DIY First Birthday Hat for Girls
Make a super easy-to-wear first birthday hat using a little felt and some tulle! You’ll also want to go ahead and check out my favorite one year old birthday gifts for girls. This post contains affiliate links.
First birthdays are such incredible events because babies become actual people in that short time frame. And so it happens that our princess turned one in November – would you believe it?
I made princess a super cute first birthday hat from felt, but I turned it into a headband so that it would feel natural to her. She is used to wearing headbands (she has this amazing baby headband holder that I made for her, with over 70 to choose from). So I created something that didn’t feel too different and that looked so so cute.
The result is not only adorable but it really stayed on for most of the party – never mind the photo shoot! You can customize the colors to suit any scheme or theme. I used a dark teal sheet of thick felt along with cream colored sparkly tulle to go both with our modern rainbow theme and her outfit.
On that note, this DIY first birthday hat is the first in a series where I’ll be sharing all about A’s birthday! Just to note, I tend to go frugal rather than Pinterest-perfect for my parties. I don’t do elaborate sweet tables – I just try to keep things tasteful, coordinated, and well-planned.
With ongoing experience, I am getting better at it, but I hope you’ll still find my breakdown of ideas to be realistic rather than overly aspirational. In any case, obviously, you should do what works best for you and what makes the most sense for your budget and skill levels. This party is for you not for your baby. So do what’ll make you happy.
For me, that’s being creative. For you it might be ordering in pizza. The main goal is to celebrate your child’s life in a way that’ll truly feel like a celebration to you.
Beyond this DIY first birthday hat for girls, I’ll be sharing more details: the decorations we made, our cake fails and the rainbow cake topper solution, the fun foods we served, and even a sweet high chair tutu. I’ll try to link back to this post as I publish our ideas. For now, enjoy the DIY first birthday hat tutorial and the sweetness it brings!
You’ll also see some elements using some fun graphics I designed for this party, which you can purchase below. They come in PDF, SVG, & PNG formats for Cricut and non-Cricut crafters.
What you need to make a DIY first birthday hat for girls
- Good, thick felt sheet
- Tulle ribbon
- 6-7 inch round plate to trace
- Ruler
- Tailor’s chalk
- Fabric scissors
- 1/4 inch flat elastic
- Hot glue gun
How to make a first birthday hat that stays on and is comfortable
1. Trace your plate and make a roughly 7 inch circle.
2. Measure a line on the radius of the circle (half the width/diameter).
3. Cut off a bit more than half of the circle. It doesn’t have to be exact – you’ll be able to play with the shape in the next step and make a larger or smaller seam as you’d like.
4. Fold it in half and glue the straight edge together to form a seam. Make sure the cone is in a proportion that you like.
5. When it dries, trim the seam if necessary and turn your hat right side out.
6. Trim around the base.
7. Make your pom pom. Mine was deliberately oversized in proportion to the hat. Tulle is a lightweight material so it can handle it. I used a different method however I recommend you learn how to make a pom pom with tulle here and use that method.
8. Place some glue on the tip of the cone and attach it to the core of the pom pom.
9. If you’d like to add a tulle border, twist a piece around the base, gluing as you go along. Rustic lace can look fabulous here as well.
10. Trace a circle a tiny bit smaller (like 1mm) than the base of your cone.
11. And glue it to the base of your first birthday hat.
12. Attach an elastic to fit around your baby’s head and cover it with a smaller piece of felt to hide the elastic seam. This makes it more comfortable to wear too.
Your DIY first birthday hat for girls is complete! Oh how charming! Who will you be making this for? Got any first birthday themes to share? Comment below!
Your DIY first birthday hat for girls is complete! Got any ideas to add to the list? Comment below!
DIY First Birthday Hat for Girls
Instructions
1. Trace your plate and make a roughly 7 inch circle.
2. Measure a line on the radius of the circle (half the width/diameter).
3. Cut off a bit more than half of the circle. It doesn't have to be exact - you'll be able to play with the shape in the next step and make a larger or smaller seam as you'd like.
4. Fold it in half and glue the straight edge together to form a seam. Make sure the cone is in a proportion that you like.
5. When it dries, trim the seam if necessary and turn your hat right side out.
6. Trim around the base.
7. Make your pom pom. Mine was deliberately oversized in proportion to the hat. Tulle is a lightweight material so it can handle it. I used a different method however I recommend you learn how to make a pom pom with tulle here and use that method.
8. Place some glue on the tip of the cone and attach it to the core of the pom pom.
9. If you'd like to add a tulle border, twist a piece around the base, gluing as you go along. Rustic lace can look fabulous here as well.
10. Trace a circle a tiny bit smaller (like 1mm) than the base of your cone.
11. And glue it to the base of your first birthday hat.
12. Attach an elastic to fit around your baby's head and cover it with a smaller piece of felt to hide the elastic seam. This makes it more comfortable to wear too.
