Party Archives • Vix Venture Design

Stranger Things Theme Party

Do you love the 80s, a beloved and stylistically outlandish decade, and Stranger Things, a beloved and outlandishly 80’s program? Then this theme party is right up your 8-bit alley. Cheers to turning your party upside down! All printable designs are available on Etsy, courtesy of your resident fantasy design nerd here.

“D&D Class” Character Playing Cards & Card Stands

Riffing off the influence of Dungeons & Dragons in the show, I built these mini game board placecard stands using a bunch of dice and primed figurines. Each card design features the character’s declared class: Mage, Paladin, Cleric, Bard, Ranger, and, last but not least, Zoomer!

D&D Mini Game Board Card Stand Materials

Wood blocks (measuring 3 in × 3 in × 0.5 in)
Dungeons & Dragons figurines
Dice (assorted colors)
Hot glue
Acrylic paint (I used gray primer, silver, and black)
Aluminum armature wire

Stranger Things Pixel Icon Toppers

Gotta add some flair to all those waffles and party treats. Toppers include Stranger Things characters (Eleven, Mike, Will, Dustin, Lucas, Max, the Demogorgon) and other relevant 80’s-themed icons.

The Party Setup

80’s Photo Backdrop

Decorated with pixel art banners and blinding laser lights, complete with 80’s kids!

String lights (lots of them)

Stranger Things Printable Party Set

Check out the printables at etsy.com/shop/vixventuredesign

Game of Thrones: White Walker Party

Way back in Season 1 of Game of Thrones, the first appearance of the white walkers turned my initial curiosity of the show into a fully-hooked attraction. Naturally, with the Night’s King introduced on the show and becoming increasingly significant in this current season, I thought it was time to stop celebrating those fragile Westerosi houses and, instead, dedicate a good ol’ theme party to these bad motherfrosters.

Welcome to A Party of Ice and Ice!

Feather Napkin Rings

Materials: Paper towel tubes, blue acrylic paint, some fancy ribbon, black feathers, craft glue

After I cut the recycled tubes down to 2″ tall rings, I slathered on the blue paint and let them dry. Then came wrapping the sparkly ribbon around the tubes and attaching the feathers (securing both with glue). Some more fancy ribbon as a finishing touch, and you have a bona fide cheap dinnerware accessory!

Night’s King “Come At Me Crow” Cake Topper

As a designer, I felt obligated to create a full body illustration of the Night’s King sporting his signature stance from the “Hardhome” episode. Which brings me to the memes. Without the many clever fan reactions, this cake topper banner would not have been possible. Thanks internet!

White Walker Designs & Weirwood Place Card Holders

White Walker Designs: I turned these guys into smaller designs to go on this shield-shaped blue cardstock, but also used these as toppers for more sweet treats!

Materials for Holders: Wood slices (I cut these from fallen branches in my yard, but you can find similar stuff at craft stores), wood skewers, white acrylic paint, craft glue

To make a hole in the wood slices, I drilled a small hole down the middle, big enough to fit the skewer. After both wood pieces were painted with a washed out white acrylic, the skewer was glued place.

Winter Crows Centerpiece

Materials: Mini pinecones, branches, black feathers, glitter, white acrylic paint, clear acrylic medium, white spray paint, icicle wire branches, 19 gauge wire, mini crow decorations, blue LED fairy lights, vase filler acrylic ice crystals, pheasant feathers

This centerpiece has a lot of different components, but separately each were pretty simple to create. Starting with a base element, I spray-painted a bundle of branches white. The black feathers were glittered and attached to the branches using the 19 gauge wire. The pinecones got brushed with white acrylic and dusted with glitter.

The wood and crystal branches, feathers, and mini crows were arranged in the vase and then positioned onto a square tray. Then came the layering of blue fairy lights, a white cloth to diffuse the light, and the ice crystals and pinecones as decoration around the vase.

Hold The Door!

