How to Decorate Your Child's Room with a Diary of a Wimpy Kid Theme

Diary of a Wimpy Kid is a series of books by Jeff Kinney that are very popular with the elementary school crowd. The first book has even been made into a movie. My kids love the books and I have to admit that after I saw the movie, I understood the allure of the books. The books are humorous but also have good lessons throughout it while keeping the tongue in cheek humor.

If your child is absolutely crazy about the books, there are several things that you can do besides buying them the books. You could throw them a Diary of a Wimpy Kid birthday party (click here for ideas) but you can also decorate their room with a Diary of a Wimpy Kid Theme. This article will give you several tips to get you started on your way.

How to Decorate your Child's Room with a Diary of a Wimpy Kid Theme #1: Paint

If you have the liberty to paint do it. Even if you rent, you may be able to get a landlords permission to paint the walls if you promise to paint it back to its original color when you move out. Painting is not that hard and it can really make the room pop. Right now there are four series books out as well as a Do it Yourself book and a movie handbook. The fifth book comes out in November 2010 and will have a purple cover. If you truly want to have a Diary of a Wimpy Kid room, that is important because a great idea is to paint the walls in the room a different color. Use the book cover colors as your inspiration. The book colors are red, blue, green, and yellow. If you want to use the color of the Do it Yourself book, that's orange. Paint one wall red, another blue and so on.

How to Decorate your Child's Room with a Diary of a Wimpy Kid Theme #2: Posters

Posters are another big part of decorating your child's room because they are generally large and affordable. You can either buy posters that are of the book covers or you buy a poster that has other Diary of a Wimpy Kid stuff. I would hang the posters in the center of the wall but at an angle. Each poster should be at a slightly different angle then the other ones unless you want everything perfectly aligned. I bought posters at my local Walmart but if you can't find them in your hometown (don't forget to try a Poster Store) you can find posters here and here online.

How to Decorate your Child's Room with a Diary of a Wimpy Kid Theme #3: Rug

Even if you haven't read the books yourself, you've undoubtedly heard about "The Cheese Touch" from your children. In the books it's a piece of cheese that has been on the school playground for a really long time and looks very nasty. Anyone who touches it has "the cheese touch" and is treated like a leper until they give the touch to someone else.

You can incorporate the cheese touch into your decorating theme by making a rug that will sit on your child's floor.

You'll need a yellow or light orange rug. Preferably a square shape if a rectangle will also do. You can use any yellow rug. Buy a bath rub from Walmart or invest in a little more expensive rug so it might last a little longer. If you can, try to go for a fuzzy yellow rug. It gives off the old cheese look really good. You can buy a rug here online if you can't find one in person.

There are two ways that you can make your rug look like it's old and moldy. The first way is to buy some fabric paint (green shades, the yuckier looking the better)), paintbrush and painters tape. Tape off the areas you want to paint in small square shapes. Paint and let dry.

The neater way is to actually cut square holes into the rug. You can use painters tape like above and make square shapes. Now you use an exacto knife or box cutter and CAREFULLY cut out squares. Do not let your kids do this. Now use the paintbrush to paint green around the edges of the holes.

How to Decorate your Child's Room with a Diary of a Wimpy Kid Theme #4: Bedding

Since there is no Diary of a Wimpy Kid bedding available, just try to get bedding that matches the walls of the room and the books. If you want to go simple, just get white sheets (that will match the movie handbook). I'd opt for a little more color though. Buy plain red, blue, green, yellow or orange sheets and blankets. Do spice it up, get something two toned. Shopper's Choice.com sells a colorful comforter that comes in red and blue or yellow and blue. Either color choice would be perfect for your child's room. Twin size costs $57.99.

How to Decorate your Child's Room with a Diary of a Wimpy Kid Theme #5: Pillows

Throw pillows aren't sold with the theme you're going for so you'll have to make them yourself. You will have to buy t-shirts that have Diary of a Wimpy Kid stuff on them. Some choices I recommend is a white t-shirt that is based from the movie with drawn Greg surrounded by "morons" and pictures of the cast at the bottom. You can buy it from Blah Blah Shirts.com for $14.99. Another one to consider is ZOO-WEE MAMA shirt from That's My Shirt.com for $14 dollars and a cheese touch shirt from Treasure Seekers Gifts.com for $15.49.

Once you have the shirts, you can make the pillows a couple of different ways. The first way is to get an old throw pillow that you already have or have found cheaply somewhere else and to put the t-shirt over it. After you have an idea of how it's going to fit, take it off and sew the neck and arms shut. Now slide the pillow in at the bottom and sew the bottom tightly closed and you've got an instant pillow.

The other way is similar to the first except there is no throw pillow. You will need to buy a bag of stuffing from the store (and not the kind you eat! Pillow stuffing from the fabric section). Sew up the neck and arm holes of the t-shirt. Stuff as much stuffing as you can into the shirt so it will be an actual pillow. Sew the bottom shut and your pillow is done.

If you do the above steps, then your Diary of a Wimpy Kid room is completed. All that is left is a few extra special touches such as making sure your child has all of the Diary of a Wimpy Kid books set up in a special area all of their own.