Organizing activities and competitions can be fun but there are times you need some fresh input. In the activity drop-down menu below, you can find heaps of ideas. What about a Paper Plane Competition?
Activities
TIP: Think inside the hat!
Party hats, store-bought or made from pages of an old book or scrap paper are very useful for a display. You can staple the hat to the board as a container for whatever you want to showcase. Or hang them in front of the board filled with little notes, poems, toy animals or whatever takes your fancy
TIP: Staple at an angle
Removing old display items will be much easier when you hold the stapler at an angle when you tack items to the board. The staples will stick out at one side - perfect to get hold of and pull them out when you change displays.
TIP: Use a glue gun
Glue guns are the most fantastic tools for creating displays. You can attach all sorts of materials like hard plastic, metal, fabric and everything else you can think off.
Be careful with your fingers (blow - blow) the glue is very hot and you easily get blisters
TIP: Create a 3D effect!
Create a 3D effect by hanging objects in front of the display board, like fish in a Sea Life display or lanterns in a Spring or Garden display.
TIP: Don’t overdue it!
Too much text, images or books on display too close together distract the eye. It all becomes a blur.
Each object needs its own space. Think of a shop window that is more than full with appliances, you can’t distinguish one object from the other, while carefully placed objects attract the attention.
Mars becomes less distant and we might even be able to put a permanent colony on the Moon. The SpaceX mission to the International Space Station is planned in September followed by a second crew in October. From Vandenbergh Air Base, in November an ocean observation satellite will be launched. We’re living in exiting space exploration times. The sky is no longer the limit, it is the new frontier. And as we’re going to celebrate the upcoming events, I wanted to show off with this display.
I not only wanted to give credit to the planets but also to our Earth and therefore I gave her a prominent place. Surrounded by the different planets she seems to be the base from where we’re venturing into the unknown. To highlight the universe’s significance I put plenty of books on astronomy, the universe, space/time travel and science fiction within reach.
To create a ‘space’ background, I use transparent blue wrapping paper. It gives a lovely shiny sparkle over the aquamarine coloured wrapping paper of the previous display, but normal dark blue wrapping paper will work equally well. I stapled the half-round shape of planet earth to the bottom of the display board to make it look like it is rising above the horizon.
After that, it was easy to put the planets in place.
From a magazine, I copied a rocket with a man pointing his finger upwards and I enlarged it in different sizes. I also copied the same image in reverse to make the rocket and the finger point in the opposite direction.
I’ve wrapped the top board in silver-coloured wrapping paper and stapled dozens of illuminating stars in different sizes to it. The Christmas lights make the stars sparkle in all kind of colours.
What you need:
Display heading printed
Names of planets printed
Blue or transparent wrapping paper
Silver wrapping paper (or blue if you like)
About 15 A4 images of different parts of the earth taken from space
Images of the planets, enlarged if necessary
Images of rockets or space shuttles
Illuminating paper
Christmas lights
What to do:
To create a 50cm wide and 60cm high half-round earth I pasted lots of earth images together tricking they eye by dotting the same paper over the lines so they fade. Don’t skip this part, it looks much better without de rectangle edges. I didn’t worry about the accuracy of the world or its geography.
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Staple the planets and their names in place. Staple or glue the space shuttles or rockets in the empty space between earth and the planets. I used some of the pointing fingers to emphasize the names of the planets.
Use the illuminating paper to cut lots and lots of stars in different sizes. This can be done way before the display day. Laminate them, you will not regret it. Not only does it looks much better they are much sturdier that way and can be used over and over again. Wrap the silver or blue wrapping paper to the board and staple it in place.
You can’t turn on the TV these days without a master chef telling us how to prepare a healthy and tasteful meal. Potatoes and veggies with a meatball on the side are out. Enjoying gravy is similar to signing your death sentence and a simple tomato soup contains at least 20 ingredients without the tomatoes. Instead of chef’s hats you could use cauliflower or beetroots, strawberries or bunches of asparagus. Don’t let your imagination limit you. Go veggie crazy!
I love cooking and I love watching those programs. I frantically write down the recipes but never make the dishes because I often miss the details. Was it 50 or 150 grams? Did she say teaspoons or tablespoons? “Never mind’ I usually mutter to my partner while I throw away my unreadable notes….. ‘let’s have a glass of wine and see what I can come up with.’
And then the day arrives that you have guests for dinner and a lack of inspiration. Or Christmas and you’ll be hosting lots of family members. Cooking for the parents is not that difficult but what to do for the children?
