For our son's fourth birthday we went with a 'He's turning FORE' golf party. I knew we wanted to have something fun for the kids to play that would tie into the theme, so I decided to make a little DIY backyard mini golf so they could play putt putt! It was a fun game and worked as a party backdrop too.
I made this windwill from foam board- if you want to try it here's a tutorial! I love using foam boards because it's a cheap tool and easy to work with so you can make a bigger impact. And when you're hosting a bunch of kids you don't really want to use anything that matters if it gets broken. I've made a balloon barn and an arch stand for stuffed animals for other parties with foam boards too!
Supplies
- plywood
- rug (I bought this rug and used it for both the putting green and the favor arch. It looks sold out but you could get a similar one and cut to size.)
- burr wooden strips, cut to the size you want or have for the rug. These are the same pieces of wood I used for my DIY race track!
- staple gun - I love this one from Fiskars
- hammer and nails
Directions
- Cut your rug to the size of your plywood. Ours was approximately 3ft x 8ft. We used an old piece of plywood that my dad had in the garage, but you can buy them and have them cut to size.
- Using a staple gun (I love this one!) Staple the rug to the plywood. Keep it as tight as possible since you'll be using this as a putting green. You could also use wood glue, but it'd be easier to remove staples if you ever wanted to use it for something else.
- Have the team at the hardware store (we used Home Depot) cut the burr strips to the length of your putting green. My dad had to saw a bit of the ends with a miter saw when we were assembling the putting green- my tip would be to have them measure the length of the strip before cutting to your measurements. Sometimes pieces aren't exactly the length they say or it's bowed slightly which can mess with your measurements. Basically your goal is just to have them even so there isn't a chance of anyone tripping.
- Our plywood was ½inch thick, so we opted to hammer the edging to the rug and plywood. Depending on what width of plywood you're working with this may be trickier. You could try using wood glue and clamping it together.
More Birthday Party Inspiration
- Chugga Chugga Two Two - a Train Themed Birthday Party
- One Ring Circus Themed Birthday Party
- Young, Wild and Three Birthday Party
- Race Car Themed Third Birthday Party
After you do the sides of the putting green, add the backing piece. This will prevent the golf ball from rolling off the plywood and serves as a backstop of sorts.
We tried a few different ideas for the hole, but knowing that kids were going to be playing with it we didn't want to make it too challenging. I ended up using a piece of foam board and turning it into a large kind of basket goal. It worked well and there were a lot more hole in one's! You could use a plastic hole like those that come with golf game kits, or you can use foam board to make a place for them to aim.
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