How to Decorate a Birthday Room

Co-authored by Lisa Maciel

Last Updated: June 15, 2022 References

Decorating for a birthday is a lot of fun! Themed parties are an easy way to entertain guests and decorate a birthday event. Balloons, streamers, bubbles and confetti add sparkle to your home or event space. Lighting, food and photo booth fun are also great ways to enhance the mood and keep your guests happy. Whatever the occasion there are endless creative possibilities when decorating a fabulous birthday room.

Part 1

Part 1 of 3:

Choosing a Theme

1
Organize a party with a seasonal theme to embrace the time of year. Choose from summer, winter, autumn, or spring and decorate the room to match the season. Some seasonal themed decoration ideas you could try are:
- For a summer theme hang yellow and blue streamers around the room. Add a sun shaped pinata to the ceiling filled with candy.^{[1]
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  Research source} Blow up inflatable palm trees and beach balls and leave them in the corners of the room. Serve the drinks in coconuts and offer a tropical lei on arrival.
- For a winter wonderland theme hang snowflakes and tinsel from the ceiling. Sprinkle fake snow fluff or silver confetti around the room and drape blue or white LED string lights to make the room glow.
- For a spring theme gather flowers and fill the room with colour. Add some green leaves, branches, toy birds and bees on top of the tables.
- For an autumn theme use red and orange crepe paper streamers and sprinkle autumn leaves around the room. Serve harvest style food including apple pie, pumpkin pie and carrot cake.
2
Choose an era in time as a theme for a fun historical dress-up event. Take your guests back in time by creating a different cultural event in history. A few examples of era’s in time include:
- For a 60s Rock and Roll era themed birthday set up the room like a diner with checkered tablecloths, giant thick shakes and neon signs.
- For a 70s Hippie era hang tie dye sheets around the room and wear colour flared pants and coloured circle sunglasses.
- For an 80s Disco era theme hang disco balls and light up the floor with colourful squares. Keep novelty afro's available for guests to wear and play disco music.
- Or even go forward in time! For a Futuristic theme make miniature paper mache planets, silver balloons and neon lights to hang around the room. Fake laser guns, lightsabers and robots masks can be used as props to start a galactic dance off.
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3
Set up an activity-based theme to create an interactive birthday room. Choose an activity your guests would enjoy and decorate the room to set the scene. Some activity theme ideas include:
- For a High Tea party lay down white doilies on the tables. Serve tea and cupcakes on tiered platters. If the weather is warm host the tea party outdoors for a garden setting.
- For a Cocktail party set up a cocktail bar in the corner of the room with a mixologist making special drinks for your guests.
- For an Arts and Crafts party lay out coloured paper, watercolor paints, coloured pens, glitter, glue, tape, scissors and other craft tools for guests to get creative with.^{[2]
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- For a DIY Spa theme party create a relaxing atmosphere by burning essential oils and candles. Set up a nail bar with an assortment of nail polishes. Offer lemon water and small cookies as a snack.^{[3]
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4
Choose your guest of honor’s favourite topic as a theme to surprise them. Pick a topic you know they love and decorate the room to encompass that theme. A topic can be as simple as their favourite colour or maybe even their favourite movie, for example:
- If they love the colour pink you could hang pink balloons, streamers, confetti and serve pink lamingtons with raspberry soda drinks.
- If you love the movie Indiana Jones you could line the room with totem poles and put plastic skulls on top. Raid the garage for old suitcases to use as seating and find big hats and whips as props.^{[4]
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Part 2

Part 2 of 3:

Putting up Standard Decorations

1
Blow up balloons and inflatables to decorate the room. Balloons can be one of the most inexpensive and effective way of decorating for a birthday, plus guests can take them home after the party.^{[5]
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Expert Source

Lisa Maciel
Event Stylist
Expert Interview. 31 May 2022.} Some DIY balloon ideas include:
- Fill balloons with helium and let them float up to decorate the ceiling.
- Make a string of balloons to go across entrance ways and around the room (an easy way to string balloons together is to pierce the tied off end with a needle and weaving the string through).^{[6]
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- Put glow sticks in the balloons before blowing them up.
2
Create an interesting centrepiece as a feature talking point. Place the centrepiece in the middle so it is visible. This could be on the main table or close to the entrance. A few centerpieces you might create are:
- Bake a beautiful cake and decorate it creatively with frosting.
- Arrange a bouquet of flowers and present in a nice vase.^{[7]
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  Lisa Maciel
  Event Stylist
  Expert Interview. 31 May 2022.}
- Fill a large glass bowl with colourful candy.
- Make a punch bowl with tiny umbrellas perched in fruit around the rim.
- Fill a glass bowl with water and carefully lay floating tea light candles on the top.^{[8]
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3
Put up streamers to decorate the ceiling, railings, and furniture. Crepe paper streamers are an effective and cheap way to add colour and shape to a room. Streamers are versatile and can be strung up in different ways. Some creative ideas for streamers are:
- Twist the streamers as you hang them up to create a spiral effect. ^{[9]
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- To create an underwater theme, hang blue streamers from the ceiling.^{[10]
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- Fold 2 streamers together to create an colorful accordion effect.^{[11]
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4
Lay out a tablecloth or table runners to add colour to the room. Use a roll of wrapping paper as a table runner for a cheaper option that can be recycled later. It also makes cleaning up easier later on!
5
Sprinkle confetti around the room and lay out party poppers. Confetti adds sparkle and can go anywhere around the room - around the centrepiece, on the tables, and on plants. Lay party poppers on the tables and around the room for the guests to have fun with.
6
Get bubbles going around the room for fun. Hire or purchase a bubble machine and set it up in the corner of the room adding an enjoyable, light dynamic to the party. A cheaper option is to get bubble wands. Lay the wands around the room for guests to use.
- For the ultimate underwater experience use a bubble machine for your ocean theme parties!^{[12]
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7
Put up banners, signs and photograph boards to personalise the birthday room. Get crafty and create your own ‘Happy Birthday’ sign to go across the entrance or wall.^{[13]
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Expert Source

