Welcome to the second week of my Summer Crafting series. Every Friday for the next 9 weeks, I’ll be sharing easy crafts you can make over the weekend. Be sure to check back each week for new projects!
If you were once a little girl, you probably know the importance of dancing. I’m not talking about formal lessons and recitals.
I’m talking about dancing your heart out on the living room floor to your favorite music. I’m talking about creating shows for your parents to watch and dramatically re-enacting every ballet move you’ve ever seen. And I’m definitely talking about ribbons and sashes flowing behind you as you leap through the house.
You could easily go out and buy a ribbon wand along with a matching princess dress, but it is so easy to make one. It’s one of those crafts you can put together quickly, so tell your daughter to go put on her dancing outfit, and have fun!
How to Make a Ribbon Wand
You will need:
One wooden dowel
One screw eye for the top of the dowel
Fine grain sand paper, if needed
Pen or paint to decorate
Ribbon in various colors
First, if the dowel is rough, carefully sand it to make it smooth. I discovered that some of the dowels in the pack were smoother than others.
Use a pen to draw polka dots, hearts, or stripes on the wand. You could also write your little princess’ name on it.
Dip the end of the dowel into water to soften the wood and wait a couple of minutes. Twist in the screw eye.
Cut lengths of ribbon for the wand and thread through the screw eye. Tie in a knot, and you’re finished! The length of the ribbon is really a personal preference, as are the colors used. These wands look lovely with a variety of ribbon textures, so if you have a ribbon stash that needs to be used up, this is a great project for that!
You can also buy wooden or plastic rings and tie ribbons on them without having to use the screw eye. I took a Baby and Me class with my daughter a few years ago where the teacher made ribbon streamers using small wooden rings. They were very cute, and we used them for music time and dancing. Babies and kids LOVE these!
These wands can also be used as . . .
- Indoor sparklers for the 4th of July
- Wedding favors for your guests. (Imagine your guests waving these instead of blowing bubbles at you—the pictures would be so lovely!)
- Decoration for a kid’s party and take-home favors as well.
- A gift for a little girl. Just add a homemade tutu, and she would be sooo happy!
20 responses to “How to Make a Ribbon Wand”
If I get really ambitious, I might make these as party favors for my daughter’s second birthday party!
Oh my goodness, that would be so fun!
I love this – we may have to make them in craft class tomorrow! I did ribbon wands with bells for the last wedding I planned. Each had a little saying about wishing them well and they would kiss at the ring of the bell. I used hot glue instead of an eyelet.
What a great idea to use hot glue. I was wondering if that would work. Did you tie the ribbons in a knot and then glue them to the top? Hope you have fun in craft class! 🙂
I well remember my mother, daughter, husband and I set up late one night making ribbon wands to shake as my daughter and son-in-law left the church over six years ago. It was great!
I wish this comment box took pictures, I can show you!
Your technique gives great results. The wands you show here are lovely.
Oh my goodness, I bet they were amazing! 🙂
This looks so cute, Jennie! I made something like this for my eldest’s birthday goodie bags but I use bracelets that I found for $1 ea and call it hand kites. Haha. It was quite meditative tying the ribbons. Thanks for sharing!
What a great idea, Veronika. My daughter would love a bracelet with ribbons attached to it–think I’ll try that! 🙂
These are so pretty but they look so easy to make! Great idea!
Thanks, Emma! 🙂
I’m dropping by from the Create It Thursday link party. This is such a wonderful idea! I’m putting this on my list of things to make with my granddaughters. They will love them.
I have a link party that I’m trying to grow. I invite you to share this idea (and a couple of others) at my Grandma Ideas Sharing Time link party at http://grandmaideas.com. My readers would LOVE this idea, too! The party goes from Wednesday through Friday at midnight. I hope to see you there.
All the best,
Nina
Thanks so much for your sweet comment, Nina. I think your granddaughters will love these wands! 🙂 And thanks for the invite to your link party; I just stopped by! Have a great weekend! 🙂
My nieces will love this project. Definitely pinning for later!
Thanks, Judith! 🙂
Thanks for sharing at the Inspiration Spotlight party! Pinned & shared. Hope to see you again soon.
Thanks, Theresa! 🙂
I love this idea for a wedding!
I do too! I only wish I had thought of it for mine–ah well…:)
Love these! Can you tell me what size dowels and eye pins you used? I got dowels last night (3/16″) but I’m not sure what size pin to use or if I need to get bigger dowels!
I used a size 5/16″ (12 inch) dowel and just eyed the size of the pin so it would fit. I’ve also seen methods where the ribbons are tied around the top of the dowel and secured with hot glue, and maybe a jingle bell or small flower to hide the glue. Hope this helps! 🙂