Aloha! A Luau themed Prom

 

I feel like this years prom was lots of fun, with a  Beach (specificially Hawain) themed decorations. As soon as the D.J. walked in he vowed to play some Beach Boys and the theme song from Hawaii 5-0.

My goal is to always transform the cafeteria into a place that makes students feel transported to a more special venue then the place they ate tator-tots a few hours earlier. In order to do this, I have to essentially create a wall to hide the lunch line. a beach scene on painted on vinyl and stretched on 4X8 foot boards helps cover most of the heating trays and salad bar area.

The tray drop off window had a screen placed in front of it, and the refreshments were served on a table decorated with pineapple palm trees and more pineapples wearing sunglasses. 

Our surf shop and tiki head area were a great place to have photo shoots. There were 18 palm trees scattered throughout the room. Only once did a tree get knocked over and it was caught before it hit anyone or toppled more. It was a prom-night miracle considering that all of our students are legally blind.

Beachballs and leis hung from the light fixtures above. And more beachballs were scattered on the floor, hiding the uplights. Ferns hid the set stands.

The surfboard out of foam was reversible to match moods and clothing: serious and sporty on one side, playful and floral on the other.

I made a second, reversible surfboard out of cardboard, which we could stand on, without fear of ruining it with our feet & weight.

I taped a cardboard pole between a tree and a set to hold up blue, tinsel streamers. The air vent on the wall behind it was blowing like crazy, so I needed to add hang turquoise fabric from the same pole, behind the tinsel. I taped the stand behind the foam wave to the floor so that it wouldn't be knocked over. I'm always happy when I can figure out last minute installation logistics, whether it be for this surfing photo booth, or how to string the beachballs and hang them from above in a seamless way.

Towards the end of the evening, my paraprofessional and I lit up some foam glow sticks and handed them out to students. Even students with no vision loved waving them around. I love how this picture shows the Cheshire Cat on the back of our tiki head from our Alice in Wonderland Prom two years ago.  I spent almost no money on prom decorations since almost all of it was made from discarded cardboard, hangers, and wall paper. I wish I could share pictures and videos of the students. Everyone had a great time!

Luau Themed Sign Post Decoration

 I love to use sign posts as decorations. I had street signs (Broadway, Fifth Ave., etc.) for a New York themed prom, and a sign post using curved arrows (This way, That way, etc.) for an Alice in Wonderland prom. This year's luau theme, called for a colorful signs. Cardboard can look like weathered wood if it is painted with pastel colors that are dry brushed to let some of the cardboard show through.

I point to the food with a luau arrow and the dance floor with the beach backdrop with another. The surf photo booth also gets an arrow. Everything else is made up. It's not a bad idea to make the signs a little extra long so they can be cut down afterwards to center and corners cut to make arrows go the directions you want after you figure that part out.

If is a more generic themed beach party, you can name beaches all over the world and write the miles from your venue to that city. I put a piece of bamboo in a painted #10 can filled with rocks to stand it up, and tacked each sign on the bamboo with hot glue. The entire project was done in less than an hour. Fingers crossed that it help create a luau vibe.

Large DYI Palm Tree Decorations

 

A new playground area at our school meant lots of cardboard tubes that the poles came in were lying in the ground. I knew when I saw them that our prom theme this year was going to be a Luau. Cardboard tubes from carpet rolls are also great for life DYI palm trees.

In order to get the "trunks" to stand on their own, I collected#10 cans and filled each half way with Quickcrete concrete and water. The tubes needed to be stuck in immediately (while the cement is still wet) and pushed down to the bottom. Paper packing tape can be used to wrap the can and the parts of tube with stickers or other un-trunk like areas.

Then, I folded green bulletin board paper to create a line of symmetry and cut out half a leaf on the non-folded side. I cut slits for the parts of the palm leaf.

My students helped straighten almost 100 metal hangers to use as stiff wire. I used green masking tape to attach the wire to the center of the leaf before curving it slightly.

I used a box cutter to make five slits at the top of the cardboard tube. A few inches was deep enough, The cardboard was so thick that just sliding the part of the wire without a leaf taped to it was enough to hold it in place. 1/3 to 1/2 of the hanger was down in the tube. Paper maché coconuts on ropes were added to some trees by sliding the rope into the slits as well. Hot glue or tape could work on the inside if the tension isn't enough to hold the top of the tree in place.

My students and I made 18 trees for about $18 worth of cement and tape. All the other supplies were donated cans, cardboard tubes, and hangers that were going to be thrown away, and bulletin board paper. I hope everyone gets the beach vibe the minute the walk into the room at prom. And if the one night doesn't seem worth the effort, I take comfort that these trees will also be used for the end of year, faculty party, and a child's jungle birthday after that.

Cardboard Flamingo Decoration

The end of the school year brings with it a flood of activities. I was looking forward to the spring art show and concert at the end of March. The next day I was going to chaperone on the New York City trip, where we had front row tickets for a couple broadway shows, a guided tour of the MoMA. This week, I was going to take a group of students to see Hamilton in Atlanta. There was the senior trip to Tennessee, water play day for the elementary students, Special Olympics, the school talent show, awards ceremony, graduation, and of course prom, which would have been today. If you follow this blog, you know that I've been trying to get prom decorations together since January. But the school closing which was supposed to go through April 6th, was pushed back to April 13th, and now we won't be back until August. So it turns out there'll be no need for the cardboard flamingo I made from home for this year's Alice in Wonderland Prom.


To make it, I used the front and back of a large box to cut out the flamingo shape with a box cutter. Then I used another box to cut strips (maybe 3" wide) perpendicular to the corrugations. I rolled the strips to make them flexible enough to hot glue to the edge of side. Then I glued wooden dowels to the inside, along with a cardboard strips to make a little box to contain the tops of the dowels so they wouldn't slide all over the inside. I glued the second flamingo shape on top, used masking tape to smooth out the attached corners and painted it all pink. Viola! I had planned on cementing the bottoms of the dowels into a large can and covering the outside with long strips of grass, but the dowels can also be placed in the ground to stand; add a few leis to make it a perfect backdrop for a backyard luau. I may not need this for another year, but then again, you never know if that first faculty meeting back requires everyone to bring large bird shaped decorations. It's better to be prepared.

Beach Party and Decorations to Die For

Every time Kim, our school media center specialist, asks me, "Do you want this empty laminator tube?" I hear the words, "Do you want a palm tree trunk?"  I was glad that I had accepted and saved those large tubes when I got the call to decorate a faculty party at the last minute. "Something summery" was the suggestion, so I went with beach theme on a shoe string budget. It is easy to borrow beach towels to cover all the book shelves, bring in a beach umbrella, and buy some sand buckets from the dollar store to and place foam sunglasses, crabs, flamingos, suns and surfboard, made from construction paper or craft foam and glued to dowels. A shark's mouth photo op was made from a discarded trip-fold board, and beach balls were placed around the room. Bulletin board paper cut into palm leaves were given structure by attaching aluminum wire to the bottom with green masking tape. Then the palm trees were placed into buckets or cans with sand or rocks around to hold it up.

 Two days later, I was invited to an Edgar Allen Poe themed murder mystery. I painted a raven for the occasion and each guest posed with it was they entered the dinner party.  The hosts had ravens and sculls in each room, black table cloths. With everyone's costume and a menu that included "crow pie" and "funeral potatoes" it was easy to stay in character and the evening was a lot of fun! Whether the party theme is a luau or murder, there are colors, costumes and little touches that can make the mood complete.