2014 printable Oscar bingo and ballot

[To join the bingo mailing list for future years, sign up here].

My 2014 Oscar ballot and bingo game are done! Get set to enjoy Sunday's Academy Awards with friends. It doesn't matter if they watch movies or know who the actors are; anyone can play bingo and it's a good excuse for a party.

Download the Oscar ballot PDF
Download the Oscar bingo PDF

Save the PDFs to your computer, open them in Adobe Reader, and print.


To use the ballot: print one for each guest and have them mark their predictions before the show starts. The person with the most correct guesses wins.

To use the bingo cards: 20 different game cards are included in the PDF. Print out the number of pages you need for your guests. Then fan out the sheets, close your eyes, wave your hands over them, and put your finger on a card. This one is meant to be yours. Your party guests can fight over the rest of the sheets, but they're not going to win. You are. As you all watch the telecast, the first person to mark off five squares in a line wins. It could be a horizontal, vertical, or diagonal line. (This year I removed the center "free" space to make you work a little harder.)

Movie theater gift cards, boxes of popcorn, candy, or little Oscar statuettes from a party store make good prizes.

Has anybody tried to play with friends long distance? You could each claim a page number to print out and then text or tweet each other when you get a bingo.

Like every year, a disclaimer: Maybe someone will get a bingo ten minutes into the telecast, or maybe your group won't have a winner at all because my psychic powers have failed this year. Best of luck!

P.S. If you like Oscar bingo, you might also like my Christmas Hallmark Movie Bingo.

2014 Oscar bingo is coming soon

I've been getting gobs of email asking if I'll be making Oscar bingo cards again this year. You betcha. This will be the sixth year. I'm collecting info on the 2014 ceremony and will make up the cards a week or two before the show. There will be 20 different cards again, plus a matching ballot guests can fill out before the ceremony. (See the 2013 set here.) I'll post the free printable PDFs here on my blog.

To be notified when they're ready, add yourself to the Oscar bingo mailing list.

Update: Bingo is ready! Grab it here.

Fun facts: Over 1,000 people have signed up, and last year the bingo was featured on LIVE with Kelly & Michael on TV. So I'd better not screw it up.

The 2014 Oscars air March 2 at 7e/4p on ABC.

Can I ask for feedback from those who use them? I always design the sheets in black and white with no bleeds so they won't suck up an entire color ink cartridge. Do you like them in simple B/W, or would you prefer a fancier design in full color?

DIY paper banners for Cinco de Mayo

Several blogs offer instructions for making simplified papel picado (perforated paper) banners. These would be fun to whip up for a Cinco de Mayo shindig or birthday party. Find directions here:
Papel picado streamers by Studio DIY
Papel picado in purple and pink at Green Wedding Shoes
A downloadable template for papel picado from Happy Thought
Arrow-inspired garland by Lovely Indeed

Also see instructions for mini papel picado-inspired cupcake flags and straws. Consider succulents planted in cans for table decorations or party favors, too— like this or this. Little cacti are usually quite cheap at Home Depot.

Easy-to-make St. Patrick's Day decorations

If you've got paper and tape, you can make some easy St. Patrick's Day decorations. Remember the wall of 3D paper hearts? You can use the same template to whip up some quick shamrocks.


To make these:
1. Download this heart template and print it on green paper. Or orange paper, if you want extra points. Nothing wrong with an orange shamrock, is there?

2. Follow the instructions in the original post for forming the hearts.

3. Cut some stem pieces and fold a crease most of the way up the center. These can be long rectangles, slightly curved if you like.


Each shamrock requires three hearts and a stem.


4. Tape three hearts together so their points meet in the center. Tape a stem on top.


5. Apply wall putty or a rolled piece of tape to the center of the shamrock, and stick it to your wall. A surface covered with these would be awesome, and then you could call it an "installation" and get extra respect.

Oscar bingo on TV

My annual Oscar bingo game made an appearance on the ABC talk show LIVE with Kelly & Michael this morning. Thanks for the mention, Carly, Kelly, and Michael!

For an animated look at what Kelly was actually thinking, click here. To see Michael's secret thoughts, click here.

And for more Oscar party ideas and general inspiration, check these out:

An Oscar fashion quiz: Who wore the dress?

An Oscar trivia quiz: An impossibly hard test that will stir up feelings of inadequacy

Cocktail recipes for your 2013 Oscar party: A round-up of nominee-inspired drinks from fancy LA restaurants

Oscar party potluck recipes: A nod to each of the films up for Best Picture

A recipe for Crabby Snacks: You know, from Silver Linings Playbook. Someone attempted to figure out what crabby snacks and homemades are. I love the internet.

Have a great weekend!