Leaving your door open can be a welcoming gesture to your party guests, but I would think twice when beyond the wall, kids. Doors will never be the same. Cheers to another year of having our hearts ripped out!

I’m On a Boat! Party

Ahoy there mateys! I blended a few ideas into this boat party theme: the spirit of summer, nautical icons and patterns…and that music video. A little classy, a little trashy, and perfect for an outdoor beer & BBQ bash with pals!

Nautical Icon Banners

Icons designed by yours truly in Illustrator, water stain textured in Photoshop, and printed on cardstock. For filler, I used some striped scrapbooking paper for smaller banners. Once cut & hole-punched, I strung the banners along twine.

Sailor Straw Flags

I used my nautical icons to create a tiny pattern for these tiny paper crafts. Flags are about 5.75″ wide x 0.75″ tall, measured to fit what I *think* is a standard-sized straw.

Assembling the straw flags is pretty easy. Once the flags are cut to size and folded in half, a piece of double-sided tape secures the inside of the flag to the straw. After it’s pressed, you can cut the inward-facing triangle at the end of the flag to complete the look.

Cupcake Toppers

Created these little nautical icon cupcake toppers by printing the designs on cardstock, cutting out with a 2″ circle cutter, and sticking a 4″ appetizer skewers to the back of the circle cutout with a silver mailing label (you could also just use clear tape, or washi tape if you want to get fancy).

Lifesaver Decorations

I love the Pinterest community. I saw this somewhere along the lines of my research and thought it’d look sweet if the lifesavers also had painted stripes. Note: I used acrylic so these are definitely NOT edible. But, since these would be used on Mason jars that would hold utensils, I figured none of my friends would be chewing them off. At least I think…

Seashell Candles

Super simple decor to put together. I filled these globe votive holders with a bit of craft store sand, some found seashells from over the years (I knew those would come in handy one day!) and a blue candle. Once the wax starts to melt, it creates a really nice effect of waves washing over the beach.

Boat Party Deck

This deck was begging to be turned into a boat. I made that dream come alive.

Tablescape

Featuring: seashell candles, lifesaver utensil jars, nautical straw flags, mermaid bottle opener, and precisely one pirate patch.

Boat Birthday Cupcakes

In keeping with my color scheme, I chose my white chocolate raspberry cupcakes for this one.

Party Photoshoot

Backdrop decorated with a fisherman’s net, starfish, seashells, and my nautical icon banners.

I asked my friends to dress up. They did not disappoint. Pirates, sailors, and yacht club, oh my!

Night View of the “Boat Deck”

Game of Thrones Party: A Royal Feast

UPDATE: If you’re looking to purchase house banner designs, visit my Etsy shop!

I’m back again for Game of Thrones Season 5! Another season, another party. For the most part, I reused & rearranged pieces I made for last season’s GoT party, adding a few new elements here and there.

Westeros House Sigil Banners

Among the new decorations were new sigil banners, including House Tyrell, House Martell, and House Baratheon of Dragonstone. Original illustrations for Houses Stark, Lannister, and Targaryen designed by Danny Machado. We both used Illustrator to design the polygonal-style sigils and Photoshop for color correction and texturing.

Tablescape

Elements: gold-painted toy animals (dragons, wolves, stags), artificial craft fruit of different varieties, red floating candle centerpiece, gold mercury glass votive holders, harvest-themed table runner, bronze & gold tablecloths

A Feast For Hungry Crows

Elements: Viserys’ Golden Crown skull, toy wooden crossbow, gold rose gift bow, Weirdwood tree, crow statuette, silver pipe cleaner mini-trees, gold floral tablecloth, thrifted gothic candle holder

Mini Iron Throne

I love this piece. This is also from last year’s post. When it’s not used for parties, it sits around in my living room in all its glory.

Decor Closeups

Elements: Another crow + lantern and star votive holder, window treatments (ivy garland, string lights, craft fruit, ribbon), hanging light fixture (ivy garland, silver ornaments, crystal beads), and one dragon dude!

