These camouflage blinds were perfect for my son’s Nerf Battle birthday party. Use the easy spray painting technique to create camouflage designs on almost any surface.
It’s hard to believe it’s already been almost a year ago that we had Carter’s Nerf Battle birthday party, and at the time I promised a tutorial on how I painted the camouflage blinds we used for the battle. I thought I had lost the pictures when my iPhone died last fall, but low and behold I found them in a recovery folder the other day. Woo hoo!
This is a really easy project with basic supplies. I did some of my painting up on saw horses, but the rest I did on the ground so I could do multiples at a time.
Supplies:
- Large cardboard – I used large sized moving boxes purchased at a home improvement center, cut in half.
- Spray paint – I used 3 colors – a dark olive green, beige/tan, and black.
- Leaves or leaf templates
- Stakes – I used wooden stakes fastened with zip ties.
Step 1: Paint background green. This is actually an optional step. I did it this way so I could cover the logo printed on the cardboard.Allow to dry enough that it’s not tacky. If you don’t do this, then skip to step 2.
Step 2: Position leaves on to cardboard randomly and use a light mist with your spray paint around the edges of your leaves. If you skipped step 1, I would start with the color you want to be most prominent. Since my background was already green, I used my tan spray paint next. When choosing leaves, I preferred to do a variety really anything goes.
I used my leaves several times and just repositioned them randomly around the surface until I had the coverage I was looking for. You’ll want to use new leaves when the ones you have get too sticky.
Step 3: Once dry to the touch, repeat Step 2 with the next color, for me this was black. Through some trial and error, I preferred to use the black sparringly, so I only very lightly misted the edges with black spray paint.
Repeat again if you have any desired colors remaining. I painted both sides of my cardboard, but whether you do is up to you. You’ll want to wait until it’s fairly dry (a few hours) before you turn it over, especially if you’re doing your painting on the ground.
Finally, we attached some wooden stakes, using zip ties to our cardboard, so our blinds would be nice and sturdy.
We set up our Nerf battlefield at a local park and the kids (and adults) had Nerf wars and played capture the flag all afternoon. Adding in some homemade camo cupcakes and target practice activities, the Nerf party was one of Carter’s favorite birthday parties and pretty simple and inexpensive to coordinate.
This kind of party is in a class of its own. Decorate your party venue with custom outdoor neon signs. Make your gaming party more exciting!
We kept the camo blinds from last year and we’re thinking of using them again this year for a laser tag themed birthday party. We figured we’d get use out of them again someday, but now that we’re just a few weeks out from Carter’s next birthday and we’ve done zero planning, I think it’s a likely scenario!
