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How to fold an origami birthday party

A real project. Pleat a pink sheet into a two-tier cake with cut icing drips, add three candles with flames, then balloons, two presents, a party hat and a bunting banner, all on a wall that stands up.

You need: 13 pieces: 12 × 15 cm pink, 30 × 24 cm light blue, and smaller yellow, teal, red, green, blue, purple and orange pieces. Scissors, glue, pens.. Challenge, 54 steps, about 60 minutes.

Steps

  1. Cake: fold in half. Start with the cake: a 12 × 15 cm pink piece, pink side up, standing tall. Fold the left edge over onto the right edge.
  2. Cake: in half again. Fold the right edges back over onto the left fold.
  3. Cake: and again. Fold it in half once more the same way, to a narrow stack 1.5 cm wide. Crease hard.
  4. Cake: cut the drips. Round off both top corners of the stack: start 1 cm down each side and curve up to the top edge 6 mm in. These cuts make the icing drips.
  5. Cake: open it. Unfold the last fold.
  6. Cake: open again. Unfold the next fold.
  7. Cake: open flat. Unfold the first fold too. The top edge is a row of rounded bumps.
  8. Cake: fold down the icing. Fold the bumpy top edge down 1.8 cm onto the front. The white is the icing, and the bumps hang down as drips.
  9. Cake: pleat the tiers. Fold the top part down onto the front, creasing 6.2 cm above the bottom edge. The white side shows for now.
  10. Cake: fold it back up. Fold the flap back up, creasing 1.2 cm lower. Pink shows again, with the icing on top: this is the top tier.
  11. Cake: cut the top tier. Snip along the bottom fold from each side to 3.75 cm from the middle. Lift the front flap and cut its sides off straight up, so the top tier is narrower.
  12. Candles: new sheet. Set the cake aside. For the candles, take a 3.9 × 7.5 cm yellow piece, white side up, standing tall.
  13. Candles: the flames. Fold the top edge down 1.5 cm onto the front. The yellow band will be the flames.
  14. Candles: fold in thirds. Fold the right third of the strip over onto the middle third.
  15. Candles: left third over. Fold the left third over on top. Now it is a stack 1.3 cm wide, three layers thick.
  16. Candles: cut the candles. Cut a long thin sliver off each side, from 5.5 cm down to 3.5 mm in at the yellow. Then cut the yellow to a point in the middle.
  17. Candles: open them. Unfold both flaps. Three white candles stand on a strip, each with a pointed yellow flame.
  18. Table: new sheet. Set the candles aside. For the table, take a 30 × 6.6 cm teal strip, teal side up, lying long.
  19. Table: hem the edges. Fold the top edge down 1 cm onto the front for a white table top, and the bottom edge up 6 mm for a white hem.
  20. Put the cake on the table. Glue the candles behind the top of the cake, 3.5 cm showing. Glue the cake on the middle of the table, its bottom 7 mm down into the white top.
  21. Red balloon: new sheet. Set the table aside. Take a 5 cm red square, coloured side up, turned like a diamond.
  22. Red balloon: corners behind. Fold the top, left and right corners behind, each a bit more than halfway to the middle. The bottom point stays: it is the knot.
  23. Red balloon: round it. Fold the six new corners behind, the lower two a bit more, so the balloon is round. Fold just the tip of the bottom point behind: the knot.
  24. Yellow balloon: new sheet. Set it aside. Take a 5 cm yellow square, coloured side up, turned like a diamond.
  25. Yellow balloon: corners behind. Fold the top, left and right corners behind the same way, leaving the bottom point for the knot.
  26. Yellow balloon: round it. Round off the six new corners behind the same way, and blunt the bottom point for the knot.
  27. Green balloon: new sheet. Set it aside. Take a 5.5 cm green square, coloured side up, turned like a diamond.
  28. Green balloon: corners behind. Fold the top, left and right corners behind the same way, leaving the bottom point for the knot.
  29. Green balloon: round it. Round off the six new corners behind the same way, and blunt the bottom point for the knot.
  30. Blue present: new sheet. Set the balloon aside. Take a 12 × 7 cm blue piece, white side up, long side across.
  31. Blue present: sides in. Fold the left and right edges in to just short of the middle, leaving a thin white gap: the ribbon.
  32. Blue present: square the box. Fold 5 mm at the top and the bottom behind, so the box has neat square corners.
  33. Red present: new sheet. Set it aside. Take a 9 × 6 cm red piece, white side up, long side across.
  34. Red present: sides in. Fold the left and right edges in to just short of the middle, leaving the white ribbon gap.
  35. Red present: square the box. Fold 5 mm at the top and the bottom behind, so the box has neat square corners.
  36. Party hat: new sheet. Set the present aside. For the party hat, take a 7 cm purple square, white side up, turned like a diamond.
  37. Party hat: tall kite. Fold the two upper edges in so they meet along the middle, like a tall kite.
  38. Party hat: tuck the tip. Fold the white point at the bottom up behind, along the line between the side corners.
  39. Party hat: the band. Fold the bottom edge up a little. The back of the tucked point comes round to the front as a white band.
  40. Party hat: trim the band. Snip off the bit of colour peeking out at each end of the band, with a slanted cut up to just inside its top corner.
  41. Bobble: new sheet. Set the hat aside. For the bobble, take a 2 cm yellow square, yellow side up.
  42. Bobble: round it off. Fold all four corners behind, a little less than a third of the way along the edges, so the bobble is round.
  43. Bunting: new sheet. Set the bobble aside. For the bunting, take a 30 × 4 cm orange strip, orange side up, lying long.
  44. Bunting: the string. Fold the top edge down 8 mm onto the front. The white band is the string the flags hang from.
  45. Bunting: fold in half. Fold the left end over onto the right end.
  46. Bunting: in half again. Fold the right end back over onto the left fold.
  47. Bunting: and again. Fold it in half once more the same way, to a stack 3.75 cm wide. Crease hard.
  48. Bunting: cut the flags. Cut from each side just under the white band down to the middle of the bottom edge, taking off two triangles.
  49. Bunting: open it. Unfold the last fold.
  50. Bunting: open again. Unfold the next fold.
  51. Bunting: open flat. Unfold the first fold too. Eight pointed flags hang in a row from the white string.
  52. Wall: new sheet. Set the bunting aside. Last, the wall: a 30 × 24 cm light blue sheet, blue side up, lying long.
  53. Set up the party. Glue the table along the bottom of the wall, the bunting along its top, and the balloons above the presents. Stand the presents and hat on the table.
  54. Stand it up. Bend the wall gently towards you just left of the cake, and stand the whole party up on the table.

Happy birthday!

Draw sprinkles on the cake and stripes on the candles. Paint white ribbons and bows on the presents, dots on the hat and flags, and draw the balloon strings.

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