A few weeks ago, Southie organized and sponsored its annual Street festival spectacular, complete with games, food, student performances and local cover bands. The day was filled with laughter, good old-fashioned neighborhood fun and a little touch of local politics. With our city council position up for grabs in the coming weeks, all the candidates were actively participating and meeting/greeting with their neighbors.
My favorite candidate Corey Dinopoulus was looking to add some family friendly flair to his street festival booth and me being a huge fan of Corey’s, all things Southie street festival and styling children’s activities…I was more than happy to jump in to assist!
Corey and I brainstormed themes and quickly came to the conclusion that we wanted to host a “sports themed” booth. Corey is a big fan of the New England Patriots so that quickly became our inspiration when it came to our colors, decor and craft activity. The Pats’ team colors (red & blue) also happened to perfectly compliment Corey’s campaign materials…BONUS!
We grabbed tailgate inspired decor from Amazon and Party City, including adorable mini stress ball footballs, stickers and blue pennant banners to display in the tent. For the rest of the details, I rated the celebRAEtions supply closet for vases, stickers, baskets, picture frames and maybe even Kristian’s actual football for a small authentic touch.
Corey has fantastic ideas when it comes to improving our local community services, schools and transportation challenges, so it was imperative we incorporate parts of his campaign message into the booth experience. We hung his campaign sign across the entire back side of the tent, printed/framed photos of him out on the campaign trail, and displayed ample printed materials with Corey’s platform and web address so visitors could learn more. We made use of all my glass vases, filling them with Corey buttons and stickers for guests to wear.
One of my fav booth detail was a last minute display I designed at the front of the booth that strategically displayed our booth’s kid friendly craft – DIY pennant flags! The flags were a huge hit with all the children (young and old) at the festival, as families had a blast decorating them together at Corey’s booth and then parading them down Broadway.
In hopes of sharing and inspiring crafting with your little ones. Here is short and concise step by step on how to make these pennants.
Here is what you will need to create a similar craft at home (all available at most craft stores)
- Sheets of colored scrapbook or craft paper (We used 8.5 x 11 scrapbook paper.)
- Glue gun or tape
- Scissors
- Wooden sticks
- Stickers, Crayons and/or Markers
We pre-assembled the pennant banners to keep it simple for parents and kids the day of the festival. To do so, first you cut out triangles from the scrapbook paper (you can create your own template with a ruler and/or download free templates like the one below from Pinterest).
Next step, secure the wooden stick by folding the top of the triangle over the entire upper section of the stick and securing with glue. We found that it was helpful to glue the stick to the paper pennant and then secure it with tape on the outside fold for extra support.
Now it is time to decorate the pennants with stickers, glitter and any other fun craft supplies you have at home.
The day was festive, fun and a wonderful opportunity to support our favorite local candidate.
With Celebration, Pennants & a little local politics,
Rae
Celebrate Every Day 