Lisa Maciel
Event Stylist
Expert Interview. 31 May 2022.} Set up a projector with a slideshow of photographs. This can be left rolling on one of the walls for guests to peruse. #*Personalised messages and photographs are meaningful and bring back nice memories. ^{[14]
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8
Set the lighting mood and hue you want to go for. Dim the lights for a more relaxed feel and add extra ornament lights to enhance the atmosphere such as string lights, fairy lights, coloured lights, paper lanterns, party lights, disco ball, UV black light, fire torches, outdoor led lights, paper lanterns, candles.^{[15]
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- Hang ornamental lights around the dividers, entrances and windows, twist them around railings, and other sections of the house.
- Adhere to light warnings; do not leave candles close to flammable objects like curtains or furniture.^{[16]
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Part 3

Part 3 of 3:

Getting Creative with the Space

1
Prepare party food and snacks to keep your guest’s energy levels up. Lay snacks out before the guests arrive and bring out larger food items half way through the party. Some yummy snack ideas include cookies, pita chips, hummus, pizza pinwheels, vanilla cupcakes, and cake.
2
Lay out the drinks in an appealing way. Keep the drink table well stocked with colourful cups and an assortment of beverages. You can use small umbrellas, light up ice cubes and fruit wedges to decorate the drinks.
3
Lay out your favourite games to entertain guests. Allocate a game area and put out bean bags, cushions and a coffee table to play on. Display the games on the table so guests can pick and choose. Some games ideas include:
- Card games such as Speed and Cards Against Humanity.
- Board games like Snakes and Ladders and Scrabble.
- Interactive games like Giant Jenga and Twister.
- Team games like Articulate and Charades.
- Playstation group games like Guitar hero and The Jack Box.^{[17]
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4
Set up a photo booth for people to have fun with and make memories. Hire a photo booth or you can set up your own DIY booth using a curtain backdrop or streamers.^{[18]
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Research source}Guests can take the photos home with them too! Props can also be fun to hold up in photos. Some prop ideas include:
- Make signs with funny quotes written on them.
- Buy goofy glasses from the dollar store to wear in the photos.
- Hold up soft toys in the photos.
- Have a giant moustache guests can wear.
- Create masks by painting funny faces on paper plates. Glue a stick at the bottom as a handle
- Find unique looking hats people can dress up in.
- Set up the booth with a directors board and chair for a movie theme party.^{[19]
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Expert Q&A

Question

How can I decorate on a budget?

Rachel Weinshanker
Certified Event & Wedding Planner
Rachel Weinshanker is a Certified Event and Wedding Planner and the Owner of San Diego Life Events, an award-winning wedding and event planning business based in San Diego, California. Rachel has over eight years of event planning experience, and her work has been featured in many notable publications. San Diego Life Events has been awarded the Wedding Wire Couple's Choice Award in 2018, 2019, and 2020. Rachel is a graduate from San Diego State University.

Rachel Weinshanker

Certified Event & Wedding Planner

Expert Answer

If you are crafty, consider creating decor on your own or shopping thrift stores for special feature pieces. Other budget-friendly places to look for decor and similar items include Craigslist and OfferUp, which tend to be based on your local area for easy pickup.
Question

How can I decorate my birthday party?

Lisa Maciel
Event Stylist
Lisa Maciel is an Event Stylist and the CEO of La Vie Posh. With more than five years of experience, she specializes in event styling, balloon installations, and prop rentals. Her work has been featured in party blogs, including Kara's Party Ideas and Catch My Party. Lisa holds a degree in Interior Design from Universidad Autónoma de Guadalajara.

Lisa Maciel

Event Stylist

Expert Answer

Always start by creating a Pinterest board so you can have great references and more diverse ideas. And then, with a more developed plan, shop around so you can find the best prices online or locally.