JHB - Would love to see a picture of the boards you make that the kids wore. I think thats a fantastic idea and the kids would love to help out doing something like that!! My email is This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Grommets aren't hard once you get the hang of it. You can buy them in a craft or fabric store. Probably 3/4" or so diameter. It's a ring with a puffed out edge that clamps on the paper to fix it in place. This keeps the ties from ripping through the cardboard.
The initial set usually comes with metal strikepiece sort of shaped like bolt or a mushroom (and instructions).
Make your two posters and laminate if you really want them to hold up for awhile. Poke a small starter hole through the cardboard to get you started (or use a single hole punch and just overlap 2 or 3 holes.) It's best to have a child handy to sort of measure where a good place would be for the ties - how far a part the holes/grommets should be.
Then you put it on the floor (on the metal mushroom) with the two grommet pieces sandwiched on each side of the cardboard and strike it with a hammer. You can also buy a fancier plyer-like tool. But I had better luck with the hammer method myself. You'll have to do this 4 times, two times for each cardboard piece.
You can use ribbon, shoelaces, rope, etc. to tie the pieces together. It's better to tie one or both shoulders with bows or knots you can remove rather than forcing the whole thing over the kid's head each time.
The kids have a blast roaming around and the signs really catch the eye. Sometimes we put all the date references on the front and keep the back pretty generic so we can re-use that piece.
I'm not artistic at all, so I just make up my phrases in big type on the computer and print on brightly colored paper (plus some clipart). Then we cutout the pieces and glue them on the posterboard. The computer print is much easier to read than handwriting (especially mine). You need short phrases that can be written or printed BIG.
I'm sure you can imagine it, but if someone wants to see a picture, email me.
I, in particular, like the idea of sandwich boards. I can picture the kids parading around with these around their bodies - Great "live" advertising" at that!!
JHB- how do grommets work? Is it easy to do on this material?
