DIY Paper Hat & Leprechaun Hat Tutorial

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Learn how to make a super simple paper hat you can use to celebrate any holiday! And I’ll show you how to turn it into a leprechaun trap in honor of St. Patrick’s Day! 

I used to struggle with how to “dress fun” for the holidays, but I finally figured it out. My go-to solution over the years has become a mini paper hat in the various holiday colors. These make the cutest hair accessories (I wear them as fascinators) and you can cut them in any color for any holiday. Take today, St. Patrick’s Day — I can make and wear this DIY paper hat as a fascinator and I’ll be “wearin’ the green” (so no pinching!). And we can do more fun things with these mini paper hats — I’ll also show you how to turn this little hat into a leprechaun trap! This paper hat project is part of our MAKE IT EASY Craftalong Challenge, filled with fun and EASY daily themed projects for your Cricut! Get the free SVG cut file for this project

What is a leprechaun trap? So the idea with a leprechaun trap is you’re supposed to set it up the night before St. Patrick’s Day, and then wake up to look for signs that leprechauns have visited the trap. And if you’re lucky, you’ll catch one and get three wishes! If you don’t, maybe the leprechaun will just leave you a treasure. You can make a leprechaun trap super easy with this mini paper hat.

DIY Leprechaun Trap Craft made with a DIY paper hat and gold paper coins and Lucky Charms

So the idea here is we’re leading our leprechauns to our “trap” by tempting him (her?) with treasure (gold paper “coins”), treats (the Lucky Charms cereal), and affection (the gold hearts). If they climb under the hat to get all of our goodies, the hat will fall and trap the little leprechaun! But if the hat doesn’t fall, then perhaps the leprechaun will leave us a little thank-you gift in return.

I‘m excited to show you how to make this fun project! This post contains some affiliate links for your convenience (which means if you make a purchase after clicking a link I will earn a small commission but it won’t cost you a penny more)! Read my full disclosure policy.

Materials to Make This Paper Hat Project on a Cricut Joy, Maker, or Explore!

View my Amazon shopping list with the exact items we used to make this project!

  • 65 – 80 lb. Cardstock or Poster Board (I used Cricut Foil Poster Board)
  • Tacky Glue 
  • Scissors
  • Straw — if you want to turn it into a leprechaun trap
  • Treats and treasures (we used Lucky Charms cereal) — if you want to turn it into a leprechaun trap
  • Hair band, barrette, or bobby pins — if you want to turn it into a DIY paper hat fascinator
  • A way to cut your paper (I used the Cricut Maker cutting machine but they can also be cut on a Cricut Explore or with scissors)
  • Design #193 – My free SVG design files (available in my free resource library—get the password by filling out the form at the bottom of this page) 

DIY Paper Hat & Leprechaun Trap Tutorial

DIY Paper Hat and Leprechaun Trap

Yield: 1 Hat or Trap
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Active Time: 15 minutes
Total Time: 30 minutes
Difficulty: Easy
Estimated Cost: $10
Make a fun DIY paper hat fascinator or a leprechaun trap for St. Patrick's Day!

Materials

  • Foil Poster Board
  • Tacky Glue
  • Straw (for a trap)
  • Lucky Charms cereal (optional, for a trap)
  • Hair band, barrette, or bobby pins (for a fascinator)

Instructions

Step 1: Get the free DIY Paper Hat & Leprechaun Trap Design

First, download Design #193 which is my free SVG cut files or PDF from my free resource library. If you're going to cut it on your cutting machine, upload the file to your design software.

DIY Paper Hat and Leprechaun Trap SVG Cut File uploaded to Cricut Design Space

Tip: If you're not sure how to upload an SVG cut file to Cricut Design Space, watch this helpful video training series I made. If you're on an iPhone or iPad, here's how to download and upload SVG files to the Cricut Design Space app.

Step 2: Cut Out Your Card Stock

You can cut the hat by hand, or cut it on a Cricut.

Materials to make a DIY Paper Hat and Leprechaun Trap

Step 3: Put Together Your DIY Paper Hat & Leprechaun Trap Design

If you'd like a hat band, I recommend you attach it first. Glue the hat band strip to the bottom of the large hat rectangle, lining up the bottom edges.

Attaching the gold hat band to the green paper hat to make a DIY paper hat and leprechaun trap

Fold in the tabs on the circle (this will be the top of your paper hat).

Folding the hat top tabs in for the DIY paper hat and leprechaun trap

Put a line of glue on the back of your big rectangular strip-- it goes along one short side and one long side.

Glue the rectangular strip to the tabs. I find it is easiest if I put the circle with tabs face down on my surface, wrap the glued edge of the rectangle around it until it meets and just overlaps. I then press on the tabs with my finger or a tool to make sure they are making contact with the glue. 

Next, fold in the pointy bits on the large circle (brim).

Center the brim on the top of the top of the hat. Glue at least four of the pointy bits to the inside of the hat.

Glue on decorations as you wish -- feathers, flowers, ribbons, or whatever decorations you wish.

Step 4: Show It Off!

Now you have two choices -- turn this into a holiday DIY paper hat fascinator OR a leprechaun hat.

To make a hat fascinator, you can glue it to a headband at an angle. Just a little hot glue will do the trick!

To make a leprechaun trap, you'll also want a piece of paper or tray, a straw, and some sort of treat, like Lucky Charms. Just glue or tape the straw to the bottom edge of the hat and position it so the hat is tilted up on the paper. Now put some of the gold "coins" you cut out and some treats and treasures under the hat to lure in a leprechaun!

Isn’t this just SO CUTE! And super easy — I put this together in under 30 minutes tops.

Need more projects for today’s theme?

Today’s MAKE IT EASY Craftalong Challenge is to “Go Green”. If you are looking for other ideas, we have you covered!

Get my free SVG files to make your own DIY paper hat and leprechaun traps!

I cannot wait to see YOUR DIY paper hat projects! What will you make with this? How about an Easter hat? Or 4th of July hat? Or even a Halloween hat? Please share a photo in our Facebook group or tag me on social media with #jennifermaker.

This project is a part of our MAKE IT EASY Craftalong Challenge with fun and EASY projects you can do to learn how to use your Cricut! You can share your photos in our daily challenge theme thread here!

Love,

JenniferMaker.com

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DIY Paper Hat & Leprechaun Trap Tutorial

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2 Comments

  1. That is really cute! I was really hoping you were going to do a video for this. Or if there is one, could you please let me know where to find it? Thank you very much!!!

    1. Hi Candi, thank you for your comment! We don’t have a video tutorial for this project; however, we hope the photos help. We’re always happy to help with our designs. You can ask any questions in our private Cricut Crafters and Makers Facebook group or you can email our Customer Heroes at [email protected], and they’ll be happy to help you with the project! I hope you’ll create this and share photos with us!

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