I’m a big fan of blanket forts, having built dozens of them in my grandparents’ house with my cousins growing up. On school trips I tried to convince my friends to build forts in our hotel rooms — a request always met with disdain. My outlook is, to paraphrase XKCD, I’m an adult and it’s my turn to decide what that means.
For me and my friends, it means blanket forts. Really big ones.
Recently my friend Jewels threw her husband a birthday party inside a gigantic blanket fort. The idea sprang from Fluffytown, the epic pillow fort central to an episode of NBC’s Community last season. Matt is a big fan of the show, and the blanket fort episode in particular, so she secretly recruited a dozen of us to bring all of our extra blankets and pillows and recreate Fluffytown in their apartment.
This post originally appeared on birdheartsbear.
After clearing superfluous furniture, Jewels used a huge orange-and-white parachute — purchased from an Army surplus store — as the main ceiling in the living room. The ‘chute was very light and easy to attach to the ceiling and walls with tape. We gave the entry hall a low blanket ceiling which forced new arrivals to crawl on their hands and knees down the passage. Extra pillows were scattered across the floor so people could nest as they pleased.
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We hung a barrier blanket between the living room and the kitchen to help keep the fort cool. Sheets and blankets hung low in the hallways to encourage crawling everywhere.
Jewels left Matt a headlamp to wear — with a cryptic note attached. He entered the fort crawling on hands and knees. We watched circus movies and ate tons of carnival candy and hot dogs, gave Matt his presents, and then Jewels brought out two large bowls of homemade birthday cake ice cream. The pillows proved a perfect nesting substrate as everyone slipped into food comas following the cake ice cream, served in plastic keg cups with spoons.
Yes, we did put candles in it and light them. Under a blanket fort. We’re very responsible adults.
The following morning, all the blankets came down, we retrieved the couch from the lawn, and carted off pillows, leaving nary a trace that mere hours before the apartment had hosted a big kids’ wonderland.
That is super crazy awesome!!!
YES!!!! Love it, who says forts are just for kids? A few summers ago my roomie and I transformed our dining nook into a fort for the whole summer, we stayed in there and painted, drew, listened to music. it was so awesome!
So fun!
Everyone had a blast at this party, even the pug, who wouldn’t hold still long enough to have her picture taken.
We didn’t have a light source under the fort, so by the time night fell, it got pretty dark under there. We had flashlights, which was fun, but a bit scary to handle fire by. Lamps would have been a good idea.
This is way too much fun! I don’t think the man in our house would agree but the next movie & martini night with the girls will definitely include a fort.
Now I just want to tack a parachute to my ceiling and leave it there. This is AWESOME.
omg I loved that episode of Community!!! This is so awesome, I also love the xkcd reference 🙂 now I’m kind of regretting that I’m moving into a bigger place… this would be so much easier to pull off in my bachelor suite, lol!
Mr. Bear and I moved into a 5 bedroom house and we have plans to make an even bigger fort, but another way to do it in a large space would be to restrict the fort to the living room, moving the furniture into another area of the house, and make everyone sleep cozy-style in the one room.
*swoon* I want to go home and build one with my husband and daughter!
Oh the memories brought back by this. 😀 What a neat idea! Like a little circus tent.
Oh my gosh, My People!! I’ve found you!
My boyfriend thinks I’m crazy for wanting to build forts.
And for wanting to play dress-up still. I’m 26, and want to play dress-up! Am I alone? 😛
Fabulous fort guys!!
Oh, you’re totally not alone. I’m 27 and I do burlesque and SCA because dress-up is sooooo fun! Like XKCD said, we’re adults now and it’s our turn to decide what that means. 😀
Amazing!
This looks amazing! How creative!
My nearly 8 year old daughter has been asking for a blanket fort birthday party. I’m not really sure how to pull it off with 12-15 kids, keeping them entertained for a whole party, but if anyone can point me in the direction of ideas, I would be so grateful. We can’t do it at home as we haven’t the space; so, we’d have to try doing it in a church hall.