Sunday, August 25, 2013

DIY Banana Chandelier - African Party Decoration


It is beautiful Sunday evening and for that reason I'm going to show you today DIY banana chandelier. You read right. 

Truly very easy DIY. You can also eat - well almost all - your chandelier and you can always build it again. You can try different fruits. Reason why I used bananas was because we had African Party and bananas don't get spoiled when you hang them to be a decoration. No waste - I tried to think. Here it is! What do you think?
 

african party photo by www.kreettajarvenpaa.com  blog:www.gretchengretchen.com

I think you can see quite clearly how I have done it. 

You only need: 
An old lamp shade, cut a way the old fabric or paper that is on it. String - enough strong. Fruits, decide how many. Strong metal wire to hang it up. I used green garden metal wire. You can decorate it more or you can make it with selection of fruits. You can always add more threads, ribbons, paint the lamp shade or other decoration. There are so many ways to do it. I wanted to do very simple and funny one.

Things to remember. Fruits are quite heavy when there are lot of them. Remember also do the balancing right with your chandelier. I bought quite same sized bananas. People was quite amazed with this little creature. Great wow party thing! 


African party photo by Kreetta Järvenpää blog: www.gretchengretchen.com
 
In a good party there have to be a treasure hunt for children and of course adults could also take a part. Do you know Finnish board game called African Star, The Star of Africa or Diamond Hunt? It has many names in English but in Finland it is only called Afrikan Tähti. It is a huge classic in our country and I hope you have seen it or maybe even played it. I have always liked Afrikan Tähti so it was wonderful I could make outdoor game of it. 

Afrikan Tähti photo by Kreetta Järvenpää blog: www.gretchengretchen.com

First I made a map. Here comes another DIY! I just used old wooden board that I have painted with chalk board paint. Then I drew a map of Africa. I also had plastic fruits as a decoration as I used those also in my head piece.

African party photo by Kreetta Järvenpää blog: www.gretchengretchen.com

I also painted paper bags that had pictures like Afrikan Tähti tokens that you can find from the cities when you are trying to find African Star. There are horseshoes, robber, gemstones and of course African star - first bag from the upper left. A lot of glitter! ...and some nice surprises in the bags.

african party photo by www.kreettajarvenpaa.com  blog:www.gretchengretchen.com

These we hid on the yard. It was so fun when kids started to hunt treasures and couple of adults also. The little boy who found the Afrikan Tähti had been so full of joy and excitement. I didn't see him but I can imagine.

Following pics tells a little bit more about our party. We were lucky to have a warm and beautiful summer evening.

african party photo by www.kreettajarvenpaa.com  blog:www.gretchengretchen.com


african party photo by www.kreettajarvenpaa.com  blog:www.gretchengretchen.com

We made fried bananans and meat with jollof rice. Delicious.


african party photo by www.kreettajarvenpaa.com  blog:www.gretchengretchen.com


We had also a band playing in our party. Sounds so cool. The band is us. The people who lives in our house. 4 families - how cool is that?! Not too serious. Main point of the band is that everybody is having fun!

xo
Kreetta

11 comments:

  1. Oh my goodness, this looks amazing! You are so creative!
    xE

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  2. Thank you Eloise! It's fun also :)

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  3. Great - i'm loving every part of it, from the banana chandelier to the game and finally the band of neighbours. Looks like big fun. Was there a special reason for the party and the africa-theme or was it just for the fun of it?

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  4. Hi Lena! We have this kind of big party every second year. And every second a small one - only the people in our house. We have always a theme when we have a party...it's more fun!Food has important role in our party like this year we made African food.

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  5. Oh my god, did no one notice it's a little racist to hang bananas at an African-themed party????

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  6. Also that looks ridiculous and ugly as hell

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  7. Thank you for your honest opinion.

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  8. This looks absolutely amazing! This is the first banana chandelier I've ever seen and it's AWESOME! So cool to see such a well done theme party and it sounds like you had a wonderful time! Thanks for sharing Kreetta!

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  9. Hello Mette! Yes, we wanted to make a cosy and enjoyable party. Thank you!

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  10. Kreetta,
    I always find your photos beautiful and your creativity inspiring! And I saw the photo of you dressed up for the party, you looked beautiful! xo,
    Lauren

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  11. Hi Lauren! Great to see you here. Thank you for your kind words :)It's lovely to hear I can be inspiring.

    ReplyDelete

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