Easy Beachball Garland and Placecards by My Insanity

This is the last post fun summer series  30 days of fun crafts to keep kids active and entertained this summer! You won’t want to miss a day of these fun crafts for kids from some amazing bloggers! Please be sure to pay them a visit!

Welcome Kendra from My Insanity!

Hello Skip to My Lou Skippers! (Is that cheesy?) I’m Kendra and my blog is called My Insanity, because I am crazy–like most of my fellow crafty creative bloggers. We spend lots of time and energy on details that others never would worry about. But don’t worry, I don’t suffer from My Insanity. I enjoy every minute of it. I hope you will come and check out some of my craziness. I blog about parties, home decor, crafts, and much more!

I’m sharing a simple party craft with you today for the Summer Camp Craft series. In our neck of the woods, summer vacation is nearly over and we are getting ready to head back to school. That is always a little bittersweet, so why not say farewell to summer with a little pool party or beach party. This garland will set the perfect tone. It would also look really cute accenting beach ball decor on your mantle. And it is really easy to make, so let’s get started:

1- Gather your Materials: You will need colorful paper. Red, white, blue, and yellow, if you want to go traditional. We went a little more colorful with ours. Some red striped bakers twine (or other string), glue or double sided tape, and a circle punch. It doesn’t really matter what size you use. The larger the punch, the larger your beachballs will be.

2- Start punching circles! (This could take a little while depending on how long you want your garland to be. We used 5 circles to form each ball. I would recommend using between 4-6.

3- Punch and separate circles of every color.

4- Fold each circle in half. The more precise you are about your folds, the neater the balls will turn out.

5- If your paper is not the same color on both sides, make sure and fold your circle so that the color you want is on the inside of the fold. The outsides won’t show.

6- Begin gluing halves of circles together.

7- Keep gluing just the one side, until you have used each of the circles for the ball. You will complete the ball by gluing the unattached sides together and forming a ball.

8- You might want to do step #7 after you have inserted the twine in the middle of the ball. Or you can string the twine through the completed balls later, but the center might be a bit tight.

And that is basically all there is to it. Just keep adding your beach balls to the garland, until you have enough to fill your garland with the spacing you desire.

And if you are crazy like me, you can take it a step further and host a fun pool party playdate, with some friends and goodies.

Because there is another great use for your mini beachballs! They can also be glued to paper to make place cards or food labels at a Summer Fun party. For our little playdate, we served strawberry lemonade, popsicles, Sea Creature crackers, Watermelon BALLS and gum balls which I labeled as “beachballs!”

Doesn’t that look like a fun way to say farewell to summer?

If you like this idea, check out the Easter egg garland I made using the same technique. And the pumpkin place cards I made one Thanksgiving several years ago. If you are in the mood for more summer celebrations, I just posted about a mermaid-themed Under the Sea birthday you might want to check out!

Thanks Cindy for letting me share a little of My Insanity with your readers!