DIY party tent?
June 13, 2008 2:34 PM Subscribe
How do I build a big party tent?
Big double-birthday party going on tomorrow afternoon at the park... and it's supposed to rain! Unfortunately, my apartment is too small to host that many people comfortably (50+), but I have yard space. My landlord does not care, so I thought... why not throw up a giant, temporary tent in the yard? Does anyone have ideas as to how I could do this? I don't care if it looks silly as long as it keeps the rain off our heads. The space I have to work with is roughly 25 square feet.
I'd like to keep costs down and ensure no permanent destruction of the yard.. please convince me I'm not insane and that this is possible?
Big double-birthday party going on tomorrow afternoon at the park... and it's supposed to rain! Unfortunately, my apartment is too small to host that many people comfortably (50+), but I have yard space. My landlord does not care, so I thought... why not throw up a giant, temporary tent in the yard? Does anyone have ideas as to how I could do this? I don't care if it looks silly as long as it keeps the rain off our heads. The space I have to work with is roughly 25 square feet.
I'd like to keep costs down and ensure no permanent destruction of the yard.. please convince me I'm not insane and that this is possible?
25 square feet sounds more like a small awning than a tent. Do you mean a square 25 feet on each side (625 square feet)?
posted by contraption at 2:41 PM on June 13, 2008
posted by contraption at 2:41 PM on June 13, 2008
Rent it. There is no way you will be able to construct something yourself on the cheap with low money that won't suck. Trust me. I've tried.
posted by Aquaman at 2:45 PM on June 13, 2008
posted by Aquaman at 2:45 PM on June 13, 2008
25 sqft is 5x5. That's enough for ~6 people.
The cheapest big-ish manufactured freestanding shade structures I've seen are 10x20 carports for about $100. Still too small for your purposes, really, although two of them would get you pretty close.
If you happen to have some well-placed trees and roof eaves, you could get a large tarp and anchor it to them. That would probably be your cheapest route, but obviously is highly contingent on circumstances.
If you have access to a large amount of bamboo (which should be free if it's around) and plenty of spare time, you could build a geodesic dome and throw a tarp over that. Oh, wait, this is for tomorrow? Never mind.
posted by adamrice at 2:55 PM on June 13, 2008
The cheapest big-ish manufactured freestanding shade structures I've seen are 10x20 carports for about $100. Still too small for your purposes, really, although two of them would get you pretty close.
If you happen to have some well-placed trees and roof eaves, you could get a large tarp and anchor it to them. That would probably be your cheapest route, but obviously is highly contingent on circumstances.
If you have access to a large amount of bamboo (which should be free if it's around) and plenty of spare time, you could build a geodesic dome and throw a tarp over that. Oh, wait, this is for tomorrow? Never mind.
posted by adamrice at 2:55 PM on June 13, 2008
kidna off topic, but the burning man photos from that geodesic dome site are CRAZY!!!
For that size, you need to order rent something, or if your brave, buy a tall pole and a huge tarb and see what you can do with it.
posted by crewshell at 3:01 PM on June 13, 2008
For that size, you need to order rent something, or if your brave, buy a tall pole and a huge tarb and see what you can do with it.
posted by crewshell at 3:01 PM on June 13, 2008
Response by poster: Gah! Forgive me, my brain is fried. I meant 25 ft x 25 ft...
posted by inactivist at 3:02 PM on June 13, 2008
posted by inactivist at 3:02 PM on June 13, 2008
The first thing you should do is google "Marquee hire" and check the price ranges involved.
If you decide to construct something yourself, make sure you consider how the rain is going to run off it. If your tarpaulin dips in the middle the dip will fill with water, making it heavy and making it dip even more, causing it to collect more water and so on. Result: tarpaulin falls down, dropping water on guests.
That said, I remember boyscout manuals which had plenty on making shelters out of tarpaulins and things found in nature, so that could be an avenue of enquiry. However, some designs are intended to keep teenagers busy for an afternoon, rather than to be the quick and easy solution you're looking for.
posted by Mike1024 at 3:21 PM on June 13, 2008
If you decide to construct something yourself, make sure you consider how the rain is going to run off it. If your tarpaulin dips in the middle the dip will fill with water, making it heavy and making it dip even more, causing it to collect more water and so on. Result: tarpaulin falls down, dropping water on guests.
