ultimate, environmentally sustainable party upgrade is the DIY Fabric Bunting.

A fabric bunting is a massive, incredibly durable string of bright, colorful cloth triangles. Because it is made of real fabric, it drapes heavily and beautifully across a living room ceiling. When the party is over, you throw it in the washing machine, fold it up, and reuse it for the next ten years. By utilizing an aggressive rainbow palette of scrap fabric, you can sew thirty feet of premium party decoration in a single afternoon. Here is the mass-production method.

If you are planning a birthday party, a baby shower, or a wedding reception, and you are staring at a massive, empty, depressing ceiling in a rented event hall, you have a problem.

To make a large room feel festive and intimate, you must bring the visual ceiling down. You must fill the vast, empty air space above the guests' heads with color and texture. While helium balloons are expensive and temporary, and floral installations are wildly cost-prohibitive, there is one solution that is practically free: Giant Tissue Paper Pom Poms.

These massive, fluffy, colorful orbs of folded paper are the ultimate party hack. They cost roughly fifty cents each to produce, they weigh absolutely nothing (meaning they can be hung from delicate ceiling tiles with a single strip of tape), and they pack a massive visual punch. Here is the foolproof guide to fluffing your way to a beautiful party.