Mermaid Party Backdrop

My love of mermaids runs deep and that has not changed since I was five, maybe younger. Of course as a mom I introduced my daughter to The Little Mermaid. I watched it a million times when I was a kid and now I watch it a million times with my daughter. Does life get any better than that?! Seriously it brings me so much joy to see her get as excited about the same movie I loved as a kid. Now I have to be the sea witch instead of Ariel but still I love it! Luckily when I’m planning parties I get to act like a kid and use my imagination. Adults do not get to do this enough. I made this beautiful mermaid party backdrop for a candy table. It could also work for a photo backdrop or wall decoration. The materials are cheap but it is a bit time consuming to make. Definitely worth the effort on this one! You could also make this fan backdrop for different themes with different colors. I think it is perfect for a mermaid, under the sea or beach theme since the fans resemble shells.

What you need:

blue tissue paper, 4 sheets

white foam board

light blue, green and purple paper (I used cardstock paper)

ribbon (I used white and gold)

scissors

stapler

tape

hot glue and hot glue gun

 

Take a piece of paper and fold an inch piece up from the bottom. Flip the paper upwards and fold another inch piece down. Repeat this with the rest of the paper until it makes an accordion piece.

 

For each fan you need two pieces of paper. Staple the pieces of paper together on the end 1 inch strip. Squeeze it together two inches up from the bottom and tie a ribbon around them. I wrapped the ribbon around one to get the right length, then cut out all of the ribbon. Spread out the fan as much as possible. I made 15 large fans and 5 small fans. For the small fans just cut the paper in half lengthwise and use both the strips for one fan.

 

Take 4 pieces of tissue paper and crumple them up. Take hot glue and spread it over a quarter corner of the foam board. Glue down one piece of the crinkled tissue paper spread out. Make sure to leave a small piece of the tissue paper hanging over the edge to wrap around the back. With four pieces they will overlap. Repeat with the other three corners. Glue underneath all of the edges of tissue paper to make sure it stays down. You can use tape if you prefer.

Tape or glue down the extra tissue paper in the back. It looks real attractive in the back but luckily no one will see this side.

Line the fans up starting at the top. This part is not an exact science but definitely lay them out before you glue them down in case you don’t like how it looks and need to rearrange. I put the corner pieces at a slight angle a little bit hanging off the edge. Then I put one slightly lower next to it then one higher one lower and another corner slightly over the edge. I put the two in the middle slightly over the edge on the sides. Then one upright in the middle. I repeated the pattern on the top upside down. Once they are in a pattern you like glue them down with hot glue. Press firmly to make sure they stay in place. Then glue the smaller fans on top to cover any large gaps. I didn’t use an exact pattern with these but you could have them evenly placed for consistency.

I also added small gold circles to the corner pieces like a shiny pearl. Definitely not necessary. I seriously love how this turned out! I am really getting into using paper more for decorations it really can do some amazing things.

You are also going to need some mermaid party favors, check out how to make these cute favors with free printable tags: https://simplecraftyfun.com/2015/08/mermaid-party-favors-with-free-printable-tags/