Need Help for 80th surprise party

[lisabarr]

Hi all. I don't normally post here, but I am hoping you can help!
I am doing a poker theme for my fathers 80th surprise party. Its 2 months away.
I am trying to make life size poker chips to stack on top of each other. So I need to create round circles that are thick, so I can paint them. I want 3 stacks of 10-20 chips in each stack about 5 foot tall. Am I making sense? I am trying to do this very cheaply, as I could rent them for about $100, but really need to spend that money on other things.
Any thoughts??

 

[DisneyMommyMichelle]

What exactly is life size? Do you want them as big as a person? OR are you talking just REAL sized? And what do you want to put on them?

 

[lisabarr]

I don't want each chip to be life size. I want them to be very large and when stacked to be about 5ft tall. I am not putting anything on them. They are just decorations. I also want to make a hand of cards, an Ace high straight flush, spread out around 5 ft tall.

 

[OK!]

You could do styrofoam wreath forms (not the rounded ones--the ones that just look like big Os and have squared-off edges, if that makes sense) and then use a round hunk of styrofoam for the top chip (or use round pieces of styrofoam for all of them...I'm not sure which option is cheaper). I know Hobby Lobby carries them in a variety of sizes; if memory serves, they are about an inch to an inch and a half thick or so and are white. Just make sure you use paint that's safe for foam. Some regular spray paints will erode the foam away.

 

[lovetoscrap]

I think styrofoam is going to be your best bet, but for as many as you want I am not sure you will come away much cheaper than the $100 to rent.

How big in diameter do you want each chip? I have the idea of how tall, but am trying to figure out how "wide" you want this to be?


Another idea that might be cheaper--but labor intensive-- would be to buy a large round cake pan and then make the chips out of something like plaster of paris. You could add in the ridge design this way if you were really wanting to be crafty! I see that the TF thinks you are Craftily Challenged so let me know if you need some help with this idea.

 

[lisabarr]

**Sigh** I think this going to be a bit more complicated then I want to get into. I just can't think of a way to do it any cheaper.
Thanks for your ideas. Let me know if you think of anything else. I am "Craftily Challenged"