DIY Fire Truck Themed Party Decor ~ Fire Station Backdrop!

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I wanted to create something special to transform our living room into a fire truck themed celebration for my little boy’s 3rd birthday! A cold January day in upstate New York meant we needed to brighten things up a bit! Throwing a birthday party within a week of hosting Christmas also meant I wasn’t up for starting any major projects 🙂 This backdrop came together pretty quickly – and required no painting. Mama doesn’t have time to mess with that and keep the babies out of wet paint!

here’s how I made this fire station backdrop

materials

• white foam board (40″ x 60″)
• project display board (36″ x 48″)
• brown poster board (22″ x 28″) (3)
• white poster board (22″ x 28″) (2)
• red kraft paper roll
• rustic bell
• mini LED lanterns
• leather or upholstery tack pins
• black & gold letter stickers
• hot glue gun or glue stick
• tape
• gorilla glue
• tape measure
• black marker
• straight edge (yard stick, large paper or a box work well)
• scissors
• utility knife (or something to cut through foam board)
• pencil
• spray adhesive

step-by-step

cover the large foam board with red paper (I wrapped mine around the back & taped it)

cut one side off the project display board, and wrap these pieces with the red paper as well. place off to the side.

cut the doors out of the white poster board paper (I chose to have an arch at the top, but you can make them however you want! I looked at some clip art pictures of fire stations to find a door design I liked)

using a straight edge & black marker, draw your door design.

attach the paper doors to your red foam boards (I used my hot glue gun, but any kind of glue would work)

to make the arch window; make a dot about 12″ from the top of the white door, then on the same plane, make dots 6.5″ from each side of the main building. use a straight edge to connect the dots. this line is the bottom of the window. next, measure 4″ down from the top of the wall and make a dot. this will be the top point of the arch. using a string tied to a pencil, or just free-handing it – draw your semicircle connecting the top dot to the bottom line.

cut out the arch window with utility knife

attach the bell to the top of the window using an upholstery tack & some gorilla glue. lay to dry for time indicated on bottle.

fold brown poster board in half the long way, and cut so you have two identical pieces. repeat with both brown papers – these will be the roof pieces.

glue brown roof pieces to the tops of your buildings

place your letter stickers under the window. (I measured 7″ in from each side of the main building and made a straight line with a pencil to help me with the placement of the stickers)

next I measured 4″ from each side of the main building and placed upholstry tacks to hang the lanterns. I put some gorilla glue on each tack before I put it in the foam board to give it extra strength.

let the project sit overnight for glue to set

place the project upright once glue has set, and use the spray adhesive to attach the 3 wall pieces together. let dry for time indicated on bottle.

finally the best part – hang the mini lanterns, and you are finished!

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Check out this blog post for all the details of this fire truck themed birthday party I planned for my son, on a budget. If you love DIY decor, here is how I made the cardboard box burning building decorations!

I’d love to help make your next celebration feel special ~ visit Style My Party for party styling packages, or send me a message with any questions!

Cheers,

Monika