Pans, cans, jars & tops: Recycled as party props! (1972)

Stop! Before you toss that string, will it make a napkin ring? And that strange jar over there… might look great with yarn for hair.

We’ve gathered lots of kitchen “trash” — and with a tiny bit of cash, made some props for our next big bash.

6 recycled party decorations

Once she was a detergent bottle… but now she’s a Southern belle with her tiny waist accented by a corset (draw it on). Lacy crinolines paper doilies again — peek from beneath her billowy party skirt.

Great frame-ups for your favorite groups… you hand ’em all for your party. Candy tin lids are edged with stick ’em tape: you can do the same thing with big cookie-can lids for use as serving trays.

Various size cans… covered with food pictures clipped from magazines… shellacked… for potato chips, celery stalks, carrot sticks, pretzels, or any other kind of goody you’re serving.

This slender, graceful case (a skinny can of cleanser) is painted your favorite color. Flowers you’ve made are stuck in holes on top.

Those pull-up tabs from soda cans… glue them together, letting them overlap. Glue a safety pin on back. Spray with your favorite color, paste on a felt polka dot for floral center, and you’ve got a groovy pin as a party favor.

Dolly holds a placecard. Her heads on an edible boiled egg; her body, part of a cardboard tube (paper towels came on it). Scraps of paper doilies make her dainty lace collar and cuffs. Or, cat food tins with both ends smoothly removed can be trimmed with felt polka dots, initials, or cut-outs to make bracelets.

MORE SIMPLE, INEXPENSIVE RETRO CRAFTS

• DIY milk carton candle made with ice & wax
• Easy craft project: Make a retro-style bulletin board (1983)
• How to make wooden clothespin trivets & coasters