It’s always nice to get a card on your birthday, but a mini-party package also brings a lot of cheer. Flow’s editor – and designer at zuuz.nl – Ellen Nij Bijvank has made this box with confetti, bunting, a paper windmill and cake decorations, which can be sent as it’s small enough to fit through the letterbox! And the best part? You can easily make it yourself, using the paper from the Flow Book for Paper Lovers.
Two other nice options are a Get Well Soon box and a floral version.
What you’ll need:
- Flow Book for Paper Lovers (available in our web shop)
- Large matchboxes (you can also buy similar plain boxes from hobby / craft stores)
- Scissors
- Double-sided sticky tape
- Pliers
Items needed specifically for the “Party in a Box”:
- Hole punchers in a variety of sizes
- String
- Cocktail sticks
- Paper straw
- Colored ball-head sewing pin
- Balloon
- Cake candle
Tear out a selection of colored (double-sided) pages from the Flow Book for Paper Lovers. Use the hole punchers to create mini-confetti in different shapes and sizes. Don’t throw any surplus scraps of paper away: they can always be used to make more confetti!
Take the (match)box, and cover both the inner and outer parts with a nice piece of paper. Measure how wide the box is, and cut a strip of paper the same width. You can also write or draw something nice on it. Wrap the strip around the outer part, and stick it down with the double-sided tape. Do the same for the inner section.
Take the Flow Book for Paper Lovers, and tear out the page with the round confetti stickers. Cut yourself a long piece of string, and place a sticker about 20 cm from the end. Attach a second confetti sticker to the back of the first one. Repeat along the string.
Use the plain flags page in the book to create your second bunting. Cut the diamond silhouettes out and cut yourself another long piece of string. Fold the flag forms over the string and stick the front and back together with a piece of double-sided tape. If you fold the shapes in half, you’ll have the traditional triangular flags. If you paste them as shown in the picture – at a slight angle – you’ll end up with a different style, with two points.
For the (cup)cake flags, you can use the patterned flags page. Cut a few of the silhouettes out and fold them in half. Attach them onto the cocktail sticks, using the double-sided tape.
Cut a square of paper, preferably slightly smaller than the width of your box (here, my square is 5 x 5cm / 2 x 2in). Fold the paper diagonally in half, twice. Cut a slit in each corner (for my square, I cut slits of 2.5cm /1in long). Use the pin to prick a hole in the center and the four corners of the square (marked with black in the picture). Put the pin through the first corner and thread each corner, one by one, onto the pin. Then put the pin point through the center of the paper to create a paper windmill. Prick the mill onto a paper straw, and bend the tip of the pin down with a pair of pliers.
Fill the box with a layer of confetti and put the mini-buntings, cake flags and paper windmill in. Add a balloon, the cake candle and a card, and your Party in a Box is ready to go!
You can make lots of other great options, using the boxes and paper from the Flow Book for Paper Lovers. For example:
Variation 1: The Flower Box. Cover the box with floral paper. Replace the confetti stickers with flower stickers to make a flower garland, as described above.
For floral bunting, cut squares of 5 x 5 cm (2 x 2in). Fold each square in half and half again. Draw the outline of a double petal (as shown on the pink piece of paper), and cut this out. Open the paper. For a 3D effect, cut out a single petal, overlap the two outer sides, and stick them together with some double-sided tape. You can vary the size of your flowers by using different-sized squares, and you can also combine two sizes to create layered blooms. Fill the box with confetti, the bunting and some paper flowers.
Variation 2: Get Well Soon Box. Cover the box with the fruit-patterned paper and fill it with a layer of confetti made from the same paper. Replace the confetti stickers with the fruit stickers to make a “healthy” streamer! Fill the box with a mini-booklet (see below) and perhaps even some tea, handkerchiefs and whatever else you can think of.
To make a mini-booklet, all you need to do is:
- Take one sheet of paper from the Flow Book for Paper Lovers. Fold it in half lengthwise from side to side, and then open it out.
- Next, fold the paper in half width-wise, from top to bottom, and open it out. Then, fold the page into quarters by taking the outer edges (top and bottom), and folding them into the center crease. Open the page out.
- Fold the paper again in half width-wise and cut along the center crease as shown via the black line in the photo.
- Take the paper by both sides of the cut line and pull the paper open to create a cross.
- Fold the four sides into a booklet. Stick a sticker on the front. Add a piece of masking tape along the spine for an extra touch
Enjoy!
The Flow Book for Paper Lovers is available via our web shop.
Photos and instructions: Ellen Nij Bijvank from zuuz.nl
