Good morning,

Some early results coming through from my reader survey are that you’d like some DIY wedding decoration ideas and projects…?(PS. if you haven’t filled in the survey yet please please do it now as it’s only open for a few more days! **click here**)… One of my favourite decorations are tissue paper pom poms. They’re simple to make yourself, cost-effective and they add a really fun, crafty touch to just about anything!

Image credits – cake table, place settings, head table backdrop, sweetie / dessert table, marquee decorations, chair ends, cake toppers and hanging tent pom poms.

I set out to make a whole wall of them for a wedding fair a few weeks ago, I made 25 or so then pottled off to set up my stand the day before the fair and realised I’d totally under estimated the size of my wall. I needed at least 30 more and had one evening to do it in. Luckily we were having a family dinner so I got the gang involved… even the boys got the hang of it pretty quickly and it soon got competitive! We had to shut the dogs in the kitchen to stop them playing with them and the pugs just stared through the glass door praying for a opportune moment to run in and pounce on these big fluffy paper pretties :-)

You can vary the size of them to make all sorts of decorations, here’s just a few ideas to get you started…

- hang from the ceiling
- nestle them amongst your table flowers
- decorate the altar
- use them as place settings for your guests
- make mini versions for cake toppers
- string together to make a garland
- stick lots together to form a photo booth backdrop
- decorate your pew / chair row ends in the ceremony
- even add them in your wedding bouquet

To make them you will need…

Tissue paper, scissors and some string/ thread or wool

Instructions!

Step 1 – open out your tissue paper and cut to size. I cut the standard packs in half which resulted in fairly large pom poms. Obviously if you wanted to make smaller ones then start off which much smaller pieces! If you’re making a pom pom to sit on a flat surface e.g. a photo booth, a place setting or stuck on a wall then you’ll need at least 5 layers of tissue paper. If you want a round shape to hang from the ceiling or make little cake toppers you’ll need 10 layers for a decent pom pom.

I made flat ones so the first step is to layer up 5 sheets and cut to size…

Step 2 – Keeping the layers together concertina fold the tissue down the longest side in roughly 1 inch folds…

Step 3 –  Now tie a small length of string or thread around the centre (you can fold width ways to find the centre as a guide). Tie fairly tightly but not quite enough to start scrunching the centre if that makes sense?

Step 4 – Cut around both ends to form a petal shape, you can do rounded ends like I have here or pointed ones, whichever you prefer…

Step 5 – Loosely fan out the side then carefully pull up each layer to the centre, scrunching the paper slightly as you go…

Step 6 – Continue to ruffle up the layers on each side to form your pom pom. As I mentioned earlier if you are making a round pom pom then ruffle up each quarter separately, I made mine to sit flat so effectively only had half a pom pom (2 quarters)… I hope I’ve explained that right?!

And there it is! Once you’ve done one you’ll get the hang of it super quick so I thoroughly recommend a pom pom making party with unsuspecting family and friends ;-)

Here’s my finished wall incase you haven’t seen it too…

Happy pom poming,

Chloe x