Monday, March 21, 2011

Tutorial: Minnie Mouse Party Hats

For my daughter's recent 2nd birthday, I threw her a Minnie Mouse themed party. She loves Minnie and all things pink, so this party was a big hit with her! After looking at various party stores and websites for cute party hats, I decided to make my own. They are fun and best of all easy & inexpensive to make! Let me show you how to make your own.



The supplies you will need:
-black cardstock: one sheet per hat PLUS one sheet for every 2 sets of ears (that's 4 ears per page)
-pink polka dot scrapbook paper (or whatever color/pattern you would like for the bow)
-coordinating ribbon
-double sided tape
-hot glue gun
-exacto knife
-3 inch round cookie cutter or 3 inch round craft punch
-medium sized butterfly cookie cutter (optional)

Step 1
Using your cookie cutter as a stencil or your round craft punch, cut out enough ears for your desired number of hats out of the black cardstock.

Step2
Shape a cone out of the black card stock and use double sided tape to seal the seam. You could also use hot glue for this if you wanted, but I found the tape to be less messy. It took me a few tries to figure out how to get the cardstock to roll up neatly into the cone shape.

Step 3
Cut desired number of bows out of your scrapbook paper. I used a butterfly cookie cutter to trace the basic shape (I then trimmed it to my liking), but you can certainly freehand them!


Step 4
Cut your ribbon allowing 2 pieces for each hat. These will be your straps. I used my child's head to measure and they came out to about 12 inches per strap.

Step 5
Now you are ready to assemble the hats!

Cut 2 small slits near the top of the cone using your exacto knife. You will be inserting the ears into these slits. You want them large enough to allow the ears to be attached, but not so big that you lose too much of the rounded shape.

Apply a small amount of hot glue to the slit and then place each ear inside. You may need to apply a little more to get the ears to adhere. A little goes a long way and isn't very noticeable on the hat!

Using the hot glue, attach the ribbon to the inside of both sides of the cone. Make sure you are careful where you place the ribbon so your ears aren't crooked!

Finally, attach the bow to the front of the hat using either hot glue or double sided tape.


You could even jazz these up further with the birthday child and/or the guests initial on the front! Need a Mickey Mouse hat instead? Just leave off the bow and use red ribbon!

The perfect party hat for your little Mouseketeer!

9 comments:

  1. That is just adorable. With Joy, Carey

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  2. Wow! The hat looks great! Thanks for the inspiration!! :)

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  3. Wow, do you sell these? Contact me at jenniferkees@hotmail.com

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  4. Hi Jennifer,
    I am not selling these hats. Right now I just make crafts for my own personal use, but who knows what may happen in the future ;)
    Thanks so much!
    Maria

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  5. Those are just too cute! :o)
    Thank you so much. I am planning my daughters first birthday and will deff. be using these.

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  6. Kayla thank you so much! I would love to see how yours turn out :)

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  7. I'm trying to make these, but I'm stuck on the cone part. Did you cut card stock into a half circle?

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  8. I'm having trouble making the cone. Can you give me any additional tips?

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  9. When I first wrote this tutorial (almost a year ago), I just winged making the cone. Since then, when I make party hats I find using a template so much easier. Here is a great one from Piggy Bank Parties:
    http://www.piggybankparties.com/downloads/cyotemplates/PartyHatTemplate.pdf

    I'm going to update the tutorial w/ this info! Thanks for your comments!

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