A Royal Hat Fit for a Princess!

We are in full celebration mode at our house as we await the Royal Wedding tomorrow! In honor of the special day, we have a fun guest post from my cousin Jenny and her darling daughter Kate. I hope you love it as much as I do!

My 4 year old daughter lives and breathes princesses, and her name happens to be Kate, so we are very excited about the royal wedding this week. To get in the spirit, we made her a fancy royal hat to wear using a paper plate and other materials we had around the house.

Materials needed:

Paper plate

Paper bowl

Hot glue gun or stapler

Ribbon

Jewels, buttons, pom-poms, stickers, crayons, or whatever else you have around the house to make your hat extra fancy.

I was out of paper bowls today and I didn't have time to run to the store, so I used a small aluminum tin instead. My daughter actually loved it since it was shiny, but ideally I would use a matching paper plate and bowl in white or a simple color.

First I had Kate color the paper plate and bowl (both should be upside-down). The middle will be cut out from the paper plate, so I told her to focus on coloring the edges.

Then I cut a hole in the middle of the paper plate so that it would fit on her head better at the end. Double check before you cut that your hole is smaller than the paper bowl so that it can be stapled together.

Next, staple the paper bowl on top of the paper plate. I somehow don't own a stapler, so we used a glue gun.

While I was gluing, I let Kate go through my stash of beads and jewels to pick out the perfect decorations.

She also picked out a large ribbon to glue around the hat. This helps to hide the seam where the hat and bowl meet. I took this opportunity to teach Kate how to use a glue gun, and I was surprised at how well she did with it. She would push the trigger and glue, and I would position and place all the ribbons and beads so that her little fingers didn't get burnt. With younger kids I would recommend sticking to stickers and coloring so that they can stay involved.

Kate chose to decorate with a flower over the bow, pom poms around the edges, and beads, buttons, and jewels on the top. We also glued a ribbon on both sides of the hat so that she could tie it and it would stay on better.

And there you have it! A fancy hat to wear to your next royal occasion.

Here are a couple examples of other fancy hats we've made in the past (obviously less child involvement with these two). These can work as derby hats, cowgirl hats...use your imagination!