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If your child is at school, the chances are you’ll need to know how to make an Easter bonnet sooner or later! But don’t worry - it’s not a complicated Easter craft and is heaps of fun to do with your little ones.
Let’s start making the magic happen…
You’ll first need to create or buy the base of the bonnet. This will be the main hat that you’ll be decorating later. Lots of people choose to skip making the bonnet from scratch and opt to buy ready-made straw bonnets to decorate. This will also be the case if you’ve opted for a Decorate Your Own Easter Bonnet Kit.
Take an old straw hat or traditional woven bonnet as your base for a more authentic-looking Easter bonnet. You can always cover the hat in felt, scrunched up paper or even paint to add colour to the base layer.
If you don’t have access to a straw hat, then it isn’t too tricky to make one from cardboard. Simply make sure you have a length of cardboard cut out. Make this into a tube that fits around the top of your child’s head.
Then, all you need to do is create a lid for the tube and a large rim for the base, giving you a hat to make into an amazing Easter bonnet. You needn't stick to neutral tones, as our card packs come in a wide variety of gorgeous colours and shades.
Now, onto the fun bit - the decorating! If you’re planning to follow a bonnet design idea, make sure you’ve got all the bits and pieces you need before you begin. We’ve got so much in our wide assortment of craft supplies, so you’re guaranteed to find whatever you need to bring your ideas to life.
However, it’s also perfectly fine (and fun!) to go free-form and simply lay out a selection of fun goodies for your kids to attach to their bonnets in whichever pattern or order they like.
Here are some Easter bonnet decorations and craft essentials we’d recommend grabbing:
While it can just be fun to let your kids go totally wild on the bonnet decorations, you might want to consider a theme or design - especially if your child is entering a competition. We’re here with a few easy-to-execute but impressive looking Easter bonnet ideas to give you some inspo!
Buy packs of chocolate mini eggs and glue these to the bonnet, then cover with natural raffia or twigs to mimic a bird’s nest. Fill in with large fake eggs and scrunched-up tissue paper in a variety of springtime colours - think pinks, pastel blues, yellows and greens. You could also add feathers for the finishing touch! You can also get adorable pre-made nests to make your job easier.
Decorate your hat with a pretty display of artificial flowers and foliage. Add some little bumblebees made from easter eggs or golf balls, and finish with a spritz of floral perfume - it will smell as good as it looks! Lollipop sticks make the perfect picket fencing.
Embellish it with plenty of flowers and butterflies to really bring it to life!
Fluffy chicks and bunnies make the perfect Easter companions, so hide these little critters amongst flowers and grass on the bonnet. You could even cut out bunny ears and glue them onto the hat for a cute rabbit-themed bonnet. Adorable animal characters are perfect for accentuating your bonnet.
Another popular design is to cut out the outline of the rabbit’s feet and stick them to the top of the bonnet. Add on a big white pom-pom as a tail, and you’ll have a cute Easter rabbit-themed scene.
Festoon a cheerful Easter hat with flowers made from pipe cleaners! Simply twist a pipe cleaner back onto itself to form a long thin petal and repeat until you have several to glue together. Then, glue your finished flower onto your bonnet and repeat. It’s an easy way to make a big statement.
If you have a farmyard animal loving little one, why not put together a farmyard scene on top of a fake grass base? Make felt or paper animals and stick them around the rim. You could even add in a model felt tractor to really show off!
Why not glue colourful model eggs (or Skittles!) around a length of modelling wire and top them with a small decorative basket to make it look like they’re being poured from mid-air? It’s a neat, crafty trick to try out and looks really show-stopping.
Where did the tradition of making Easter bonnets come from?
Bonnet making is an adorable Easter tradition that goes back centuries. Easter has a long association with rebirth and renewal. Back in the 19th century, people would wear new clothes and fine bonnets for Easter parades to celebrate spring after winter and mark this important date in the Christian calendar. This evolved into a fun craft activity for children, especially in schools!
Keep this Special Tradition Going by Making Your Very Own Bonnets
Find heaps of Easter bonnet decorations here at The Range
Making Easter bonnets is a fun craft project for everyone to get involved in, so let your imagination run wild. Be sure to browse our Easter craft section to find Easter bonnet kits and everything you could need to decorate them with!
