Trash Bash: Decorations (garlands, flowers and poms)

I had so many fun projects to work on for B’s party that I figured it would be better to break them out into a couple of posts so that I could do them all justice. The decorations were obviously a huge portion of the party since there are NO Garbage Truck party packs out there on the internet or in the party stores. You can order a la carte items from specialty stores on etsy but the items are still few and far between.

Garlands: I made several types of “trash” garlands to hang around the house. Most of them were super easy and only required me to save items I would usually recycle and hang them with string, the other was a bit more time consuming but turned out so cute that I am glad I put the time in.

Re-purposed box flags garland: I cut out a triangle template and traced it onto boxes from packaged items I usually purchase such as cereal, crackers and granola bars. Once all the triangles were cut out I whole punched the tops and then strung them up with butcher twine. These beauties hung across the house and deck in several locations. Most of this work was done while watching 2 seasons of Downton Abbey on Amazon. That really made crafting so much more fun. 

Simple Recyclable Garlands: I did three types of recyclable garlands, whole boxes, crushed cans and plastic bottles. For the boxes I used the same type of boxes and just strung them whole across butcher thread. Since we tend to buy the same items I tried to rotate the boxes so that different colors would pop next to each other. For the cans I washed and crushed soda cans (the Mr. quite the soda drinker) and strung them through their tabs on butcher twine. For the plastics I simply tied each clean, crushed bottle around its neck spacing them each a few inches apart allowing them space to hang. The garlands were a super fun and creative way to decorate while spending almost no money (only a couple bucks for the butcher twine) but I will say that it was a shocking lesson in just how much trash one family can generate in a months’ time. 

Trash Flowers: I made two different types of trash flowers for the party. For the first set I drew a flower outline on the inside of a box and cut along the lines. Glue a round trash object such as a crushed tin can, bottle cap or crumpled paper to the center to add a three dimensional effect and then affix the entire flower to a cardboard tube. Group these flowers together in a “vase” or glue them upright to paper to make them appear to grow from your tablescape. For the second set I used several sheets of color advertisements or magazine print. Fold 2 sheets of paper like an accordion and stack them together so that you can tie both with a piece of twine. Fan the accordion folds out and staple the loose pieces together so that a circle is formed. Glue a circular object to the center and then glue the flower to a cardboard tube for the stem.

News Paper Pom Poms: I love making tissue poms for events. I think they are just super sweet so I wanted to achieve that same look using newspaper to keep with our Reduce, Reuse, Recycle trash theme. I used eight sheets of newspaper for each pom and I will say that the smaller color advertisement sheets worked the best size wise. To make a pom you lay your 8 sheets of paper in a stack on a flat surface. Starting at one end you fold the stack in 1 inch increments making an accordion. Once you have finished you secure the center of the stack. I did this by tying twine tightly around the center. This was the same twine I used to hang the pom from. Once the center is secured you can begin to fan out the pom layer by layer being careful not to rip the sheets of paper. Fluff the papers to help shape the pom and then hang from the twine. Since these poms are quite a bit heavier than tissue poms you will need to purchase some adhesive hooks like command hooks to hang them from. These are great temporary hanging options that are easy to remove without leaving any holes in your ceiling.

The final touch I added are the separated recyclable materials in apothecary jars which is one of my favorite ways to decorate. These festive flutes are a great way to display unusual or everyday objects in a unique way. I always grab mine at HomeGoods or similar places and while I have my staple items I keep in them most of the year I like to change them out with festive items for holidays and other big events.