Wednesday, July 23, 2014

Bunny Party: Hutches




I am ashamed to say that, again, we had no cardboard at this party :( 
It is very sad. 
However, I used its closest substitute: poster board, out of which we made these little gabled houses for our party guests to transport their bunnies home in.

I'd have preferred to have been able to buy them instead of making them, just to save the time, but there were none to buy in the size and limited quantity that I wanted. So I bought poster board for 50 cents apiece and cut each into house parts as shown.

The windows were cut out with my old Fiskars freehand cutting tool and accompanying templates.

Then the assembling began.
First, the roofless house was put together. The necessary fold lines were scored, and the sides and flaps folded and glued.

One half of the roof went on next.

This roof-half was glued in place to the upper flaps of the house.

The other roof-half was only attached at its bottom edge, 

so that it could open 

and close for a cover.

The little half-moon cutaway flap folds over to hold it shut,

creating handles in the process, for carrying. 

I spent a day or two leisurely cutting out and assembling more of these little houses. A little time-consuming (hence my preference to always buy over making) but nowhere as insane as, say, mass-sewing for parties, which almost always takes weeks

They look like birdhouses in this view! Hm. Must file idea away for future bird-watching-type party themes.

We made these houses in white posterboard so the guests could decorate them on the party day. For today's pre-party photoshoot, the kids and I used washi tape and pens to pretty up one of the houses, 

and invited one of the bunnies to check it out.

On the day of the party, we supplied markers and stickers,

and the kids spent a long time personalizing their bunny hutches, 

while visiting with each other. 

Here are the ones my kids did. I found it hilarious that the names they - and the other girl guests - picked were variants of Fluff, Snow, and Rose,

whereas the boys in attendance picked names like "Blood" and "Rage" (if I remember right). The incongruence cracks me up. Is this how boys think? I've been a mom of daughters for so long that I automatically assume everyone lives in a pink-purple-sparkle-rainbow world like we do. 

And that rounds up the Bunny Party Behind-the-Scenes tour. I'll update the original Bunny Party post with links to all these individual-elements posts so you can get to them from that one place.


11 comments:

  1. Thank you! Just pinned! I love this little houses and bunnies

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  2. Your hutch design is great, and decorating them looks like a wonderful activity for the kids! I bet the bunnies loved their pretty new homes. :)

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  3. Love it! I think we'll have to do a "pet carrier" version for my daughter's vet party in a few months :-)

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  4. Ooooh! I've been reading all the bunny party posts and giggling! If my daughter was completely set on a Frozen theme I'd be making these right now! Adorable!!!

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  5. I love the bunny hutches! Thank you for explaining how you made these!

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  6. so darling! Just wondering what the measurements for the hutches are.. My daughter is dying to make one and a pom-pom bunny to go with it. Thanks for showing your process!

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  7. Was looking through the Aug. Book Page (reviews of best new books) and saw a review for Little One-Yard Wonders. The reviewer said her favorite was the amazing "House in a Hallway". I hope to make one when my granddaughter gets older...meanwhile I'm getting ready to make the bunny & hutch. Thanks for sharing. Dee

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  8. Lovely work. I loved the bunny and hutches. I saw your other posts also . Your work is incredible. Thank you so much for sharing excellent work. This is so inspiring.

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  9. What a wonderful party. Your daughters are lucky to have such a talented mom. Can you tell me what size these boxes are? I don't see any measurements and will be attempting these for my daughters birthday. Thanks so much for sharing!

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    1. Teresa, I'm sorry but I won't be able to be of much help. I don't remember the dimensions and, as we've tossed out the hutches themselves, I can't even go measure a finished one to tell you. I do remember designing them to fit the pom-pom bunnies, and giving them about an inch around the bunny (length, width and height), to ensure they were large enough but not so huge that the bunnies were slip-sliding around inside when carried.

      If I had to estimate, I'd say the length is about 8-9" and the width about 5". I can't even begin to estimate the roof and gable or handles. I am sorry!

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