Printable letters for party banners

HP has a big library of printable files, including these letters and numbers you can print and string to make banners. Nothing says "I love you" like using up an entire ink cartridge on someone you care about.

(Or use the smart tip Krysalia left in the comments on this post: get the letters printed by a photo service. Twenty 4x6 prints might only cost you $2-$3.)

Oscar party decorating

If you need a quick DIY decorating idea for an Academy Awards party, you might like Ty's film-wrapped candles. This project uses old negatives wrapped around flameless LED candles. (Get them 3 for $1 at Dollar Tree.) Me, I'd be tempted to wrap film around the outside of glass candle holders and use real tea lights inside. I know you oughtn't, since film is flammable (as folks aggressively pointed out in the comments on Ty's project) but I like to live dangerously. I've got a million tea lights and zero LED candles.

Update: I wrapped some photo negatives around a glass votive holder and put a real candle inside to test it (see image). Burned it for over two hours. The glass got lukewarm to the touch, but nowhere near hot enough to melt anything. The glass was pretty thick, so that helps. I'm not telling you to do this. Don't sue me if you start your house on fire. I'm just reporting my experience; do with it what you will! And never leave a burning candle unattended.

Printable 2013 Oscar ballot and bingo game

The Oscars are on February 24th. Whether you're hosting an Academy Awards party or planning to lounge on the couch in your PJs, it's fun to mark predictions on a ballot and try your luck at Oscar bingo.

Folks at your party will be counting the number of winners on stage, hoping the presenters will botch their lines, and cheering for the orchestra when it cuts off a speech. Movie theater gift cards, boxes of popcorn, or little Oscar statuettes from a party store make good prizes.

A bingo refresher: The first person to mark off five squares in a line wins. It could be a horizontal, vertical, or diagonal line, and the center square counts as a freebie.

There are 20 different game cards in the downloadable file. Save the PDF to your computer, open it in Adobe Reader, and print the number of pages you need at 100% size. (Then select the best sheet for yourself, of course.)

Download the Oscar bingo game
Download the Oscar ballot

Like every year, my standard disclaimer applies. It might be possible to get a bingo ten minutes into the telecast, or maybe your group won't have a winner at all because my psychic powers have failed this time.
Good luck!

To join the bingo mailing list for future years, sign up here.

Looking for 2013 Oscar bingo cards?

Update: You can grab 2013 Oscar bingo right here!

A quick note to answer an FAQ: yup, I'll be making my annual Oscar bingo cards and a ballot again this year. I'm waiting until a little more information about the ceremony becomes public, but it should be early February. I'm getting so many emailed requests that I've made a little signup form. Add your email address and I'll send you links to download the free printable sheets when they're done. (See last year's set for an example.)

Sign up here!
Update: I've sent out the email to the folks who signed up for this list. If you missed it, you can grab 2013 Oscar bingo right here.

I'll also post them here on How About Orange, but if you're one of the worried persons concerned you might miss it, join the mailing list so you can sleep at night. If you've already emailed me this year to inquire, I've probably added your name to the list already.

Printable birthday party game sheets

Anyone in need of birthday party games for adults might enjoy this one. For my husband's birthday, I collected photos of celebrities and asked party guests "Is this celebrity older or younger than Alex?"

The photos came from Google image searches with the "large" size selected in the search filter. I saved each photo on my iPad and put them in an album to make flipping through them easy. You could also use magazine clippings. Or just read a list of names without using photos, but guests who don't know what a particular celebrity looks like will be at a disadvantage. To find the ages, I just Googled "[celebrity's name] age" and it popped up at the top of the search results.

Guests could number their own pieces of scrap paper. Or you could get all fancy and make your own answer cards personalized with the guest of honor's name, which is what I did.

I also made this generic version in case anyone wants it. Download the game card PDF here.

It turned out to be really fun. Alex did fairly badly, which was even better. It's good for some laughs! I had no idea Keanu Reeves is 48.

How to make party decorations out of paper

There's something really satisfying about making your own... anything. And if you're throwing a party for someone, what better way to say "I like you" than to make the decorations by hand. Not to mention, it's cheaper. Not to mention, you can cut and assemble these while watching TV, so you'll feel productive and proud of yourself instead of like a guilty couch potato. Learn to make the paper flower centerpiece above at Santa Barbara Wedding Style.

Download free printable templates for mini candy boxes at Gi Det Videre. The PDFs have editable text fields so you can easily type in guests' names and use them as place cards or favor boxes. Check back at Gi Det Videre this week for more matching printables to add to the set.

Get a template and instructions from HGTV for making this party flag garland. Use paper in colors that match your plates, napkins and other party stuff, and you'll look like a pro.

