Turn a birthday hat into a graduation party hat!

If you have a graduate in your life and your having a party here's how to turn a birthday hat into a graduation cap.

The hardest thing about this project was actually finding birthday hats! Seriously, I went to 4 different "super stores" and 1 party store before I finally got them. Did any of you know that most stores carry almost every party supply except party hats these days? Is it me or does that seem crazy!

Anyway, back to the project.

I really wanted to make a black cap - and black isn't really a common party hat color so I painted my red hat with two coats of black craft paint and let it dry overnight. It was easy to do but not necessary- you could always make a cap the graduate's school color.

Next I cut the top of the hat off leaving about a 2 inch band.

Then I unfolded the hat to even up the cut edge.

When cutting the hat it's likely at least one of the tabs that originally held it together is now gone so when folding the hat back together it's a good idea to add a little glue or tape to help it hold.

If you have a cutting board with a grid- it's easy to line your cap base up and see how large the square for the top needs to be.

I cut a 6x6 square out of my craft foam.

The hat will have a tassel coming through the top top so I found the center of my square and made a tiny hole.

To make a tassel I wrapped a few lengths of embroidery floss (yarn would work great too). together, tied a knot one one end and pulled the other through the top of the cap using some tweezers.

Once I had the floss in place I glued the knotted end to the cap (luckily this will be the side that gets glued to the base because as you can see my knot and gluing job were very messy). Cut the other end of the floss to the stands hang loose.

At this point the tassel could have been complete but I really wanted it to hang down over the side so I added a bead- but this part it definitely optional.

The last step was gluing the base and the top together. I used regular clear craft glue around the top edge of the base, set it onto the center of the square and weighed it down to be sure the glue really adhered to the foam. I left it like that for a few hours to be sure the glue thoroughly dried.

My model was kind enough to show the hat off.

Luckily she was a graduate of obedience school- and sat still long enough for me to snap these pictures.