Valentines Crafts: Cupid & Hearts Arrows

‘Tis the season for love and crafts! Celebrating a cozy Valentine’s night in at home can still, of course, be fabulous by adding DIY sweetheart touches around the dinner space. I created these romantic Boho-chic decorations with Valentine’s in mind, but the decor can easily go well for any special occasion / romantic night. With a bigger color palette than your average V-day pinks and reds, the decorations can go far into spring and summer too!

DIY Painted Feather Cupid Arrows

The feathers were painted with acrylic of different colors and then glued onto the end of a wood skewer with craft glue. The arrow points (made of gold glitter scrapbooking paper) are glued onto the opposite end of the skewer. For finishing touches, I glued ribbon over the area where the feathers meet the skewer. Pretty easy, Just takes a little patience watching glue dry :P

Cupid’s Arrow Cupcake Toppers

These cute & easy cupcake toppers were made from toothpicks, gold paper fletching, and glitter heart stickers from a craft store.

Painted-feather Cupid’s Crossbow

I was gifted this little wooden crossbow from a Renaissance fair and always thought it would be sweet as a display piece. Now I found such a great use for it! I painted more of my feathers and glued a variety of them to a wooden dowel, a but more substantial than the skewer.

Heart Garland for Lights

Using the same glitter paper I used for the arrow points, I cut out an assortment of heart shapes out and painted the opposite sides pink. I strung each heart with elastic thread and tied them to the light fixture in my dining room. For some more sparkly effects, I also draped strings of clear plastic beads on the stems of the fixture.

Game of Thrones Party: A Tourney of Crafts

UPDATE: If you’re looking to purchase house banner designs, visit my Etsy shop!

How excited am I for season 4 of Game of Thrones? Excited enough to throw another themed party? Uh, heck yeah! This is somewhat of an anniversary for me, since my first GoT party also marked the first occasion I started to develop, design, and craft for parties. With a new season comes new projects!

Mini-Iron Throne Centerpiece

The first on my list of decorations was a mini-Iron Throne, fashioned from (super cheap!) plastic sword toothpicks, popsicle sticks (base layer), air-dry clay (2nd layer), sculpey clay (3rd layer; I bought the clay in black and baked my pieces as directed), craft glue (plus patience for each layer of drying), and black & silver spray paint for finishing.

Weirwood Tree

Materials include wood branches/sticks (can be bought at a craft store, but the finds in your backyard will do), white spray paint, red tissue paper for the leaf cutouts and craft glue.

House Sigils

The family banners were custom designed, printed, cut out, and then attached to banner stands (made from wood skewers and small wood blocks as the base).

Not pictured in the process of crafting: Viserys’ “Golden Crown” centerpiece I made using a skull sculpture (bought from a Halloween store) and modeling clay spray painted gold. I also found some plastic animal toys (dragons, stags, and wolves) to use for the Iron Throne centerpiece and gave them some gold spray paint-love too. But now *drumroll*…time for the finished party!

Westeros House Banner Placecards

The “Iron Throne” Table

The “Golden Crown” Table

Weirwood Tree Centerpiece

House Sigil Cupcake Toppers

And of course, what’s a royal dinner without dessert?

Cloud Theme Baby Sprinkle

Sometimes, just sometimes, I’ll throw a little shindig focusing on something OTHER than a TV show; this time I had the opportunity to throw a baby sprinkle to celebrate my friend’s second son. To welcome the springtime, I went with a bright colors and incorporated a cloud theme into the decorations.

Tablescape

Cloud Placecard Holders

For the table placecards, I made little cloud stands using wooden skewers, cotton balls, and a rectangular piece of wood for the base.

Gold Tree & Cloud Centerpiece

The tree centerpiece was surprisingly easy to put together. All it really required was finding some random branches in my yard and spray-painting them gold. For the decorations, I threaded together some beads to create “raindrops”, added some icon ornaments, and set a couple cotton clouds in between the branches.

Secondary Tablescape

We also had a “kiddie” table for any extra guests!

