The ultimate party season is fast approaching so surely there is not a more perfect time to check out a book solely focused on creating beautifully themed parties. Decorate for a Party by Holly Becker of the fab Decor8, design and lifestyle blog and Leslie Shewring of the charming blog A Creative Mint provides an abundance of ‘stylish and simple ideas for meaningful gatherings.’

With such brilliant creative minds behind the book you can find the sort of inspiration and DIY suggestions you would expect. And you know we are a sucker for a good DIY project especially if it involves re-using or recycling items that you already have around the house. With this in mind we pawed over the lovely pages and selected a simple DIY wedding menu wall hanging to make to find out just how easy the suggestions are for you.

So check out our version of their DIY wedding menu wall hanging followed by our review of the book.

DIY Wedding Menu Wall Hanging

Now we couldn’t just review a DIY book without testing out an idea and giving it a go to see how simple they really are. With a friends winter wedding fast approaching, I selected an idea that I felt would work with the look and theme she is going for – a DIY wedding menu wall hanging.

This handwritten DIY wedding menu wall hanging immediately caught my eye as I thought how simple yet effective it looked. It’s an idea that would be perfect for a wedding not just for displaying the wedding breakfast options for your guests but for any other type of signage including order of the day, table plans, displaying quotes the list goes on.

Materials needed:

• Two sticks of reasonable thickness and length longer than the paper
• Brown kraft paper
• Jute string ( or string of your choice)
• Black pen
• Foliage and flowers of choice
• Glue gun

Time to make: 45 minutes (does not include time taken to source materials).

Method:

1. Unroll Brown kraft paper onto a large flat surface. (I found the inside of the roll had a less of a shine to it than the outside)
2. Place first stick on top of paper and roll the paper around it a few times using glue gun to attach stick to paper.
3. Sketch out menu wording with pencil, once you are happy with layout go over in the black pen. If you are confident skip the pencil part.
4. Allow enough paper at bottom to roll the second stick and cut the paper.
5. Repeat step 2 with the second stick.
6. Get your string and tie around the top stick at both ends where the paper edge meets the stick at the length you want the menu to hang
7. Gather bits of your foliage an/or flowers bind bits together and tie to the top of the menu. I liked mine looking lose with bits hanging down.
8. Hang menu and you are finished! Simple!

I love the way that this little DIY project turned out and hopefully my friend will love it just as much on her wedding day. I have to say that I found this DIY wedding menu wall hanging incredibly easy and cost very little. The only things I had to source were the sticks and the foliage, some of which were dried from old bouquets I’d received. I picked a project that didn’t have a thorough step by step broken down but still found the instructions easy to follow. As you can see I don’t think what I created is too dissimilar to the books version.

If the other projects prove as simple as this one I look forward to trying out the ones I currently have bookmarked including a eucalyptus wall hanging, printed napkins and a woodland cake topper.

Our book review of Decorate for a Party

Let me start by saying this book isn’t a wedding planning book, more a provider of inspiration for lovely touches to add personality to your day and help with the creative side of the planning process without breaking the bank. Think a simplified version of Pinterest boards for different themes, with suggestions and instructions on how to add and create those personal little details. Pinterest boards can be amazing for understanding the look you want for your big day, but achieving it can be a different matter.

The book initially starts with some first thoughts that can be applied to any party but I think are a good start on your wedding planning journey and includes suggestions such as; Choosing a theme, Setting the scene and Creating an atmosphere. All of which can seem obvious but when planning something on such an important level as your wedding it is great to have a good starting point and try and keep things simple.

Selecting a wedding theme

The book then follows by providing 10 different party ‘themes’, and when I say the word themes I don’t mean ‘Alice in Wonderland’ or ‘Pink and sea foam green’, but includes titles such as Gather & Make, Happy and Bright, and Forest and Family.

Within each of these themes they have provided beautiful imagery of set ups, tablescapes and inspiration with simple instructions on how you can create much of it. There are so many things I am dying to replicate and I definitely think you can pull different ideas from each theme to produce something unique for your wedding as well. They provide one detailed how-to and the rest have brief descriptions per theme, so don’t expect a book full of step-by-step instructions. There is enough however that I think even a beginner crafter could muster up most of the beautiful creations.

A great Christmas gift for a bride-to-be

To conclude if you’re looking for a great Christmas gift idea for a crafty bride-to-be I think this book would be perfect. Not only would it provide lovely inspiration for their big day but a great resource to go back to time and time again for parties and house decor ideas after the wedding.

If you are interested in this book for yourself to help with planning I would say ‘do’ buy this book if you are looking to craft lots of your own wedding and want some tangible inspiration and how-to’s.  ‘Don’t’ buy this book if craft maybe isn’t your thing and you’re already very set on how you would like your day to look. As the book is based on ten different themes it may not have anything that fits with what you want to achieve.

Final thoughts on Decorate for a Party

Overall it is a really lovely, thought out book, with an abundance of crafty personal details presented in a beautiful and simple way. Although not a wedding planning book, the ideas within the different themes could easily be adapted to suit your day in the way that you wish to create it.

Decorate for a Party by Holly Becker and Leslie Shewring is published by Jacqui Small (£20). You can find more details of the book and where to buy it here.

For more ideas check out all the inspiration we’ve shared for autumn weddings, winter weddings, and incorporating apples into your wedding decor. You can also read our previous book reviews.

All images and opinions expressed here are our own, but many thanks to Jacqui Small for sending us a free copy of the book to review.