Friday 4 May 2012

Boys day Bunting - tutorial..

Actually the 5th of May is kodomo-no-hi (Children's day) but since the girls have their own day it seems unfair that the boys have to share theirs! Anyway, in Japan koinobori are displayed, many people, especially out in the countryside have big koi fish flying from flag poles. Usually we are camping for kodomo-no-hi so we play 'spot the koi' when driving around. As our camping trip was cancelled I thought I had better come up with a quick decoration....


What you need:
Origami paper
3 sizes of round stickers
scissors
string
tape


1. Fold and cut a sheet of paper in half, this will make two koi.
2. Cut a triangle from one end to make the tail shape.
3. Flip the paper over and fold over the end.
4. Flip back the right way and put on the biggest sticker for an eye.


5. Add the middle sized sticker in the eye.
6. Add the smallest sticker, the eye is finished.
7. Take a row of big stickers and cute them in half.
8. Stick them in a 3, 2, 1 formation for the scales.


9. When all the koi are made, flip them over, tape the string under the folded end.
10. Add a bit of tape to keep the flap down, then hang up your koi bunting.


You can find more boys day fun over at Zakka Life.

10 comments:

  1. That's super cute! Despite the name "children's day," I always thought May 5th was kind of for boys anyway. At least that's what my husband told me. Girls have Hina Matsuri, and boys have Kodomo-no-hi.

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    Replies
    1. yes, i was under the impression for a long time that 3/3 for girls and 5/5 for boys!

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  2. Thank you for this wonderful idea. My American son has gone to Japanese yochien for the last three years. This is a great way for us to remember the holiday next year when we are no longer in Japan. Thanks so much!

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    Replies
    1. much cheaper than buying real koinobori that's for sure !

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  3. The bunting is so cute!!!

    Thanks for sharing a link to my site :)

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  4. I have a son, and we partied on Hina Festival Day, plus my dolls were put out.

    I prefer Hina Festival instead of Girls' Day and Children's Day instead of Boys' Day. It seems silly to separate by gender. Both holidays are fun!

    Also, Children's Day is a public holiday, but Hina Festival is not, so I don't want my son thinking boys are better than girls.

    I do love your blog and that you are always thinking of the earthquake victims. :-)

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  5. good point, my son wants to know why girls get to dress up twice for 3-5-7 and boys only once! I have no idea, I send him to his dad to ask such questions.

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  6. This is awesome! I pinned it, I hope you don't mind.

    I think that by the seventh birthday the boys were supposed to be off with their fathers training to be samurais away from the family home so couldn't spare time for something that doesn't involve actual sword-wielding, but this may be just totally off-base!

    ReplyDelete

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