Candles lit to set the mood :)

The Walking Dead Party

The Walking Dead is nearing it’s mid-season finale, so naturally it’s party-crafting time again! Anything to help subdue the anxiety of guessing which of my favorite characters might get killed off! On my list of decorative elements for this party: a prison fence centerpiece, placecards and placecard holders, walker lanterns, and of course…lots of walker cutouts. Time to make friends with the X-acto knife…

DIY Party Crafts

Prison Fence / Walker Centerpiece

I constructed the prison fence using wooden dowels (painted with silver acrylic), grey tulle, hot glue, and silver pipe cleaners to replicate the barbed wire.

Walking Dead Character Placecards & Wooden Cross Markers

I created little crosses (like the ones used to mark every passing of our beloved characters) using clothes pins and popsicle sticks. I broke the edges off the popsicle sticks to create jagged edges and coated all the wood pieces with a watered-down brown acrylic to get a more weathered look.

Being a fan of both the graphic novels and the show, I wanted to incorporate both of those worlds into the designs for the placecards.

Walker Lanterns

This was a lot of fun! Starting with a sweet little tutorial from Kelly Wilkinson, I adapted the lantern designs to include the walkers and some bright blood spatter. The spatter created by melted crayon shavings in between the wax paper layers, along with the walker cutouts. Once you iron the wax paper together, the wax creates some really nice textures. Make sure to cover the wax paper with a clean towel before ironing. I used a few different shades of red and black to give the end result more dimension.

Tablescape

Finally, all the pieces are coming together! The tablecloth I used was an old, spray painted garage sale sheet sign and on top went newspapers, burlap placemats, stone plates, wooden bowls and napkins tied with twine.

Walking Dead Party Rick

Walking Dead Party Daryl

Walking Dead Party Carl

Party Elements

Character Placecards & Wooden Cross Marker Holders

Prison Fence Centerpiece

The centerpiece idea was a mix of the prison fencing and the walker-infested forest. LOTS of walker cutouts, some sticking out of the “woods” and some taped to the glass vase.

Finished Walker Lanterns

Our survivalist dinner

Sloppy joes and mac & cheese. I imagine this’ll be quite the delicacy during the apocalypse.

“D&D Class” Character Playing Cards & Card Stands

D&D Mini Game Board Card Stand Materials

Stranger Things Pixel Icon Toppers

The Party Setup

80’s Photo Backdrop

String lights (lots of them)

Stranger Things Printable Party Set

Welcome to A Party of Ice and Ice!

Feather Napkin Rings

Night’s King “Come At Me Crow” Cake Topper

White Walker Designs & Weirwood Place Card Holders

Winter Crows Centerpiece

Hold The Door!

Nautical Icon Banners

Sailor Straw Flags

Cupcake Toppers

Lifesaver Decorations

Seashell Candles

Boat Party Deck

Tablescape

Boat Birthday Cupcakes

Party Photoshoot

Night View of the “Boat Deck”

Westeros House Sigil Banners

Tablescape

A Feast For Hungry Crows

Mini Iron Throne

Decor Closeups

DIY Painted Feather Cupid Arrows

Cupid’s Arrow Cupcake Toppers

Painted-feather Cupid’s Crossbow

Heart Garland for Lights

Mini-Iron Throne Centerpiece

Weirwood Tree

House Sigils

Westeros House Banner Placecards

The “Iron Throne” Table

The “Golden Crown” Table

Weirwood Tree Centerpiece

House Sigil Cupcake Toppers

Tablescape

Cloud Placecard Holders

Gold Tree & Cloud Centerpiece

Secondary Tablescape

DIY Party Crafts

Prison Fence / Walker Centerpiece

Walking Dead Character Placecards & Wooden Cross Markers

Walker Lanterns

Tablescape

Party Elements

Character Placecards & Wooden Cross Marker Holders

Prison Fence Centerpiece

Finished Walker Lanterns

Our survivalist dinner

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