That said, I remember boyscout manuals which had plenty on making shelters out of tarpaulins and things found in nature, so that could be an avenue of enquiry. However, some designs are intended to keep teenagers busy for an afternoon, rather than to be the quick and easy solution you're looking for.
posted by Mike1024 at 3:21 PM on June 13, 2008
You could get a carport tent, from Kragen. Something like this.
They're not great in high ( > 30 mph) winds, but they should meet your needs. If it's windy and raining you'll want to tie or cable-tie grommetted tarps or something to the gaps on the sides.
posted by aubilenon at 3:21 PM on June 13, 2008
They're not great in high ( > 30 mph) winds, but they should meet your needs. If it's windy and raining you'll want to tie or cable-tie grommetted tarps or something to the gaps on the sides.
posted by aubilenon at 3:21 PM on June 13, 2008
You can rent these tents with set up for about 200 bucks usually.
posted by iamabot at 3:34 PM on June 13, 2008
posted by iamabot at 3:34 PM on June 13, 2008
Rent it. There is no way you will be able to construct something yourself on the cheap with low money that won't suck. Trust me. I've tried.
Well, so have I, and it was totally awesome. Total cost around $40. But we were very fortunate in that we had lots of trees to tie it to. Actually, it was less of a tent and more of a big angled tarp suspended in the air. We couldn't afford a big enough tarp, so we bought some giant sheets of clear plastic stuff from Home Depot, the kind you use when you're renovating. I remember we ended up stitching two sheets together. Then we punched a hole in each corner and reinforced it heavily, and tied each corner to a tree with some nice sturdy rope. Some ingenuity was required to make it high enough (e.g. loop the rope over a high branch before tying). And yes it rained, and yes we stayed dry.
Water did pool in the middle a bit. We used a broom handle to slowly lift up the puddle and the water drained off the edges. it was fine but you should be careful.
posted by PercussivePaul at 4:43 PM on June 13, 2008
Well, so have I, and it was totally awesome. Total cost around $40. But we were very fortunate in that we had lots of trees to tie it to. Actually, it was less of a tent and more of a big angled tarp suspended in the air. We couldn't afford a big enough tarp, so we bought some giant sheets of clear plastic stuff from Home Depot, the kind you use when you're renovating. I remember we ended up stitching two sheets together. Then we punched a hole in each corner and reinforced it heavily, and tied each corner to a tree with some nice sturdy rope. Some ingenuity was required to make it high enough (e.g. loop the rope over a high branch before tying). And yes it rained, and yes we stayed dry.
Water did pool in the middle a bit. We used a broom handle to slowly lift up the puddle and the water drained off the edges. it was fine but you should be careful.
posted by PercussivePaul at 4:43 PM on June 13, 2008
If you have things to tie a tarp to, then it shouldn't be a problem. Tie a rope up as high as possible so that it stretches across your yard, throw a tarp over it and then tie down the corners (you want the tarp to look like the roof of a house and you want it as tight as possible to avoid pooling of water). If you don't have anything to attach a tarp to, I don't think you are going to be able to do anything other than rent a tent.
posted by ssg at 5:51 PM on June 13, 2008
posted by ssg at 5:51 PM on June 13, 2008
If you do this with any sort of poles in the middle or anywhere, have a spotter to ensure you don't hit power lines. 2 guys just died around here doing just that.
So just rent it, dude.
posted by toastchee at 5:57 PM on June 13, 2008
So just rent it, dude.
posted by toastchee at 5:57 PM on June 13, 2008
We've tied a tarp up and it can work. We tied one side to the gutters of our garage. We then tied some 12 foot tall poles to our fence and tied the other side of the tarp to that. So the garage side was about 10 feet high and the fence side was 12 feet high. Water ran down to the grage side and into the gutter. Perfect! Oh and cheap too! It worked way better than the cheap tarp tent we bought at Target.
posted by advicepig at 7:51 PM on June 13, 2008
posted by advicepig at 7:51 PM on June 13, 2008
You guys must have awesome Tarp-Fu. Mine always collapse just when the party gets going.
posted by Aquaman at 5:32 PM on June 16, 2008
posted by Aquaman at 5:32 PM on June 16, 2008
I guess the party already happened. So, OP, did you make a tent?
posted by PercussivePaul at 9:55 AM on June 17, 2008
posted by PercussivePaul at 9:55 AM on June 17, 2008
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by inactivist at 2:35 PM on June 13, 2008