party hats!

When my 3-year-old daughter found out we were hosting a party at our house she insisted on making party hats. You don't have to ask this crafty mama twice to get a new project going. I especially love taking her idea and running with it.

We used the template from Jones Design Company. It neatly fit on a letter-sized piece of paper. Their instructions called for hot gluing them shut. This template from Oh Happy Day gets a little fancier with a tab that inserts into a slot. I especially admired the cool poms and fringe she made from crepe paper but we did not end up going that route.

I let my daughter choose the color paper for each hat. After I cut them out she painted them. We came back later to assemble them and choose various items to serve as pom poms and attach ribbons. I loved that we used items that we already had on hand to decorate. It was fun to be creative with the stuff I have stashed for just such a project. My favorite topper was probably the shapes we bent out of pipe cleaners. We made our ties with two pieces of ribbon. I think elastic would have been more comfortable for wearing but we did not have that on hand.

My daughter's pom was salvaged from a headband that didn't last long.

Tah dah! The hats await the guests.