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How Sweet This Is

Easy DIY Birthday Banner (No Cutting Machine!)

in Citrus and Cream, Create, Party, Popular Posts on 01/31/14

Today I’m sharing with you this easy DIY birthday banner that I made. This month my youngest daughter turned one, and first birthdays are a big deal in our house! Not only because we get to celebrate the life our sweet girl with all of our closest friends and family, but also because we as parents made it through the first year! The lack of sleep, constant diaper changes, early morning feedings, and all the in between–we did it. So as the big day approached, I went into party planning mode and decided to make quite a few of the details for her party myself.

I always seem to go back and forth on the birthday banner: one party I’ll make it, the next I’ll buy it, and this time I browsed Etsy to see if something fit the theme. I found a few that I liked but just couldn’t bring myself to spend $25-$30 on a custom banner. So naturally, I decided to try and make it! It was easy and required only a few materials. But most importantly, you don’t need an expensive cutting machine (Silhouette or Cricut), or even an Exacto knife for that matter.

Easy DIY Birthday BannerMaterials:
12″ x 12″ Cardstock (each piece of cardstock yields six pennants, so plan accordingly)
Sticker Letters
String
Hole Punch
Scissors
Simple Craft Paper Cutter
Cutting Mat with Grids (makes it much easier but not necessary)
Ruler

A note about the materials: The sticker letters were purchased from JoAnn. Each letter measures about 2.5 inches x 3.5 inches. If the letters you purchase are different, make sure they will fit on the 4 x 5 pennant before cutting. The stickers were on sale for $4.99 and contained a few of each letter and numbers. (Double check to make sure you have enough letters.) I actually had to cut and paste to make one additional ‘D’. The Simple Craft Paper Cutter can also be purchased at any craft store. Take a coupon with you if you don’t have one since they run between $10 and $20 regularly. The Cutting Mat with Grid makes measuring and drawing your lines easier and can often be purchased in a kit with a ruler.

Easy DIY Birthday Banner

First, cut the small barcode section of the paper off. This is in addition to the 12×12 cardstock, so after you cut, your paper should be exactly 12x 12. Then cut it again in half leaving you with 2 pieces, each 6 x 12 inches.

Next, you are going to lightly draw out your lines. These lines will guide you to create to bottom ^ part of the pendant. Turn your paper over if there is a right and wrong side so that you are drawing on the wrong side. Measure up 1 inch from the bottom and draw a line lightly across. Make sure you don’t push into the paper with your pencil. You don’t want it to emboss through to the other side! (See figure below.)

Now draw 3 small perpendicular lines at the 2, 6,  and 10 inch mark. This gives you a point to cut into. You could skip these steps and lay your ruler down 1 inch up, then draw a mark at the three points above; however,  having the X helps me visualize while cutting.

Easy DIY Birthday Banner

After you have everything marked, use your paper trimmer to cut every 4 inches or at the 4 and 8 inch marks. You should now have three 4 inch wide by 6 inch tall pieces. These are your pennants. Continue doing this until all of your pieces are marked and cut.

I cut 5 whole pieces and ended up with 30 pennant pieces. The cutting process is never perfect for me, and that’s ok. I only needed 25  so I lined them up widest to least widest, then removed the 5 that were the most off.

Easy DIY Birthday Banner

Next you will need your scissors to make your ^ at the bottom of the pennant. Simply cut from one corner into the cross section that we drew out, then from the other corner. Again, it doesn’t have to be perfect, but it’s a small cut so a straight line shouldn’t be too difficult.

Easy DIY Birthday Banner
Easy DIY Birthday Banner

Now stick or glue your letters to you pennants. I just eyeballed mine and tried to make them centered all the way around.
Easy DIY Birthday Banner

Almost done! Use a hole punch to punch a hole on both upper corners of every pennant.

Easy DIY Birthday Banner

String your pennants and secure with tape on the backside if needed.

Easy DIY Birthday Banner

Paper- 5 for $1 on sale at JoAnn x 2 = $2
Sticker Letters on sale at JoAnn = $5
String or Ribbon = $0 (left over)
All other materials = $0 (already owned)

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24 Comments

Comments

  1. AvatarRenee Thomas says

    01.31.2014 at 8:51 am

    I love this banner Steph! So cute.

    Reply
    • AvatarCandace Feely says

      02.02.2014 at 3:12 pm

      Me too! It may be one of my favorite handmade banners yet 🙂

      Reply
  2. AvatarRobyn Keeley says

    04.13.2014 at 12:55 pm

    Thank you so much for posting this it was so helpful for my daughter’s fourth birthday party! The cheapest I found to buy one was from Vistaprint at $9 plus shipping ($6). I am going to try to have my daughter help me make it as a craft for us. I already have most of the supplies so this will be free for us! It will make the party decorations extra special. Again, I really appreciate you sharing this information for free, for those of us stay at home moms on a budget that want to make our children’s party beautiful!

