Harry Potter Birthday Banner DIY

Birthday banners are incredibly easy to make if you have the time. The paper I used was purchased at Michael’s. The gold paper came in their Citrus pack (65 lb), and the maroon came from their Red Punch pack (110 lb). They almost always have a sale going on with their paper. If they don’t, there’s always a coupon you can use in the App! For those of you who don’t have the App, you can always look it up on their website. If you don’t carry a cell phone (my mom is living proof that not every person on this earth carries one), you can print the coupon at home.

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I bought the lettering from Etsy. It was very simple to download from the site and then upload into my Cricut Design Space. For those of you who don’t own a Cricut, BUY. ONE. NOW. This machine is a game changer! It’s saved me countless hours of work and what’s left of my sanity. Looking back on past projects, I can’t believe how much time I would spend hand cutting each little piece. This machine can spit out a complex design within seconds! Don’t let the price tag make you second guess yourself, it’s worth every penny!

The banner shape was purchased from the Cricut shop. It was probably all of $1 and they have plenty of options to choose from. After that, I measured it against their grid to land on the ideal size. Once I was happy with it, I brought in the lettering and sized them appropriately one at a time within the banner.

Pro tip: after your project has been cut, bend the cutting mat, not the paper, in order to get it off. If you try to peel the paper off, it’ll curl and you’ll have to hunt for the heaviest object in your house to flatten it. Bending the cutting mat will help pop the paper off of it without causing the curl.

Double sided tape became my best friend very quickly with this project. I’ve always used glue sticks in the past because of how cheap they are and how long they last. Never again! (Ok, I haven’t written them out of my life completely…yet.) Double sided tape is a bit more pricey but it made this project go so much faster and didn’t leave my fingers and table sticky by the end. Also, no more awful glue streaks!

Once everything was taped, I lined up the pieces and used a hot glue gun to adhere the twine to the back. Make sure you line your lettering up properly. When I first put “Happy” together I lined up the letters in order, flipped each one over and glued the twine to the back. Do you see what I did wrong? I didn’t take into account that by doing this the word would be backwards once I flipped the whole thing over. Please learn from my mistakes so you aren’t slowly peeling glued-on twine from paper praying it doesn’t tear.

Overall, banners are fairly simple to make and add a great touch to any party!

Birthday Banner Supplies

• Gold paper
• Maroon paper
• Black paper
• Twine
• Double sided tape (or glue stick)
• Hot glue gun and glue sticks

To view the Harry Potter Birthday party this banner was created for, click here.