Recycled Runway Fashion Birthday Party

Recycled Runway; isn't that a clever phrase? I wish I'd created it, but I didn't. Last month my daughter, went to a Girl Scout lock-in (in a mall) and one of the highlights from the night was the recycled runway. 

The girls used miscellaneous materials to create fashionable looks, kind of like the unconventional challenge on Project Runway. I can't even tell you how great a response it got with all the girls; many of them spent over an hour working on their dress and it was so much fun helping them! 

You know I love creative projects like this, so, we decided to combine the Recycled Runway with concepts from Project Runway to create a fashion themed party for Es's upcoming birthday.

Here's all the details to host your own 

Recycled Runway Fashion Party! 

INVITATIONS

Somewhere, somehow, you gotta go with a dress! Of course I'm going to recommend using origami dresses to decorate party postcards; we've already established they're my thing. 

DECOR

 I really wanted to dedicate every bit of table space to the creative process, so, instead of traditional decorations I used crafting ribbons/strings/trim/etc., a piece of felt (almost the size of poster board), and a hot glue gun, to create a Recycled Runway sign. 

If you're wanting to dress things up more than a sign I would recommend putting supplies the kids will be using like scissors, tapes, glues, etc. in decorative containers-if they've been DIYed all the better! 

MOOD/SUPPLY STATION

 I am a crafter, therefore I have a closet filled to the brim with supplies I just had to buy or couldn't throw away. I waded through it all and found scraps of fabric, tapes, pipe cleaners, straws, trims, ribbons, etc. and piled them up to create our version of MOOD. 

If you don't have this crazy mash-up of supplies just head to your local thrift store and stock up.

Party Tip: After the sketching process (more about that under WORK TABLE) let the party goers hit the supply pile and give them a time limit, just to make it interesting. Yes, it will get messy and crazy while they throw stuff around so you'll want to put your supply station in another room! 

WORK TABLE

We used our dining room table and set up each designer's work space with a large white t-shirt, in case the kids need something to build off of, and a DIY sketch pad. To make the sketch pads we folded cardstock in half, stapled it, and covered the staples with a bit of washi tape. 

While they kept their materials at their stations, there were community items like scissors, glues, paper clips, and safety pins in the middle of the table. 

Party Tip: Use the back of a chair as a dress form! You can slip the t-shirt over it or use it as it. 

Free Printable Alert!!

I made printables for the sketch books and designer tags! I used silver paper because I hadn't realized I was out of white label paper-don't make this mistake. Ugh, I can hardly read them. 

HAIR & MAKEUP

Depending on your guests you might want to take a break from designing to do each other's hair and make-up! 

RUNWAY

We used our hallway but any room can be transformed into a runway, this isn't the Oscars-no red carpets are required. We skipped the judging process; it seemed like it might invite hard feelings and take away from the creative process.

FOOD

 Part of me wants to say that you should make everyone salads or pasta, because that seems to be the only thing I remember seeing designers on Project Runway eat, but you should probably just stick with your favorite party foods!  

There are a number of different ways to personalize this party idea, such as time limits or design themes-maybe only use newspaper. Whatever you decide I promise everyone will have a good time!

What would your design look like? 

I'm so excited to once again be teaming up with 100 Directions and other creative bloggers to bring you a collection of fun birthday ideas, click the image below to find more Best Birthday Ideas!