If you follow me on Instagram, you know I’m working on a budget-friendly neon party right now. I always love working with a tight budget because it pushes my creativity. This week, I’ll be teaching you how to make these projects yourself. First up is a $22 neon party duck tape backdrop. I made this with neon colors, but you could choose any colors that work for your party.
Let’s start with a sketch of the dessert table. This focuses just on the decoration of the table. You can see the backdrop indicated with the three panels and the the note “neon duct tape.” (I can’t ever figure out if it’s “duck” or “duct” tape.) We are making that backdrop.
neon party duck tape backdrop Supplies
- Duck tape (I used five neon rolls; these are $3.50 each.)
- 3 foam boards (20″ x 30″; these are about $1.50 each.)
- Retractable razor knife (a box cutter)
This is what the back of the foam board looks like. You can find it in the school supplies section of WalMart.
neon party duck tape backdrop Instructions
1 – Decide on the order of your tape colors. I choose yellow, pink, green, orange, blue to maximize contrast between the colors.
2 – You’re going to make three boards, each with the tape running in a different direction. One going vertically, one going diagonally, and one going horizontally. The technique is the same for each board.
3 – Start at the edge of the foam board and use that as a guide to lay your tape down straight.
If you are making the diagonal board, start at one corner. Just make sure to have the same amount of tape on either side of the corner.
4 – Just keep using the prior line of tape to keep the next line straight. I pulled out maybe 18 inches of tape, smoothed it down, pulled out some more, smoothed it down, etc.
5 – At each end of the board, leave about 1″ of tape. When you cut the tape, do not use scissors. The sticky side of the tape will gum up your scissors. Instead, use a retractable razor knife. Just handle it very carefully. My husband says to tell you that a nurse once told him these knives are the number one cause of hand injuries seen in ERs. You’ve been warned.
All you do is slice the non-sticky side of the tape. You don’t have to slice all the way through because the tape will pull apart easily where you have scored it.
6 – Then you just fold the tape over the side of the board, like this.
And here’s what your finished boards look like. Once we have the party, I’ll share the finished dessert table with you. If try this technique, I’d love to see your photos.
I’m wondering how you get the boards to stand up on your table
Hi April. I just leaned them back against the window at a slight angle. They stayed up with no problem. You could brace them with the back of your cake stand or apothecary jars, too. Thanks for reading!
Such a fun backdrop which makes a huge impact! Thanks for sharing:)
Hi Debbie – Thanks for reading!
Hi,
May I ask how did you make the decoration in the front of the table. I will be attempting to make this to use as a back drop.