By Caroline Urdaneta for Jennifer Cooper of Classic Play.
Paper leprechaun hats make festive party decor for St. Patrick’s Day and can be made using simply paper, glue and a little glitter. You can whip up as many of these as you wish in no time. Inside the top of the “hat” you can hide surprises for your friends and family, or maybe even a few “gold” coins!
Materials
• green construction paper
• school glue (such as Elmer’s)
• glue stick
• clear tape (optional)
• gold glitter
• scissors
• a cereal bowl (to trace around)
Instructions
1. Start making your buckle first, so the glue for the glitter will be drying while you make the rest of your hat. To make your buckle, cut out a rectangle about 3 x 2 inches. Inside, cut out another rectangle to form a hollowed-out buckle shape. Cover the buckle in school glue, then sprinkle on gold glitter. Shake the excess glitter off and allow to dry.
2. To make the top part of your leprechaun hat, simply cut down the center of a piece of green construction paper widthwise, forming two long rectangles.
3. To draw your belt on the bottom of your newly cut rectangles, use a black marker. Get creative, using stripes or zigzags to add interest and give personality to each hat.
4. Form a cylinder by adhering the ends of the rectangle together using a glue stick. Press together for about a minute with your fingers, running them along the seam until a good hold forms.
5. To make the base of your hat, use something circular and trace a circle onto another piece of green construction paper. A cereal bowl is the perfect size for this. Cut out the circle.
6. Use school glue to affix the buckle to h4 (1)the cylinder top part of the hat, gluing it onto the "belt." Next, place that top part of the hat on the circle and leave as is (no glue or tape needed just to use as decoration) or use clear tape, like Scotch tape, to affix the top part to the circle from inside the cylinder. Then hide lucky treats inside.
You are finished! Your hat is ready, and you can now decorate your table, mantle or any corner of your house for St. Patrick's Day!
Caroline Gravino Urdaneta is a designer of creative family projects, a crafter, tinkering painter and mother of four children. She writes about project ideas for the whole family and how to encourage creativity in kids on the popular blog, Salsa Pie. This post appeared on Jennifer Cooper's blog, Classic Play. See the original post here: Leprechaun Hats.