WOW….., A Veggie Farm Boil two dozen eggs, get carrots, capsicum and tomatoes and let a class of children take care of the animals.
If that’s all too complicated then this is the time to give al those marvellous cookbooks a dusting and put them on display. They are the reference books for the ‘hopeful-but-not-yet’ master chefs. Those books whet your appetite while flicking through the pages, dreaming of tables set with fancy porcelain and softly glowing candles. The guest will be surprised by your cooking skills especially when you finish that lovely dinner with a superb Creme Brule straight from Youtube.
Turkish pide, Spanish anti-pasta, Olive oil recipes, these colourful books will look even better with a background like this. The strong red and black colour scheme and the repetition of the aprons outline the cookbooks even more and the white chef hats give just that extra bit of light and freshness.
What you need:
Black and red wrapping paper
3 Aprons
10 Images of chef’s hats (Google – images) enlarged and laminated
Black card for background title and behind the chef hats on top of title board
Red letters for the title, printed on A3 and laminated
Images of fruit and vegetables. I copied them from one of our books but Google – images will work as well – printed, laminated and cut into shape (To make it easier for myself I roughly follow the contour of the image and the little white border gives it an even more outlined appearance)
Carton boxes to create some extra (cheap) display space
Christmas lights
What to do:
Display panels:
Cover the left and right top part of the panel with the black wrapping paper. I placed it horizontally because the paper was not wide enough to cover it vertically
Cover the top part of the middle panel with the red wrapping paper, horizontally for the same reason
Cover the bottom parts of the panels with the contrasting paper
Arrange the aprons sideways to the panels. Pin them first and if they look good, staple the corners
Drape the Christmas lights along the top line of the aprons. I use laminated offcuts to secure the wire to the board. Make sure you connect the plug and wires in a safe way
Staple the strings of the aprons to the underside of the bookshelves and over the Christmas lights. I stapled them to the front of the shelf to create depth
Staple the three remaining chef hats to the middle of the aprons and add an extra piece of fruit or vegetables to the hat
Title board:
Staple 15 cm wide black card to the top part of the title board
Cover the rest of the board with red wrapping paper but make sure that at least 13 cm black card remains visible
Staple black card to the middle of the board (over the red wrapping paper) to create a dark border for the white/red title. Use only a few staples at the top because the chef hats need to be tucked in between the black card and wrapping paper
Staple the title to the middle of the black card. Make sure the visible top and bottom part of the black card are the same width or make the top slightly smaller
Arrange the chef hats in pairs of threes and twos above the title and tuck the bottom of the hats behind the black card
Arrange some of the laminated fruit and vegges on the red paper under the title and staple them to the board
Highlight the fruits of nature by enlarging and laminating them. A giant mushroom, cauliflower or carrot will steal the show.
Boxes:
Cover the boxes with the remaining black and red wrapping paper. Be creative and make borders and top/bottom combinations
Paste the laminated images of the fruit and vegetables to the boxes. Remember that some of the boxes are standing and others lying on their sides.
Secure the book stands with a small piece of tape to the top of the boxes, just to make sure the books are not pushed off by passing library users
Arrange the boxes with books in front of the display board
Step back and have a look at your creation, rearrange if necessary and make adjustments ’til you’re happy with your work
Add the books to the shelves and show off your collection
Filed under: Culinary, Food, Party | Comments Off on Whet your appetite! Cookbook Display
Keep on the lookout for unusual, funny or cartoon-like images in magazines, on internet or in the daily paper like the image above. Cut or copy them and store them for when you need inspiration.
One of those unusual images can be the basis for a great display. You don't need to do the whole design yourself.
Or what about this one? Free will, an illusion?
TIP: Use old umbrellas as a display unit!
Old umbrellas without the fabric but with a good frame are fantastic as a display item
You can hang little objects like birds, light bulbs, little books and art objects from the frame. Fluffy fabric draped over the frame will give it an extra elegance.... let your imagination run wild and experiment!
TIP: Keep an action list
I am not particularly good at it myself - I'm an ad hoc person - but it is one of my recommendations when I give display workshops. It helps you keeping track of what you're going to do.
Make a rough sketch of how the display will look like and write down what materials and tools you're going to need
Create a time-line / checklist: This week copying and laminating - Next week: buy or beg materials - Two weeks: covering display boxes with matching paper - Three weeks: collect books matching the display etc. till you reach D-day and start getting nervous....
