"Up" Movie Birthday Party Craft or Favor

Difficulty: Easy! Time: 10 min per book

I thought this would be a great activity for the kids to decorate at my daughters birthday party with an "UP" movie theme. I found these little spiral notebooks for $1, and covered them in green and orange paper. First, measure the books (mine were 5x7), then cut out the green paper for the cover. You want it to be 1/2 bigger than the cover on all sides. So I cut my paper to the size 8x5 1/2 (it doesn't wrap over the spiral binding). I also cut a sheet of orange paper (any contrast color will do) to cover the spiral binding. Mine was 3 1/2 inches wide by 8" tall.

Next I painted glue or decoupage on the entire cover, and placed the green sheet over, as close to the spirals as I could get without interfering with page turning. The open the book, and paint the inside edge of the green paper with glue or decoupage. Start by folding in the corners, and then the edges. This will give you a nice crisp cover on the front. Repeat with the back cover.

Finally, fold the Orange paper so it fits around the spirals. This is something you just have to measure around the spirals on your notebook...or maybe you're covering a hard bound book, which would be even easier. Glue in place, and carefully fold the ends over.

Now you're done! You can decorate the front with the title, or let the kids do it themselves. I hand-cut the letters on mine, to give it a 'kid-done' look, like the one from the movie, and this was the example for the party guests. My Party was for 6 year olds, so I had stickers, stamps and markers for them to use, but you can adapt this craft depending on the age. For younger kids, you may want to pre-finish them all, and just let them draw in the pages, and older kids can get more creative with glue, scissors and paper. Most of all, Have fun! If anyone else does this for a party, I'd love to see it!