Saturday, April 13, 2013

How to: Make Dr. Seuss Lorax Trees (Truffula Tree)



Well it's that time of year again, grandkids birthday parties. They always count on NeeNee to make their celebration special and, of course, I do. My five-year old grandson, Fischer, decided he wants a Cat in the Hat party theme. Party decorations are very important to him; so, I'm tend to go a little over the top.


Pictured above are the invites I made for his party. Below are photos of the colorful tree toppers I will use for the Lorax trees. The toppers will be seated atop six and four foot foam pipe insulators (the kind with a slit running down the length of the tube).
 


My son-in-law is making stands to keep the trees upright. The hollow insulation tube will slide over the wooden dowel and yellow duct tape will be wrapped around tube every eight inches. A light-weight wire will secure the tissue toppers to the insulator tube.


 
 What you need:
 
  • 16 x 20" sheets of tissue paper (any color)
  • Thin wire or string
  • Scissors
  • Yellow duct tape
  • Pipe insulator tubes (2 inch diameter x 6 feet or 4 feet)
  • Stands to keep the trees upright (you can tape to a wall or posts if you don't want to make stands)
 Fold 8 sheets of tissue paper accordion style (begin folds on a short end). Fold the tissue in half to find the midway point, then tie with a string or piece of wire. Trim the ends into a point.
 




Fan out the folds and carefully pull four layers of tissue from each side toward the center.

Flip the tissue over and do the same for the other half. Once all the paper has been pulled toward the tied center, fluff out the tissue pieces to form a uniform looking ball.









It's that simple! Try layering different colors of tissue paper for added variety. Hang from the ceiling in different sizes. Just cut the tissue paper width by a few inches. Each tissue ball cost me 50 cents with string/wire added in the cost. If making the Lorax tree trunk, the insulator tubing runs under $2 at Home Depot.

When the party is over, I'm donating the Lorax trees to a local library for a Dr. Seuss display.

No comments: