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Invite: Found the image of colorful rolls of duct tape online and crafted my invitation around that. Invited guests to "stick" around for a night of fun, and the evening really did turn out to be a lot of fun catching up with my best girl friends.
One fun aspect of the party, was that I asked guest to arrive with an accessory made out of duct tape. We had hair bows and flowers, and many guests had earrings or bracelets. There are a ton of tutorials online for all kinds of things from easy to more time consuming. It think it only took me about 5 minutes to make my braided bracelet.
Decorations: Of course the decorations were either made with duct tape or were duct tape rolls. For the table, I took a plastic light blue tablecloth I already owned added stipes of colorful duct tape down the middle that I purchased from Amazon.
For the centerpiece, I made roses out of duct tape. I used plastic straws as stems that I wrapped with green duct tape, but I would suggest using pencils instead. Maybe because I used bendy straws, but the roses were not as strong as I think I would have liked. I followed a tutorial for making these on Pinterest. I rounded the edges of mine. Some tutorials don't have you do that as it was an extra step, but I think it made them look more like real roses. I added duct tape around the vase, and placed a couple rolls of duct tape leaning up against the vase as well.
I also made bowls out of rolls of duct tape to hold small snacks. To make the bowl, I cut a piece of duct tape that fit across the roles diameter. Then I flipped the roll over and placed a cupcake liner inside the roll. The duct tape held it in place and the cupcake liner helped the snacks stay inside.
I served light snacks: goldfish, M&Ms, chex mix, Reeces Pieces, chocolate covered pretzels, and chocolate covered almonds. If you stack the rolls, make sure some of the heavier snacks are not the bottom.
For place cards, I printed the guests names on card stock and then decorated each edge of the folded place card with patterned duct tape I already owned. I tried to think of creative duct tape related slogans to put before each guest's name. Some examples were: Duct Tape Diva (name), Sticky Situation Solver (name), Adhesive Admirer (name), Stick Together Champion (name), Wrap Star (name).
I used another patterned duct tape for napkin rings. I cut toilet paper rolls the height of the duct tape and then wrapped it with the duct tape so the napkin could slide out easily and not be ruined.
For wine charms, I used various colors of duct tape to make flags. Simply wrapped the tape around the stem, lined up the edges and stuck them together. and then cut a wedge at the end.
I designed my wine labels on Photoshop to match the theme as well. For the white wine, I created the saying, "Stick with Wine: The Duct Tape of Life" and photoshopped the two of the rolls of duct tape from my party invitation around the stem of a white wine glass. The background behind the middle image was standard grey duct tape with added photoshop details. For the red wine, I found the saying online, "Wine is like duct tape, it fixes everything" and created a label around that slogan.
Above the beverage/appetizer table, I also make a simple banner with duct tape and string. Took me no time at all to make. For my HOME sign, I replaced the O with two rolls of duct tape.
Menu: As usual, I tried to incorporate the party theme into my menu as well. We started with chips and salsa which I called an Adhesive Appetizer. I served the salsa in a ramekin that fit in the center of a large roll of duct tape.
For the main dish, I served Wrap & Roll Burritos. Guests put what fixings inside their burrito they wanted, wrapped and rolled them up, and then I grilled them to get the outsides crispy. I served: ground beef, cheese, refried beans, black beans, tomatoes, lettuce, sour cream, olives, and guacamole. I made flags like the wine charms on toothpicks for guests to use to mark their burrito. That way they didn't get mixed up when I was grilling them.
With the burritos, I made Sticky Cilantro Lime Rice. I've made this for multiple dinners and it is always a crowd favorite.
I went easy with the dessert and purchased a Cinnabon Cinna Ring which is a ring of pastry topped with Cinnabon's famous cream cheese frosting. I designed a label "Duct Tape Dessert" for the middle to make it look similar to a roll of duct tape. I usually hand make all aspects of the meal, but it was nice this time to just have a dessert already done as it just needed a quick heating up.
Activity/Craft: With May being the month of Memorial Day, I decided to have a craft that guests could make while we chatted and waited for everyone to arrive.
We made patriotic wreaths out of duct tape. I bought the red, white, silver, and blue duct tape at the Dollar Tree. The flag duct tape I purchased from Walmart, and the 12" foam rings I purchased from Joann's. I found the idea for this at DIY Candy. Duct tape is so sticky, this wreath is definitely a challenge and you have to be okay with wrinkles, but when it's finished, it is really cool looking.
Favor: As a parting gift, I used a raisin box that I covered in colorful duct tape. I emptied out the raisins and cleaned the inside of the box to get rid of the raisin smell, and then I filled the box with M&Ms. Why a raisin box you ask? No reason other than I wanted that size of box & I didn't want to spend a ton of money and raisin boxes are cheap. I used the owl duct tape from the napkin rings and a solid yellow duct tape for one pattern. The other was the patterned duct tape from the place cards with a solid orange duct tape. I painted a small clothespin for the top and made a tag that read: "Thanks for being like Duct Tape - Strong & Reliable."
This was a fun theme to work with, and if you are crafty, it is pretty easy to pull off. Hope you enjoyed this post and try a duct tape party of your own with some of these ideas!
