Calling all mermaid queens!
I wanted Ella to have some mermaid dress-up for her birthday and party but without having to buy a mermaid costume. So the mermaid crown and mermaid braid were born!
I had the idea for a mermaid crown months ago– I collected sea shells for it during our summer trip to Wilmington. Here’s everything else you will need.
After you have your shells (we collected and painted ours, but that’s up to you!), you’ll wrap pipe cleaners all around the plastic crown. You can hot glue the ends of each pipe cleaner to keep them secure.
Once I had the crown completely wrapped, I started configuring my shells and jewels how I wanted them. I wanted my crown to be as symmetrical as possible so I tried picking similarly sized shells to go on each side.
Then it’s time to start gluing everything on! I wanted the crown to have a bit of a boho feel so I included flowers and painted my sea shells in warm pink tones. I also included unpainted shells that had touches of pink naturally in them. I wanted the pipe cleaners covered as much as possible so I used smaller beads and pearls to accomplish that. And voila! You have a mermaid crown for your mermaid queen.
Next up, the mermaid braid. I don’t remember exactly how I came up with this, I just wanted to have something for the girls to dress up in during the party and take home with them. Here’s what you’ll need to make your own.
I wanted these braids to be small and uniform so I found fake starfish online. I used the trim I had on hand to make different braids, tying them up with clear rubber bands. I then hot glued the braid to the gold hair clip and then hot glued the starfish on top. And if you want, you can glue embellishments like jewels or beads to the braid itself.
I love the special element that diys add to parties. Even if the idea isn’t original, no one is going to make it quite like you. And that’s a beautiful thing!
xo
eb