This cute Santa hat garland made from paper egg carton pieces has been popping up all over social media. With a few basic crafting supplies, you can make one and enjoy the rustic charm it adds to your holiday scene.
Egg Cartons, Who Knew?
If you told me a couple of years ago that I would be saving up paper egg cartons to use for crafting as an adult, I would probably have laughed at you. But these everyday objects aren’t just for kids’ crafts anymore.
Last Christmas, I made the most adorable ornaments out of paper egg cartons – mushrooms, snowy Christmas trees, and tiny cottages. (You can find instructions for those ornaments here.)
So, when I saw this Santa hat garland made from paper egg cartons floating around social media, I knew I needed to make one. It’s relatively easy to make, and you don’t need a ton of crafting supplies, patterns or the talent of Martha Stewart to end up with a really cute finished project.
Grab your glue gun and let’s get started.
Materials
Here’s everything you’ll need to make this egg carton Santa hat garland:
- One or two paper egg cartons, with the center cones cut out and saved
- Red acrylic craft paint
- White acrylic craft paint
- A small paintbrush
- Twine
- Large darning/needlepoint needle
- Scissors
- A glue gun or craft glue
- 5-6 cotton swabs
Instructions
Cut out the cone shapes from the egg cartons and trim the edges so they form a slight hat shape. You want the little rounded bumps at the bottom. They should almost look like little paper traffic cones. You’ll need anywhere from 8 to 15, depending on how long you want your garland and how far apart you plan to space the finished hats.
I found it easier to poke holes for the twine before painting them. That way, I didn’t end up with brown patches showing from the needle pushing through the paint. Using the darning needle, poke holes about ½” down from the point of the cone, on opposite sides of each other. This is where you’ll string your twine later.
Paint the cones red, leaving the bottom ½” bare. Because of how this paper absorbs paint, it’s much easier to get a nice, crisp white hat band if you aren’t painting over top of red paint. Dab paint into all the cracks and crevices to ensure even coverage, then let the hats dry completely.
Once the red paint is dry, paint the white ‘fur’ trim on Santa’s hat. You don’t want a perfectly straight line. I found that dabbing the paint on around the bottom gave a slightly uneven line that gave the hat a more rustic, charming look. Allow the white paint to dry completely.
Cut the cotton swabs in half. These will form the puffy pompom at the top of Santa’s hat. I used an old toothbrush to fluff them up a bit and give them more volume.
Using a glue gun or craft glue, put a thin line of glue around the top of the hat at the edge of the hole. Carefully insert the cotton swab into the hole, ensuring it makes good contact with the glue. Let dry. If you used a glue gun, go back and remove any stray glue strings.
Cut your twine to the length you want for your garland and thread it through the darning needle. String the finished hats onto the garland. I did find that the hats moved around on the twine quite a bit. To prevent this, you might want to consider pushing the needle through one side of the hat, then tying a knot so it sits just inside the hat by the cotton swab stem, then threading the twine through the other hole. The knot will keep the hat from sliding around too much. Finish by tying a loop on each end of the twine.
Hang up your Santa hat garland, and enjoy. These look especially nice with greenery behind them, as the evergreens really make the red hats pop. If you prefer a more minimalist look, hang them over a mirror, window or doorway.
What will you make next? How about swirling galaxy baking soda ornaments? Or a Christmas wreath pin?
