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VE Day Activities

Guest Blog from Anna (North Leeds Mumbler) & Hayley (East Cheshire Mumbler)

The weekend of May 8th – 10th 2020 is the weekend to commemorate and celebrate the 75th anniversary of VE Day, marking the end of the war in Europe.

The 75th anniversary of Victory in Europe was to have been marked with a series of events, culminating with a spectacular VE Day concert at the Royal Albert Hall.  Not to mention the street parties we had planned!

However,  due to the coronavirus pandemic all these plans are now cancelled.

Celebrate at Home

But we can still celebrate!  The ‘Stay at Home Street Party’ is encouraging people to decorate their houses in red, white and blue and have a picnic in their garden to celebrate.

To plan your VE Day celebrations at home VE Day 75 and English Heritage have developed some toolkits, which include recipes, posters, dance moves and a Spotify playlist for you to use, find all the details HERE.

ARTventures is hosting  The Big Neighbourhood V.E Day 75 Family Festival at Home!, running a free programme of online sessions during the course of the day of Friday 8th May with lots of our favourite children’s activity providers taking part so that you can enjoy a fun-packed festival timetable.

The VE Day 75 website is also encouraging all those taking part to undertake the ‘Nation’s Toast to the Heroes of WW2’ at 3pm on the 8th May, from the safety of your own home by standing up and raise a glass of refreshment of their choice and undertake the following ‘Toast’ – “To those who gave so much, we thank you,” using this unique opportunity to pay tribute to the many millions at home and abroad that gave so much to ensure we all enjoy and share the freedom we have today.

We also have lots of ideas on how you can celebrate with the family below.

Resources to Help Explain VE Day to Children

Create your own Red, White & Blue Bunting

Give your party a BRITSH theme with your own designs of red, white & blue bunting! There is a great free bunting template which you can download here. Grab your paints, crayons, pens and crafting materials and get busy! Once the designs are complete simple cut the flags and attach together with ribbon or string!

Design your own VE DAY Party Hat and have a competition for the best design!

This one will have to be done in advance.

Grab some old newspaper, PVA glue, some balloons and some paint and create your own party hat from Papier-mache!! For a top hat try using a flower pot covered in cling film for your mould!

  • Blow up the balloons to slightly bigger than head size
  • Cover the top of the balloon in the newspaper and PVA glue. Add 2 -3 layers. This will take around 2 days to dry.
  • Once the hat is dry pop the balloon or remove it from the cling film.
  • To add a brim to your hat simple take your dry moulded hat and place on a surface covered in cling film. Set the hat at the centre so you can papier mache around it. First, add long paper strips around the hat to fix it in place on the brim. Build the brim with 3 layers of papier-mache.
  • The brim doesn’t need to be flat, it can be moulded into any shape you wish!
    -Make a bonnet brim by placing 4 cans underneath the rim.
    -Make a Cowboy hat brim by using something to hold up the edges as the papier-mache dries.
  • Use a tray covered in cling film as your surface and papier-mache up the rims of the tray to create a  lip around your brim.
  • Paint your hat or you could use crepe paper or wrapping paper to cover it!
  • Add feathers, ribbons, flowers or even stickers to your hat!

Create a VE Day Wreath for your Front Door 

My two had great fun making their VE Day Wreath and it now has pride of place on our front door!  All you need is an egg box and a paper plate or some cardboard you can make the circle out of, red, green, black paint and glue!

⭐Evacuees 

Think flat caps, knee length trousers and woolly jumpers/waistcoats for the boys.  For the girls dig out the berets and head scarves, kilts, and knee length dresses/pinafores and skirts/kilts.  Don’t forget the long socks and lace up shoes….

Pop long hair in 2 plaits or part short hair in the centre and accessorise with a ribbon or head band.

If you haven’t got anything suitable lying around, a school uniform will create the desired effect.

Make ID badges for them to wear and, if you’ve got brown luggage, make some luggage labels as well – a google search will bring up lots of images of replica ones you can use for inspiration.

For the final touch, you could add a teddy bear ❤️

⭐️Party Wear

Boys’ best was a suit like Dad’s, a blazer or even a sailor suit!  Girls wore pretty dresses – plaids, gingham and florals were popular – with Mary Janes and white socks as footwear.  A great excuse to get out the posh clothes and get all dressed up!

⭐️Medics 

Dig out the kids’ doctors and nurses outfits to instantly become a wartime medic – easy yet effective!

⭐️ Military Outfits

If you haven’t got any officer type dress wear lingering around in your closets, pull out the camouflage t-shirts and khaki trousers and make a helmet out of paper mâché – check out this site for instructions.

*Fancy dress images taken from Pinterest/Google World History Site 

 

We hope you have a great day, please follow Government advice when celebrating VE Day #StayHomeSaveLives.

Thanks so much to our guest bloggers Anna & Hayley. If you have family or friends in North Leeds or East Cheshire be sure to let them know about the North Leeds and the East Cheshire Mumbler websites.

If you’d like to keep up to date when new resources are added, please click here and like the Gateshead Mumbler Facebook page 🙂


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