Graduation Cupcake Tower & "Hollywood Premiere" 8th Grade Dance

My son Michael is graduating 8th grade this week (insert tears here), and this weekend was his 8th grade dance to celebrate this pending rite of passage.  The 8th graders chose the theme "Hollywood Preimere". 

In several moments of insanity during the parents meeting, I volunteered to make 100-150 cupcakes, a large sign, a movie clapboard and stars to put on the bathroom.  Ummm, yeah...what was I thinking? 

And then it occured to me that I needed to present the 100 or so cupcakes in a formal manner.  After pricing a cupcake tower that would hold almost 100 cupcakes at the oh so low price of $99, it quickly became clear that this was going to have to be a DIY project. 

 So behold my homemade creation with a "Hollywood" flair...

The cost? 

Between 10 and 12 dollars.

It held 92 cupcakes, but I think I could have put 100 on it if I had been more strategic at placing them.

So how did I make it you ask? 

Well the Pepsi addiciton finally paid off! Pepsi cans and the support of the top tier is a baby formula container all wrapped in aluminum foil. 

Each tier is made with some cardboard cakeboards, and I actually ended up cutting some of the tiers out of a heavier cardboard from a box we had laying around. 

 Note -

 Should you make one, I would double the cakeboards by gluing them together to make them thicker and more durable)

The structure was amazingly strong and sturdy.  I hot glued it all together, however there was a potential issue with the school's air conditioning so I began to worry that hot glue might begin melting in a humid hot environment so for a precaution, I also used some clear packaging tape  to make sure it stayed together.  But I will tell you that I accidently left out a tier and had a very hard time prying it apart, and I totally believe that the hot glue would have been fine.

I took the tulle and gathered it with my sewing maching to make a black ruffle and hot glued it on to the tiers..  Added silver and gold star garland I found at AC Moore which I also hot glued.  And then topped it with a dollar store balloon weight, which I have to say went very well with the Hollywood Theme. 

So here are some action shots..

And just for fun, here is the clapboard (with my son's school's name removed for safety reasons)

 I used my Cricut to cut the letters out of white cardstock and then modpodged them on.  I originally intended to use vinyl letterring cut out with the Cricut, but it refused to firmly stick to the OSB Wood that was donated.  The modpodge worked great and sealed it so no worries.


And what about the large sign I made?  A black twin flat sheet from Walmart for 4 bucks to which I once again used my Cricut to cut the letters, but this time out of white vinyl essentially making big vinyl letter stickers.  I also cut the stars from cardstock with the Cricut and then chose to cover them in foil tissue paper that I found at Dollar General to glam it up.  

Again, I removed my son's school's name for safety reasons. 

I know the lettering was a bit crooked and that is because when I put them on, I had hung it up by a rope.  It was intended to be hanging outside on a baseball field fence to be seen as the guests walked up, but because of threatening skies, we decided it was best to staple it up inside.  The 2011 is seriously crooked because a certain toddler in my care decided to rearrange them an hour before I was suppose to leave to put it up so I just stuck them back on.

And here are some pictures of from the "Hollywood Premiere"

Another Mom made the Hollywood letters out of foam and Plaster of Paris.  Then she made concrete bases with dows for them to be displayed.  I love it!  I think it really pulled together the theme.

The kids were given stars to decorate and those are the ones near the film strip.

And here is my son with one of his best friends. 

They have been friends since they were infants, and

for the first time will be heading off to school in different directions come fall.

Everyone seemed to have a great time at the dance including all the moms! 

Joining the parties over at....