FESTIVE PREPARATIONS

Taranaki Daily News, 21 January 1933, Page 6 (Supplement)

FESTIVE PREPARATIONS

DECORATIONS FOR “PARTY TIME.”

Of course you will like to make your own decorations for your Festive Party, and I thought you’d like to hear about some we’re doing ourselves in the Wendy Hut. So here goes Collect as many fir-cones as you can. If you hang a whole lot on a cord and paint them with aluminium paint, they make a lovely hanging garland. Fix each cone to a string about three inches long, and tie the strings to the long cord that is to form your garland. Vary the fir-cone-strings a little, so that they all hang at slightly different levels. If you like, you can paint the cones in gay colours —red, yellow, and blue. We’re doing garlands of both kinds in the Hut. , , . . Extra large fir-cones can be turned into all sorts of funny animals and birds, and even people. In the picture I show you some the Goblin Artist has drawn for you. The limbs can be suggested with pipe-cleaners, or wire, and acorns can be glued on for heads! If you put a cone into hot water for a few minutes, you can bend out the sections more easily, and so obtain different shapes. Another way of making attractive decorations is to take the flattest-shaped cones you can find, soak them in hot water, and flatten the sections even more, so that they look like big flowers. Then fix them to twigs, and when they’re painted with bright enamels they look really splendid. A vase of these “flowers” will make a lovely present for Mother; they brighten up a dark corner and look cheerful for a long time. You can get little tins of, bright coloured enamel for twopence, and one tin will do for many flowers. • .Tink, too, has made some dainty decorations from empty egg-shells! She got Cook to save them for her, washed them carefully, and painted them with watercolours, blowing a little silver powder on them before the paint was quite dry so that they glistened, prettily. She then fastened them to twigs, by means of a needle and thread, with a pearl

bead knotted at the end of each thread, to form the centre of the bell-flower. The diagrams explain the process quite clearly. . Just one last thing to remember, children—spread a newspaper on the table before you begin to work. And clear everything up carefully when you’ve finished, or Mother will have something to say.