    Reply
    • Stephanie GimlinStephanie Gimlin says

      04.13.2014 at 6:51 pm

      You are welcome! I am glad you found it useful and are going to make something fun and special for your daughter, we loved ours!

      Reply
  3. AvatarLila Desmond says

    08.07.2014 at 3:56 pm

    I made this for my daughters first birthday as well! A lot of cutting but it was fairly easy once I got a rhythm down. (:

    Reply
    • AvatarCandace Feely says

      08.13.2014 at 5:31 pm

      So glad it worked out for you, Lila! Thanks for sharing!

      Reply
    • Stephanie GimlinStephanie Gimlin says

      08.17.2014 at 4:13 pm

      Awesome Lila, yes- it’s a bit of cutting, but seems to go quickly 🙂

      Reply
  4. AvatarKelly says

    08.17.2014 at 2:14 pm

    Hi been looking to buy the letters where can I get them from?

    Reply
    • AvatarCandace Feely says

      08.17.2014 at 2:30 pm

      Kelly, these were from JoAnn, and they still carry something. Michael’s would likely work, as well as any other craft store. If you don’t have one near you, another option is a teacher supply store – the letters that are normally used for bulletins would work perfectly! Just make sure you get the right size, and look for the adhesive-backed ones if possible. Hope this helps!

      Reply
    • Stephanie GimlinStephanie Gimlin says

      08.17.2014 at 4:17 pm

      Amazon carries the brand as well- mambiSTICKS Themed Stickers, Upper Case Alphabet and Numbers, Gold Glitter

      Reply
  5. AvatarKelly says

    02.15.2015 at 10:41 am

    Just wondering where did you get the gold stars from

    Reply
    • Stephanie GimlinStephanie Gimlin says

      02.16.2015 at 3:47 pm

      Hi Kelly- the stars were purchased from Joann’s they also have them on Amazon, here. Then I sprayed them with Rust-Oleum Glitter Spray, Gold

      Reply
  6. AvatarJean says

    04.22.2015 at 12:33 pm

    Thank you for posting! Great tutorial and exactly what I was looking for.

    Reply
    • stephaniestephanie says

      08.12.2015 at 5:35 pm

      You’re welcome! Glad it helped!

      Reply
  7. AvatarIsra bint Ali says

    07.15.2015 at 6:51 am

    How can I make the letters with glitter? Can’t find the sticker letters where I live 🙁

    Reply
  8. AvatarReshma says

    08.03.2015 at 11:21 am

    Thank you so much for this excellent tutorial. I just made mine last week for my son’s first outdoor birthday picnic and I couldn’t believe how fast I was able to make it.

    Reply
    • stephaniestephanie says

      08.12.2015 at 5:34 pm

      Great! So glad it worked for you!

      Reply
  9. AvatarBecky says

    05.19.2016 at 8:22 am

    Thank you very for the instruction, so clear and make the work much easier. I just follow the step and finished the cardstock cutting, now is waiting for the letter shipped from Amazon. Love the way you mentioned where to get all the materials, thank you again!

    Reply
    • stephaniestephanie says

      05.26.2016 at 12:58 pm

      Awesome! You’re welcome- I always appreciate not having to track down the materials as well. With those letters that I used I would recommend adding a touch of glue to the back side. My paper was textured and by the end of the party the letters were starting to pop off. 🙂

      Reply
  10. AvatarKarla says

    11.15.2016 at 5:42 am

    How long is the whole banner once put together?

    Reply
    • StephanieStephanie says

      11.15.2016 at 1:59 pm

      Hi Karla, it’s hard to say- it depends on the number of pendants you’re using and how spaced out they are- I made mine two rows.

      Reply
  11. AvatarKristina B says

    03.14.2019 at 8:21 am

    Should I Be Picking up thick string so the letter stay in Place,
    Going to Try this for my Son’s First Birthday

    Reply
  12. AvatarKatie says

    05.13.2019 at 1:28 pm

    I just finished making mine just have to hole punch them and hangs them up. I used construction paper because that’s what I had and it worked just as great. I got my stickers from Dollarama.

    Reply

Trackbacks

  1. 20 Cheap And Easy Wedding DIYs Anyone Can Pull Off - Just Girly Things says:
    07.28.2017 at 9:28 am

    […] though this particular banner was for a birthday, it can easily be tweaked to work for any type of event, including a wedding. […]

    Reply

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I'm Stephanie- wife, mama to two beautiful little girls, blog designer and coffee lover. We throw parties, get creative, raise chickens, swim a ton, and manage to make an adventure of this little life we live.


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