Nothing says summer like July 4th and red, white & blue! The girls and I have been in the patriotic spirit this week, first making festive stained glass decor, and then, at Big M’s request, tiaras, or as I prefer to call them, Liberty Crowns! We made some jeweled tiaras from pipe cleaners in preparation for New Year’s Eve back in December, and it was one of her favorite projects. Last month, while cruising the holiday aisle at Hobby Lobby, I spotted some sequined liberty crowns for July 4th. The price tag prevented me from purchasing them (since of course we would need 2!), but I immediately headed straight for the pipe cleaners because I decided we would make our own for much less!
DIY Liberty Crowns for July 4th
I have fond memories of summer holidays at my Grandparents’ house… with 17 first cousins, the house was always full of kids, and we occupied ourselves by putting on performances, making our own sets and costumes… and as this picture gives away, I’ve been at this whole kids’ activity business for a long time! (Cousins shall remain nameless, so they don’t kill me for sharing this!)
I also remember a year when my Mom made my sister and I Lady Liberty crowns out of tin foil. Sadly, no pictures of that exist in my archives. However, those memories came flooding back when I stumbled upon this sequined crown in the aisles of Hobby Lobby last month.
Since I wasn’t going to spend $20+ buying two of them, I bee-lined it for the pipe cleaners. I picked up a package of red and blue foil ones ($1.47 each), white chenille ones ($0.99), and already had some silver foils ones at home.
Supplies
Pipe cleaners – assorted red, white, blue and silver
StrawsCost: Less than $5
Prep Time: None
Clean-Up Time: Less than 5 minutes
Confession – while most activities I share are done by the kids, I did most of the making here, with input from Big M on what she wanted it to look like. They have done all of the wearing and playing though since!
First, I took two lengths each of red, white and blue pipe cleaners, linking like colors together end to end. This will give you enough circumference to encircle your child’s head and form the base of your crown. Then, I twisted the three colors together at one end and braided the length. This makes for a more durable crown base, and the braids make it easier to thread and hold additional decorations.
The first crown we made was to replicate the one from the store. Big M immediately claimed this one as her own, and began dictating what Lil’ M’s should look like – “Mama, it needs to have stars!” I repeated the process for the crown base, brainstorming how I could make stars. I decided to go for the antenna-style crown. I had some leftover white and silver straws from last month’s Gender Reveal wands I made for the girls.
I threaded the pipe cleaners through a straw cut in half to help them stand up better. Then, I wrapped one end around a small, star cookie cutter. I tucked the loose end back into the straw. I threaded the opposite end through the braided, crown base until it was secure.
Both girls were thrilled with their crowns… though, per usual, I couldn’t get Lil’ M to hold still long enough to get a picture that wasn’t a complete blur!
I have a feeling we will producing more of these before July 4th arrives!
Do you have any longstanding family July 4th traditions? Last year, we let Big M stay up late to watch the fireworks at the beach for the first time – she’s already talking about how she’s going to wear her Liberty Crown to watch again this year!
If you enjoyed this post, you can find all our July 4th and Summer crafts and activities here, as well as our favorites from around the web on our Summer Pinterest board.
Follow Meghan @ PlaygroundParkbench’s board Summer on Pinterest.
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These look so fun! I love the pipe cleaners – they seem to be sparkly (or is that just in the photos?!)
Thanks! No – they are. The colored and silver ones are the foil-type, so they have some shine to them 🙂