How to Celebrate VE Day at Home

VE Day dawns on Friday, May 8, 2020 – marking 75 years since the guns fell silent in Europe near the end of World War Two.

There were grand plans for the 75th anniversary of Victory in Europe, with events, street parties and a spectacular VE Day concert at the Royal Albert Hall. However,  due to the coronavirus pandemic, all these plans are now cancelled.

Celebrate at Home

But you can still celebrate – and throw a ‘Stay at Home Street Party’ instead! With social distancing in mind, people can decorate their houses in red, white and blue, have a picnic in their garden and even sit outside in the street.

To help you plan, VE Day 75 and English Heritage have developed some toolkits, including recipes, posters, dance moves and a Spotify play list! You can check it out here!

ARTventures is hosting  The Big Neighbourhood V.E Day 75 Family Festival at Home!, running a free programme of online sessions on Friday 8th May, with lots of our favourite children’s activity providers taking part.

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. You can stand up, raise a glass and undertake the following ‘Toast’ – “To those who gave so much, we thank you,”.

In Calderdale, local museum staff have been working hard to prepare an online mini-exhibition, showcasing one object per day.

Items including gas masks, photographs, food packages and more, will be posted at 11am each day from @BankfieldMuseum twitter account.  On Friday 8 May, a new web page will launch with all the photos and further information about each object.

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

We’d love to hear your ideas on how to celebrate under lockdown – please share them on our Facebook page! Here are some of ours, with lots of crafting to keep the kids entertained and a great history lesson thrown in too!

Crafting ideas:

Downloadable Activity sheets

Spitfire Colour in and Cut Out Activity

We’ll be uploading more of our very own VE themed crafting sheets throughout the week.  So keep an eye out for them!

Create your own Red, White & Blue Bunting

Give your party a BRITISH theme and design your own red, white and 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 simply cut the flags and attach together with ribbon or string!

 

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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, balloons, 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 simply take your dry moulded hat and place it 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, use crepe paper or wrapping paper to cover it.
• Add feathers, ribbons, flowers or even stickers to your hat!

 

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Create a VE Day Wreath for your Front Door 

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

 

• Pass the parcel – have the parcel wrapped in newspaper or parcel paper for an authentic take
• 1940s Bingo: rather than using numbers, have 1940s films, icons or events. There is a great guide here
• The Soldier Says… a VE Day-themed take on Simon Says.

#StayHomeSaveLives.