You can use construction paper you have at home, or buy some tagboard paper. Tagboard is a little thinner than poster board, and closer to the thickness of a traditional party hat. [1] X Research source If you want to get really creative, buy some patterned or textured paper.
You can use a pencil and paper plate to trace a perfect circle onto your paper before cutting. Make your hat taller or shorter by cutting a larger or smaller circle into the paper. For example, to make a really large, tall hat by cutting a circle 12 inches or larger in diameter. To make a smaller hat (for a pet or doll), cut a circle about 6 inches in diameter. When cutting the circle, try to stay as close as possible to the line you’ve drawn so you won’t have any jagged edges.
To find the center of the circle, fold your circle evenly in half top to bottom, lightly crease it, and unfold it. Then fold your circle evenly in half left to right, lightly crease it, and unfold again. There should now be a small point in the middle, which marks the center of your circle.
You can make the cone as wide or as narrow as you want, but remember that it should be big enough to fit on your head. The tighter you pull the cone together, the taller and thinner your hat will appear.
Use a glue stick or liquid glue if you want a clean seam. Hold the two pieces together for a minute or two so the glue sticks. Tape or staples will be more visible, but will take less time. You can also tape the seam using colorful washi tape for a little extra decoration.
To figure out where to punch the holes, place the hat on your head like you’ll wear it when you’re finished. Use a pencil to make dots a little bit in front of where your ears are, and then punch a hole in each dot. Reinforce the holes using paper reinforcement rings. These can be found at any office supply store, and come in a wide range of colors. You can also reinforce the holes by placing a layer or two of clear tape on top of them, and then re-punching the holes through the clear tape.
If you want to be more precise with the strap length, hold a longer piece of the elastic or string to each side of your head so you’ll know the exact length to cut. Use ribbon instead of string or elastic if you want a fancier chin strap.
The border will cover up the two chin strap holes, keeping the string in place and hiding the small knots. Make the border look however you want it to look! You can tape on waves of lace, glue on a straight piece of ribbon, or staple some fringed paper to the bottom of the hat.
Brush the glue all over your hat, or just paint little strips of glue here and there. You can also use a glue stick if you want a little less mess.
You can use any color of glitter you want. Tap off the extra glitter so you don’t shower glitter all over the place when you’re wearing your hat.
Add a ball of yarn to the top if you want, or glue on some tassels. The fun of making your own party hat is decorating it however you like, so get creative!
At a birthday party, you can even make a party crown for the birthday boy or girl, and stick with traditional cone-shaped party hats for the other partygoers.
Folding the paper will help you cut the crown points into the paper more quickly and evenly.
The triangles should be about 2 inches wide and 2 inches long. When you unfold it, the top section of your paper should have a zigzag pattern, making the points of a crown.
Place the crown your head and overlap the ends together until the crown feels comfortable on your head. Use a pencil to mark where the ends meet so you’ll know where to adhere them together.
If you are using glue to make your crown, let it dry before continuing.
Wait until any glue you’ve used is dry before wearing your crown. Add embellishments by cutting shapes out of paper and gluing or stapling them to the crown.
