A Disnerd Birthday Adventure, part 1: Decorations

My birthday party was AWESOME! I'm still kind of on a high from all the fun I had that night. Actually, I can't really think of anything that would have made the party better, other than having my family and other close friends there. In fact there is so much epic-ness to cover that I need to break this up into a few posts.

First we will begin with my favorite element of the party: decorations! (This is a long post but it's mostly pictures.)

Those of you who know me or who have been following my blog have probably figured out that I'm a bit of a craft nerd. So I held nothing back at the challenge of creating a Disnerd-ified space on a budget.

Here's what I came up with!

Everyone at the party kept asking me, "How did you come up with all of this?" Well, part of it was my own creative genius, obviously. But the other part was lots of time on Google. The Internet is pretty handy, I must say. ;)

I started with the idea that I was going to use Disney children's books purchased at Goodwill as my materials. I bought these 14 books for a steal, $25! (Sorry to Goodwill shoppers, there are no longer any Disney books in stock.) From these books I made garland, ornaments and coasters.

Garland
Materials needed: 2-inch hole punch, string, scotch tape

Basically I punched holes out of the paper and taped them along the string. It was pretty simple though admittedly took a very long time. In the end I think I must have made, oh I dunno, maybe 250 feet of garland? That's a rough guess. Before I put them up I laid it all out across my living room. But this is actually only a portion of it here.

I had planned on just making garland when I bought the books, but I realized I had so much paper than I should probably do some other stuff with it as well. After some Googling and browsing on Etsy, I found these two ornaments that were pretty easy to make.

Pinwheels (from here) 
Materials needed: paper trimmer, stapler, hole punch, string

I used two pages each cut in half lengthwise after trimming the ripped edges. I folded each of the 4 halves into twelfths, accordion style. This was the most time consuming, but I fell into a rhythm by first folding in half, then fourths, to make my folds even. Then I stapled one end together to make a fan.

After all four halves were folded, I stapled the non-stapled ends together to form a circle.

Then I punched a hole through it, tied a piece of string on, and voila!

Lantern balls (from here)
Materials needed: paper trimmer, hole-poker & self healing mat, brads, string

These were a little easier, though it took me a while to figure out that I needed to start with a square shaped piece of paper instead of a rectangle.

I sliced the square into 8 even strips.

Then I pierced two holes through all strips lined up together, about an inch or so away from each end. I fastened the strips together by putting a brad through each hole.

Then I spread out the strips and formed them evenly into a ball shape.

Then I tied string around the top brad, and voila!

Coasters
I had a few board books (for babies) as well as all the hard book covers leftover. So I cut them into 3.5-inch squares and made coasters out of them! Since they have glossy surfaces I didn't need to laminate them. I did add cork board ($3 for a sheet) to the bottom of a few thinner pieces. These coasters were used at the party but I also gave them away as favors for guests. I still have a bunch left if anyone wants some!

 

A few extra things
I also printed out a small poster of my logo and made people sign it at the party, so I could record who came. And I put up the Tangled birthday banner that I got last year at my work birthday celebration.

The bottom line
Total cost for decorations: approximately $36. Not bad, I say! 

Total hours spent: unknown. :) I did this over the course of about 2 weeks. So yes, it took a long time. But seeing the impressed reaction of all my friends made it totally worth it!

Next up: food!

#24: A star-crossed bromance

(c) Disney

The Fox & the Hound, 1981
watched February 12, 2012

It's not the most glamorous, funny or beautiful film, but there are some pretty unique things about The Fox & the Hound. This is the first of these films built around a friendship between two male characters. While previously seen in Bambi and The Jungle Book, F&H draws much more deeply on this theme of male friendship by bringing together two characters who are not naturally supposed to be friends. It's somewhat refreshing not to see another sugary love-at-first-sight romance, or even a good-thwarting-evil epic. Instead, Disney successfully banks on the emotions that arise in every person as they recall their own childhood friendships, and the ways life and society makes it impossible to maintain them. This simple yet rich tale of friendship connects with a broad audience.

I also think F&H may be the first time Disney addresses the issue of race in a way that is thoughtful and compelling, rather than offensive or confusing. Oddly enough, neither Tod or Copper are "racialized" characters. They are, however, characters set in a context where their roles have been firmly determined by society. Copper's aim in life is to become an effective hunting dog and to loyally assist his owner, Amos Slade. To do anything else would deem him useless and a failure. Tod, an orphaned red fox, lives less clearly within his role as 'the hunted', since he is raised domestically as a pet for the first year of his life. This explains why he is more confused about the change in Copper's attitude towards him as an adult and reluctant to accept what society has served them.

The friendship is ultimately tested in the climax of the film, when the hunter and hunted find themselves at each other's mercy. Tod risks his life to protect Copper from the monstrous bear, nearly dying in the process. In response, Copper stands between his fox friend and his master, who is about to shoot him dead. Without a single word spoken in this moving scene, they demonstrate a courageous love for each other, while also acknowledging that they will never be friends again. It's a surprisingly bittersweet moment for a Disney film.

External definitions of their identities and relationship to one another ultimately win out over what was a strong budding friendship (or as we might like to call it now, bromance). We see a commentary on the divisions society makes between people and groups of people, where there need not be. This applies not only to ethnic segregation but class, gender, and any categories we like to put ourselves in.

While F&H certainly lacks the same polish and timelessness of other classic Disney films, it does make one pause and reflect on human nature. We long to find the two main characters together in the end, laughing and playing. We know, however, that how it really ends is much closer to reality - a reality that is in great need for renewal and change.