Wine glass flags: printable template

Awhile back a friend asked if I had any wine glass charms to help guests avoid mixing up their glasses at her party. (This sort of thing, for example.) I did not. But it occurs to me that it would be A) easy to make your own and B) nice to customize the colors to match your dishes, the current holiday, or your party theme. Plus it might be nice to have a tag you can write on, since after a few glasses of wine, can anyone really remember if they had the blue charm or the green one? (Then again, after a few glasses of wine, maybe you don't care whose glass you drink out of, either.)

If you'd like to make your own wine glass flags, I've made a printable template. Print the PDF at 100% onto solid or patterned paper, cut out the tags, and wrap them around glass stems using the slits to secure them.

Each guest could grab a tag and write their name on it. Or you could open the PDF in Adobe Illustrator, if you have it, and type names or messages yourself. Or open it in Adobe Reader and use the Typewriter tool. If you want water-resistant tags that might survive a few parties, laminate your sheet of paper with strips of packing tape on the front and back sides and provide a dry-erase pen for guests' names.

Download the template file right here.

I'll post an alternate design tomorrow.

2012 Oscar bingo and ballot

Update: Looking for the 2013 Oscar bingo and ballot? Get it right here.

Hosting an Oscars party on Feb. 26? I've made up 20 different Oscar bingo cards you can print out, along with a matching ballot for guessing the Academy Award winners. And like every year, a big disclaimer for the game: it might be possible to win ten minutes into the telecast, or maybe there won't be any winners at all. Who knows? But based on personal experience, I can say it's really fun to play.

A bingo refresher: The first person to mark off five squares in a line wins. It could be a horizontal, vertical, or diagonal line, and the center square counts as a freebie.

To keep the PDF file sizes smaller, I've split the bingo set into two files of ten pages each. Save a file to your computer, open it in Adobe Reader, and print the number of pages you need at 100% size.

Download the first set of 10 cards.
Download the second set of 10 cards.
Download the ballot.

Create Valentine dishes with edible paint

For a party or special dinner, try decorating plain dishes with icing. Designs will be perfectly edible, and if you make a mistake while painting, just lick it off and start over. (Don't tell anyone your tongue made contact with their plate.)

To make this "paint," I mixed 3 tablespoons of powdered sugar, 1 teaspoon of water, and 2 drops of liquid food coloring. Apply with a paintbrush. If needed, run your fingernail around any wiggly edges to smooth them out before they dry.

Printable bottle gift tags

After a day of traveling yesterday, I'm popping in for a minute to wish you guys a merry Christmas! I'm taking a blogging break until the new year, but wanted to share something I whipped up. If you plan to give any bottles of wine, champagne, or other festive drinks as gifts, maybe you could use some gift tags.

Download the PDF here, print it at 100%, cut out the tags, and slip them onto your bottles for instant fanciness. (I've also posted an alternate 2012 new year's design on my portfolio site.)

Have a wonderful holiday and a happy new year, everyone!

Nice online beer label generator

At Beer Labelizer, a personal project from designer Andy Biggs, choose from an array of label options and type in your text. Download a high res jpeg and print. You could replace the labels on store-bought bottles for a customized present. Or send the link to your friend who secretly brews beer in his apartment building's basement storage unit. If you knew someone like that. Not saying I do...

16 printable party invitations (free!)

HGTV features a collection of all-occasion party invitations to download and print. If you've got a party coming up and the stick people you've scrawled on your homemade invites don't look quite right, click here! Created by different designers, there's something for everyone.

DIY decorating with masking tape

I love to peel and stick things. Especially orange things. Here's an easy way to customize plain ceramics: apply decorative tape in colors that match your home, your party decorations, or your current bouquet of flowers. Dress up inexpensive vases for DIY wedding table centerpieces or showers. And when you get tired of your design, just peel it off.

Stick tape onto a piece of wax paper and slice it into thin strips to make asterisks or bunting strings. Cut the other shapes off tape rolls with a scissors.


Sources for pretty masking tape include Happy Tape, Cutetape, and Ginko Papers.

Printable baby shower invitation set

I spotted this printable baby shower stationery set at Creature Comforts and had to share it; the cuteness is overwhelming. Anna Bond of Rifle Paper Co. has illustrated a set of book-themed baby shower pieces available as a free download at Martha Stewart. Check out the whole slide show: that book garland is a sweet idea.

Royal wedding party printables

Speaking of parties, I keep hearing rumors that two people called William and Kate are getting married in England sometime soon. I don't know much about it, but I suppose it will be the typical wedding seen on all the blogs nowadays with one of those photo booths where guests hold up mustaches on sticks in front of their faces.

If you'd like to watch this wedding on TV and make a party of it (or you're just nuts about British themes), download this set of printables from Design Editor.