Music themed birthday ideas - 12 Months birthday banner, Birthday backdrop and Number 1 with photos

 Looking for Musical themed birthday party ideas? You have come to the right place. My friend and I made all the DIY decorations for the music theme birthday for her little one's first birthday. Come let's see what DIY and crafts we made. 

Birthday Backdrop: 

We decided we wanted to try something different for the backdrop other than decorating with balloons, When I suggested Paper fans, my friend was thrilled and jumped into the idea. We decided to use Paper fan decoration set along with four big paper yellow fans I already had from my son's first birthday. We used the backdrop stand and a white backdrop cloth(I got this from a textile shop in India - 3 meters of white uniform cloth with width-54") which I already had and covered the sides with the white blankets that my friend had. 

We made the paper fan and secured it with removable glue dots so that we can reuse it in the future. We also used paper clips that came in the decoration set at the back to make sure it stays open. We attached the paper fans to a ribbon with paper clips at the back in our desired arrangement and then hanged the ribbon (Just looped around) at the top of the clothespin clip holding the backdrop cloth in the backdrop stand. 

I would recommend using binder clips to attach the paper fans to the backdrop cloth from the back. We had to work a bit to make it stay without the binder clips and just using paper clips we had as we wanted to avoid a shopping trip during a snow storm. 

Then I designed and cut the "Happy Birthday" letters in Silhouette potrait cutting machine using black cardstock. 

For the name, since it is music theme, we decided to write the name on the xylophone. For making the Xylophone, I used different colored cardstock and cut them in rectangles. I started with 9.5"X2.5" rectangles for letter "A" and reduced half an inch in length for reach coressponding rectangles like 9" X 2.5" for "D" and 8.5" X 2.5" for "V" and so on. I cut the letters in the font "Phosphate" for the name. 

Free cut file for Musical notes Happy Birthday Letters

Note: I have the cut file with the original measurements we used for decorating. 

How to do the Happy Birthday letters without electronic cutting machine:

If you don't have the cutting machine, you can still do all of this. Have a cutting machine is just a matter of ease. To do the "Happy Birthday letters" you can:

1) Just use a pencil to draw the letters on a black cardstock and cut it out using a craft knife. 

2) Or print the letters black in a white cardstock and then use a craft knife to cut it. 

3) For the white letters, you can flip the letters, print it and then cut it using a craft knife so that it is clean on the front side. 

12 months Milestone Birthday Banner - music theme

While brainstorming the ideas for 12 months milestone banner, I thought  it would be nice to display the photos as musical notes. I initially thought to do the photos with Happy Birthday musical notes but it was difficult to incorporate the pictures. So I selected random musical notes and made the Musical Milestone Banner. 

My friend got a black masking tape to make the black lines as in the musical notes and I cut the musical notes shapes in colorful cardstock. I made a 3.1" circle at the end point of each note to act as a frame for the photo. I used Canva to size the photo to 3" circles and printed in cardstock. Then cut it using scissors and use double sided tape or glue dots to glue the pictures to the musical notes shapes. 

Free cut file for 12 month milestone Birthday banner

As I said earlier, this can be done easily without cutting machine. Each shape is approx 9" in height and can be made using a 8.5" X 11" cardstock except for the middle green one which might require 12" width.

Cardboard Number 1 DIY :

I have a detailed post on how to make a cardboard number 1 using shipping boxes and I have also shared tips on how to use canva to size the photos to glue on to the cardboard number 1. 

Hope you like the ideas I have shared here. If you like it and make it, don't forget to share your pictures with me on Instagram or Facebook. 

Other Birthday Party ideas, 

Old is gold - 30th birthday party ideas

Follow me on Instagram for these simple Birthday party Ideas. I keep my son's birthday party backdrop as simple as it can be. Can you spot the paper fans I reused? I have a simple rule of a birthday banner for the theme, number balloon and embellishments(if needed) on the sides.