My kids love to help me set up for parties. I usually have a lot of stuff planned, and want it to look nice, but I also never want to tell them they can’t help- what’s the point in planning things FOR them, but not doing it WITH them? Any time we can spend working together I should jump at. As a neighbour recently pointed out to me, “They won’t always want you hanging out with them.” Wow, that’s a reality check!

So, what is a party accessory that little ones can help with without getting in the way? Party Hats! I think party hats are always something that helps get people into the festive spirit because you can’t not smile when you’ve got a silly little paper thing on your head!

We made party hats for the first time when we celebrated Lockdown New Year’s Eve. We were planning a party with just the five of us (never thought I’d have a New Year’s Eve without extended family and friends!😥), and I thought that party hats would be something new and creative that we could add to our DIY New Year’s Eve party. Well, it was a hit! The girls and I made them together while our boys were out, and we had a grand time!

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Supplies:

• Paper (I found card stock to be great because it’s so sturdy. 8.5x 11 is sufficient) *If you don’t have patterned card stock just get your child to colour plain paper!)
• Elastic string (you could also use normal string in a pinch)
• Scissors
• Glue
• Tape

And any or all of these craft supplies:

• Stickers – Is there a theme to the party? Buy some stickers at the dollar store that match your theme!
• Markers
• Crayons
• Pencil crayons
• Glitter or glitter glue
• Ribbon
• Lace
• Whatever craft supplies you have lying around! The world is your oyster. My daughter found a little Christmas bell, so we glue gunned that on too!

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Instructions:

1. Round the corners off of one long side of the paper with scissors. This is just to give you a better idea of what shape the hat will end up in. You don’t want to decorate too much of the paper that isn’t going to be used.

2. Give the paper to your child/children to decorate. Remember: they don’t need to be perfect! Let your child express their creativity😃.

3. Glue a pie shaped area on the back with a glue stick. You may want to use a glue gun for the final edge to secure it.

4. Wrap the paper around in a cone shape, securing the glue. Press the edges together for a few seconds to make sure it’s going to hold. I used a glue gun to glue the final edge so I was sure it wasn’t going to come undone.

5. You’ll notice now that the bottom of your hat is very lopsided. To fix this problem, just cut off the edge that’s too long. This also DOES NOT NEED TO BE PERFECT! Warn your children ahead of time that this step is a reality, otherwise they may be very sad to lose their hard work.

6. Lastly, tape on the elastic string, or whatever you are using to attach the hat to your party-goers’ heads. I measured the lengths of string against my children’s heads before cutting and gluing. I’m pretty bad at guessing how big to make things, so I prefer to measure, but if you’re confident enough to have them all ready ahead of time, more power to you.

Here are our finished hats from New Year’s Eve:

They don’t usually wear make-up to parties, but since we’re all just home we decided to break out Mummy’s special Christmas Eve Red-Red-Red Lipstick!

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The three of us made party hats for ourselves, and Daddy and Big Brother. They were so excited to show them to the boys when they got home! They even made one for their stuffed friend:

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I hope you try out this lovely little party craft! It really added a lot to our little Covid Lockdown New Year’s Eve party. These party hats work great as activities for kids’ parties, or party favour (loot bag) party hats, or you can have them ready ahead time, to welcome your guests to your party! If you do, as always, I’d love to see pictures of your creations!