Part of the March Madness excitement is tracking which teams will make it to the Final Four and the championship game. You'll love this oversized bracket backdrop for your March Madness viewing party. It captures all the brackets starting with the initial 68 teams. Fill out the brackets with your predictions or track the progress of games and scores. This background is bound to spark some healthy competition and maybe even a few bets here and there. Follow this easy tutorial to create a backdrop that will set the stage for your Slam Dunk Basketball Party.
First, measure out and draw the brackets onto a 24" x 36" Flipside Chalk Board. Let's start with the left side of the board. To create the first column of brackets, start 6.25" down from the top and 1/2" from the side. Draw each bracket line 2.5" long with a White Marvy Uchida® Chalk Marker. Draw the next 1/2" below that, continuing to until you draw 32 lines. Connect the lines into 16 bracket pairs. Repeat this on the right side.
To create the second column of brackets, start from the center of each pair and draw another line 1" long. Connect the lines into 8 bracket pairs. To make the 3rd column of brackets, draw a 2" line from the center point of the 2nd column. Connect these 4 bracket pairs. Draw the 4th column from the center of the 3rd column pairs. Make these lines 2.5" long. Connect to create 2 bracket pairs. Finally, from the center point of the 4th column draw 3.5" lines, connect these to create the last bracket. Repeat this on the right side.
At the center of the final brackets (on both sides) glue a Schoolgirl Style™ Mini Chalkboard Bulletin Board Cutout. The final four teams will be written on these cutouts.
Next, cut the ends off two Schoolgirl Style™ Mini Chalkboard Bulletin Board Cutouts. Tape them together to create one larger chalkboard.
Align this larger chalkboard with the smaller two. Center it on the backdrop and glue in place.
Use glitter letters above the chalkboards. Add "Final Four" over the smaller size and "National Championship" over the larger chalkboard.
Glue a Team Spirit Black Mini Foam Finger under the National Championship box. Point it upwards towards the box.
In the space remaining over the brackets spell out "March Madness!" using Chalkboard Letter Pop-Outs or white alphabet stickers.
Cut two Realistic Basketball Stress Balls in half using a craft knife.
Finally, glue the basketball halves to each corner of the backdrop.
The bracket backdrop is now ready to hang over your buffet table. For more ideas and inspiration be sure to check out my Slam Dunk Basketball Party along with the tutorials for a Basketball Hoop Bar and a DIY Scoreboard Serving Tray.