Whether you’re arranging a party to celebrate a birthday, graduation, wedding or other significant date, it’s fun to add some decorations. Fun party decoration ideas can be put together with minimum stress, maximum uniqueness and the ‘wow’ factor that you want people to remember long after the party is over.

To help with get your party off to a great start, create a theme that everyone would be happy to be involved with. Here are some tips for the perfect decorations for your party that look great, have a practical purpose and can also be a gift for your guests to take home.

Water balloon ice cubes

You can have fun with decorating items that are a practical part of your party. If you want to keep drinks chilled without getting your hands wet when you reach for a drink, fill your ice bucket with water balloon ice cubes. Use standard size balloons in a colour that suits the theme of your party, fill about 1/4 with tap water, freeze overnight and use in a barrel to keep your drinks cool.

A practical decoration and gift

When the weather warms up, so does the barbecue grill – dining outside is always great fun and with a little imagination you can create a rustic and simple way to keep your cutlery clean, organised and accessible to guests. Get some terracotta pots and dip the base of the pots in chalkboard paint and add knives, forks and spoons. Wrap garden twine around the top and weave in small flowers. You can also use small terracotta pots as place settings at a sit down meal, just add each guest’s name to the chalkboard paint with a chalkboard paint pen and add a lovely plant for your guests to enjoy and take home to their own gardens.

DIY Table Runner

Make your own table runner out of splatter-painted popsicle sticks, leaving room for a place setting at each end of the table you’re decorating. Create two rows and tape the sticks on the rear so it;s all one secure piece. Use acrylic paint diluted with a splash of water to make it runny, then splatter the sticks one colour at a time. If you have any paint left over, paint a few soda bottles to tie in with the colour scheme for extra table decorations.

Garlands

Garlands are a popular and fun decoration. Punch out circles from paint chips (paint colour charts) that you get free from merchants in every colour. Hang these on twine or fish line and hang them from the lights or around the house. Or use paper chains or fringed paper garlands to hang around the mantle-piece or around the ceiling.

Unique images and signs

Make a sign for your upcoming party using a projector. Draw or print your image or word onto paper, no bigger than 3.5 x 3.5 inches. Place the printed image on a sturdy surface and position the projector on top of the image. Face the projector towards a blank wall, darken the room so you have just enough light to see your hands in front of you and turn the projector on. Tape the card you’re going to draw on, onto the wall where the image is projected. Trace the outline of your image using a pencil. Cut out the outline and erase unwanted lines as you go. This is a unique work of art to keep or gift to the celebrant or host.

A welcoming wreath

Welcome your guests to your house party with a beautiful butterfly wreath. You’ll need three ivy chain garlands from a craft shop, or ivy from the garden; green coloured wire and assorted craft butterflies on wire.

Create a circle with one of the ivy strands and secure it to itself with the wire. Make sure your circle diameter is just a bit larger than the grapevine wreath. Continue adding ivy strands until you have used up all three. Secure the strands to the wreath with the wire and attach each butterfly to the wreath and ivy strands until it’s full. Be imaginative, you don’t have to use butterflies if birds or gems would suit better.