Have you ever heard of a Decoration Day? It’s now known as Memorial Day here in America and celebrated at the end of this month. But today we are hearkening back to another previous holiday, Remembrance Day, now known as Veterans Day. Though it’s celebrated in November, we thought it would also make for a nice spring/summer project because it’s all about poppies! In the early 1900s, Americans used paper poppies to commemorate military personnel who have died in the war, now known as our Veterans Day. Now the tradition has been adopted worldwide and is used to honor all servicemen who have lost their lives in conflicts. Isn’t that so lovely?
I don’t know about you, but I often think of barbecues, swimming parties, and picnics when I think of Memorial Day. I love those aspects of the holiday, but it’s so much more than that! We came up with an easy DIY that celebrates all elements of this wonderful holiday! Remember our DIY Paper Daisy Backdrop? Well, in honor of Memorial Day we created a DIY Paper Poppy Backdrop along with a paper poppy pin for the day! So now you can have your cake and eat it too… or have your poppy and party too!
Materials:Â
- Poppy Flower Template: PDF HERE
- Red and black paper
- Scissors
- Glue gun
Instructions:
- Using the template, cut out five petals out of red paper and one center out of black paper
- Cut a slit as the base of each petal, gently overlap the two sides and hot glue in place. This will create a subtle cup shape in the petal
- Arrange petals in a circular shape and glue in place.
- Fringe the outer edge of the black center and scissor curl the edges so they curl inwards.
- Glue centerpiece in the center of the five petals.
- Arrange poppies onto a wall and secure with tape. We used 30 poppies to cover a wall.
These are wonderful! Are you using cardstock paper?
It’s butcher paper. We get it from the party store for $.30 a foot!
Thank you for sharing this! Cant wait until next school year to make them.