Homemade Hallway Theater

We had so much fun this past weekend with our new theater. The kids had a blast putting on "shows." (Which brought up great memories of my friends and I putting on shows for our parents all those eons ago.)

First up was The Tick Tock Crock, starring Crocky the crocodile in his acting debut.

Next, I was treated to The Jammy Show, starring my daughter and every pair of clean pajamas she could find.

The final performance was an untitled work in progress about a snake, a wizard-princess, and a pajama-wearing kitten. (I gave it a standing ovation.) In this show my son wanted to change the way the curtains looked, so he decided to tape them to the wall. I kind of like the effect.

Putting the theater together was easy - I just strolled through the home area at Meijer. Armed with the width of my hallway (46 inches) I knew which of the three shower curtain tension rods to purchase and which curtains to buy. Sure I could have made all the fabric pieces myself, but I couldn't have bought the fabric for the price of the finished curtains. (Not to mention the value of my time!) If I had been willing to compromise on the color, I could have gotten curtains on clearance for $4.00 each. But I had to have red curtains; there's just something about them that made it look more like a real theater to me. Crazy, I know.

The back panel is slightly wider than the hallway - 54 inches if I remember correctly, but it works perfectly. Each red curtain is 42 inches wide - wide enough to still be gathered when they are closed. Before I bought them, I used the hanging samples in the store to make sure the rod pockets were large enough to hold a shower curtain rod. It was close, so I just used the bottom hem as the pocket. It was quite big, and it's loose enough for the kids to open and close them on their own. Looking back, I probably didn't need the big rods - smaller rods would have fit the bill just fine - probably would have been less expensive too. Oh well, live and learn.

All the costumes, A.K.A. our dress-up clothes, get stashed behind the back curtain - ready and waiting for the numerous costume changes involved in a good show. Perhaps sometime in the near future we'll have more scenic backdrops and a sign, but this will do for now.

I also could have done this cheaper by buying shorter curtains. I wanted the 84 inch long panels so my husband and I could open the curtains and walk through. That way the theater can stay up for several days at a time and my husband and I don't have to bend over every time we want to walk down that hallway.

What do you think? Should I save you a seat for tomorrow night's show?