Party Decorations: Banner & Shield

Inspiration: For my daughter's Princess Birthday party we wanted to add some more castle-like decor and signs.  I had read where someone had made some large banners and hung them near an entranceway.  So we did something similar as decoration.

How I Made Them:  I used a large roll of paper I got at Hollo's and cut out 3 large sheets.  From two of them I cut a shield shape - rounded to a point at the bottom and three points at the top.  The last one, I notched at the top to look like a banner and scalloped the bottom.  I hand-drew a castle on the shields with the words Castle above it.  I color one and our daughter colored the other one with help from her grandpa.  For the banner, I added the text "Princess D*'s 4th Birthday" and a crown.  I colored the scalloped edge to look like strings and then cut little slits all along the bottom edge to make it really seam like a strip of strings.  The shield I colored we hung outside so the guests would know that this was the Castle.  The other shield was in the hallway and the banner was in the dining room where the cake was going to be served.

Alternatives:

• If you'd like a sewing project instead, shields and banners could easily be done using felt.  Felt can even be used attached to a board and then pieces of felt on them could be changed since felt often sticks to felt on it's own (at least for short periods of time).
• I know Oriental Trading Company has cardboard shields that you can buy and then decorate.
• You could also make these using foam board and foam pieces.