Make this cool barber pole centerpiece

M’s third birthday party was a huge hit, and yes, that halo of curls has been replaced with a shorter mop! I made this barber’s pole centerpiece after searching high and low for barber shop party decor and not finding anything satisfactory.

Traditionally, many Ashkenazic Jews wait until three years old to cut a boy’s hair. While we don’t really follow that particular tradition, we decided to grow M’s hair anyway, since we couldn’t bring ourselves to chop off those curls…

So when his third birthday came, we threw him a barber shop themed haircut party! His hair was cut in the morning, followed by a party with plenty of friends and family.

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I created the party in a traditional Barber Shop theme, and will be sharing with you various tutorials and printables as I go along.

Anyway, with these adorable barber shop party decor centerpieces, I kind of lucked out. I had a vision in mind: I’ll paint my box white, then use strips of duct tape for the stripes. But the day that I was making it (much later than I should have been…) I received a package in the mail that came in a white box!! Even better, the box was the perfect size.

So I do hope you have the same luck that I did (otherwise you can purchase white packing boxes, or paint your box white.)

The barber shop party decor centerpieces got plenty of rave reviews at the event and were a huge hit. They were clean and neat to make, done in under half an hour. They were really inexpensive, and perfect if you’re trying to make a barber shop party on a budget. And when the party was done, they went straight into the recycling bin!

What you need to make a barber shop party decor centerpiece:

A white cardboard box (you can paint a brown box with white paint...).
Duct tape in red and blue
A box cutter or good pair of scissors
Packing tape
A white balloon for each pole

How to make a barber shop party decor centerpiece:

1. Open and lay your box flat.

2. Cut it to size. I cut mine in half so that I had two of the pieces pictured.

3. Starting in the center, place a diagonal stripe of duct tape on your box. Fold the tape around the edges of the box.

4. Continue alternating colors, leaving a wide strip of white between the colors of duct tape.

5. Do this until your entire cardboard is covered in alternating red and blue diagonal stripes, with white showing in between.

6. Now, fold your box into a long square pillar. Since I had two equal sections of my box already folded, I folded each one in half to form four equal sides. I allowed the top and bottom flaps to be part of the pillar, ignoring the existing folds.