Whether you are throwing a party, or having fun with your friends, there are all kinds of paper hats for just about any occasion. There are plain hats or highly decorative hats too. And making paper hats couldn’t be easier. With a little practice you will be well on your way to becoming the paper hat king or queen.
1. Materials
As you might expect, you are going to need some paper. You might want to gather a few other items for the task as well. Glue, markers, colored pencils, scissors, tape, and a stapler can also be useful items to have around when making paper hats. If you think regular white paper is flimsy and bland, you can always use construction paper instead for greater durability. Ribbon, pipe cleaners, yarn, and anything else you can imagine using to decorate your paper hat with will also be acceptable to grab out of your art chest.
2. The Basic Paper Hat
To make a basic paper hat, take a single sheet of white paper and turn it so the longer side is facing up and the shorter ends are on the sides. Next, fold each top corner in towards the center, so that you form a triangle with the point at the center top. Next tape the two edges down the center of the triangle together to hold them together. Chances are, you have a flap down at the bottom, which you can fold up and under, rather than up and inside the hat. Next just open the hat up and aim the part that you taped towards the back of your head. You can take your colored pencils and draw all sorts of designs on your hat to make it look more cool. Or, you can glue pipe cleaners on the side of the hat in shape outlines that you can color in with your colored pencils or markers, to make this hat extra cool.
3. The Paper Top Hat
If you are feeling like a Dandy, then it’s time to grab some black construction paper and make a cool paper top hat for yourself. First take two pieces of black construction paper. Turn these two pieces on their sides. Next, staple the short end of one piece of the construction paper to the short end of the other. In this way, you are basically making one rather lengthy piece of construction paper out of two. Next, take this long piece of paper and wrap it around your head and form fit the circumference to the proper size for your head. Let one end of the construction paper slip under the other remaining end to complete the circumference of the circle. Then stable that section together as well when you get it to the right fit. Next, take a third piece of black construction paper and turn the top region of the part you just finished upside down on this third piece of paper. Next, use a white colored pencil, white pen, or piece of light colored chalk to draw around the edge of the cylindrical base sitting on the third piece of construction paper. Then use the scissors to cut this circle out. Next attach this circle as a covering to either open end of the cylindrical part you made earlier. Tape the circle from the inside of the hat so that the tape doesn’t show on the outside. By now, you should have the top of the hat finished. All that remains is to construct a brim to go around the hat. This is fairly simple. Simply tape two pieces of black construction paper together, such that two long sides are being allowed to overlap slightly. Then center the cylindrical open end of the hat on this flat surface. Next, draw a circle around the edge with a white colored pencil. Then draw a second more elliptical shape around this inner circle. Be sure to leave enough room between the circle and the ellipse to allow the brim of the hat to be wide enough to look right. Next cut off the excess construction paper on the outside of the ellipse. Then cut out the inner circle. Finally attach the brim to the open end of the cylindrical portion you made earlier with tape. If you are careful and you made the brim wide enough, you can certainly try curling up the sides of the brim for a fancier look. If you want to be really fancy, you can even put a ribbon around the inner base, just above the brim, and attach it with glue. If you put the ribbon on before putting the brim on, you can attach it more securely with staples. Which ever you think looks better. Or, if you really want to get fancy, you can push brass or silver colored tacks into the ribbon in uniform intervals. Feel free to use your imagination.
Of course, there are a million ways to make paper hats. The above two examples are just a couple basic ideas to get you started. This can be great fun for a classroom activity or as something to do when you are bored. The important thing is to make sure that you are having fun. And if people look at you weird when you walk around town in your paper top hat, just smile and walk on. What do they know about fashion anyway?