Did you miss yesterday’s tips for planning a Classroom Valentine’s Party? I used a tissue fan backdrop, which is a great choice for any party: inexpensive, quick to set up. Tissue fans are especially easy to transport if you have an away from home party. They come in a rainbow variety of colors and patterns, so you can always find something that will work for your event.

But, if you haven’t worked with tissue fans before, I’m going to show you just how easy they are.

ASSEMBLE THE FANS

Tissue fans come pre-creased, so all you have to do is open and fan them out. The fan will either have a sticker or plain cardboard center.

For a plain cardboard style, use double-sided tape on one side of the cardboard, then press it to the other side. If you use removeable double-sided tape, it’s strong enough, and you’ll be able to peel off the tape and re-use your fan another time.

For a sticker style fan, just peel back the sticker cover, and press the two sides together.

DECIDE ON THE Fan ARRANGEMENT

To create a visually pleasing arrangement, just experiment. And when you’re unsure of yourself, go for symmetry.

• If you break down my arrangement by shape, it’s five on the bottom, and three on top, with the center fan positioned highest, creating a triangle.
• If you look at the fans by color (left to right) it goes: red, white, red, white, red on the bottom and then all red on the top.
• And, you’ll see symmetry in the patterns, as well. It may be hard to see, but the two center red fans actually have little red hearts.

IGNORE THE STRING LOOP OR CUT IT OFF

Tissue fans come with a white string loop. You don’t need this, so hide it or cut it off. Whenever I suspend fans, I replace the white string with fishing line; it’s much less distracting.

But in our case, we’re hanging the fans on a wall, so you don’t need the white string loop at all. I decided to hide the string, which I did by hanging the upper fans so the string hung down. Then, I layered the bottom fans over the string. For the center fan, I positioned the string in the fan’s upper right “corner” so it’s hidden by the red fan to the right.

For the bottom fans, I used the cardboard to prop the fans into position, made sure the cardboard pointed in toward the center of the arrangement, and tucked away the strings.

HANG YOUR FANS

I hung my fans in two ways. The patterned fans are made from cardstock instead of tissue, which makes them sturdier. For the patterned fans, I used a penny-sized amount of poster tack. Just pinch off a bit of poster tack, roll it in a ball to soften and warm it, then squish it into a flat circle.

Press the poster tack to the back of your fan, and then press the fan to your wall. (And can I just say for the record that this wall doesn’t photograph well, but I swear the color is not baby poo brown?)

The poster tack won’t adhere well to the tissue fans because they don’t have as much body. So for the tissue fans, I used 3M Command Strips. Follow the package directions, and then position the hook through a hole in the tissue fan.

Be careful when removing the Command Strips. If you do it properly, your wall will be fine; if not, you’ll tear it up. (I’ve used Command Strips without a problem until this party. Ahem. Don’t look behind the picture now hanging above our mantle. At this moment, I’m really glad my husband doesn’t read my blog. Spackle and paint, here I come.)

After your party, just reverse the hanging process (slowly and carefully). Refold your fans and store them in a shoebox size plastic tub until next time.