First-night Hats

Total Time Needed: 1 Hour

You can count on our shiny hats to make the ideal toppers for a New Year's party, but there's no reason to confine them to the countdown. Tailor the decorations to the mood and theme of your holiday party: glue on large menorah-shaped sequins (available at party supply stores) or festoon the hats with mini candy canes. Note: not all these materials are required to make each hat.

Materials

Metallic poster board
Scissors
Double-sided foam tape
Thumbtack
Soft elastic thread (22 inches long)
2 large paper clips
Shiny metallic pipe cleaners
Duct tape
Shiny metallic pom-poms

Instructions

1. To make a cone-shaped hat, cut a semicircle with a 14-inch diameter from the poster board. Roll it into a cone, adjust its size to fit the child, and seal the seam with double-sided foam tape.

2. To make a chin strap, use the thumbtack to poke a hole through each side of the hat near the bottom, thread one end of the elastic through each hole, and knot a few times to secure it.

3. To make a headband-style hat, cut out a strip of poster board about 26 inches long and 3 to 7 inches wide (depending on your design). Cut a decorative design along one edge of the strip, fit it around the child's forehead, and secure the seam with two large paper clips.

4. To decorate the hats, wrap pipe cleaners around pom-poms to make antennae or coil them around a pen to make spirals. To attach a pipe cleaner decoration to the hat, use the thumbtack to poke a hole through the hat, push 1 inch of the pipe cleaner through the hole to the inside of the hat, and duct-tape it down. Attach pom-poms to the hat with double-sided foam tape.