Halloween Napkin Rings - Tutorial

I am busy planning my older daughter Lindsey's 12th (sob!) birthday party.  She chose a Halloween theme this year, and we sure do love Halloween, so this one is easy to plan!  I have so many fun ideas running through my head.....wait, what?  What's that?  BUDGET?  Our budget is almost ZERO?  Hmmmm....gotta get creative here.

Inspired by a FABULOUS magazine I got last year from Better Homes and Gardens (it's their Halloween issue), I decided to make some inexpensive napkin rings.  I bet you have what you need to make them RIGHT now!  If not, they are very quick and cheap to make, so let's get started!

What you will need: 

• Thin cardboard (I used a popcorn box that was going in the recycling bin)
• Fabric
• Ricrac, or other embellishment of your choice
• Hot glue gun

First cut your thin cardboard into strips.  Mine measured 7 inches by 1.5 inches.  Next, you will lay the cardboard on your fabric, and cut around the cardboard, leaving about a half inch on each side so that you can glue the fabric down.

Make sure your fabric is facing the right way!  The front of your fabric should be facing out, and your cardboard should be lying on the wrong side of the fabric.  My cardboard had the printed side of the popcorn box showing through the fabric at first, so I had to flip it over.

Next, carefully glue the sides of the fabric to your carboard.  Hot glue hurts, so watch your fingers!  I glued the two long sides, then folded the ends down like I was wrapping a present.  As you can see, the inside looks pretty messy, but that didn't really matter to me.  If it matters to you, you might want to cover the inside with some felt or something.



Now, flip your cardboard over so that you can add your ricrac or other embellishment of your choice.  I used hot glue to attach mine, but you could also use fabric glue.  I don't have patience for fabric glue, so I take my chances with finger burns.

Now, you are ready to form the napkin ring.  Coat one end of your fabric-covered cardboard with glue, and bring the other end around to attach it.  Easy!

Now, for the fun part - what to put inside?  We found these cute little skeleton pens at Party City (.49 each), so I stuck that down inside with my plasticware.

He's pretty cute, in a sorta scary way, right?

So there you have it!  A cute (and VERY inexpensive) napkin ring for your party table!  I can see these being used for years to come, and I think I'm going to make some Christmas ones as well.  You can make these for events year round, using different fabrics and trims.  Let me know if you have any questions!

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