Bugging Out with Lulu

January 22, 2013 | by Jocie (email) |

My youngest daughter, Lucy (affectionately called Lulu) will be turning 2 on Thursday! Wow! She has gotten to be such a big girl, and one with strong opinions, like her Mama.

She is a BIG fan of bumblebees, much to the thanks of the Laurie Berkner “Buzz Buzz” song. So this year’s birthday theme will be BUGS. Since Lulu doesn’t like big crowds, we’re having a pretty small party with just a few friends. In some ways, this makes it easy for me to go totally overboard, just on a smaller scale. lol.

In addition some pretty necklaces and bug wings (bought at the dollar store), each little bug guest will get a pair of antennae to wear at the party. I actually got the idea from my friend, Ruth who bought her daughters antennae off of Etsy for Halloween. They are the cutest thing ever but she paid a good bit for them and I figured I could easily make them and for way cheaper!

Fuzzy Antennae Headbands

I made 9 bug headbands in under one hour and each headband only cost under $1 to make. Here are the supplies I used and the cost. I don’t remember if any were on-sale, so I included the full-price, meaning the headbands could be made for even cheaper!

Materials Needed
Cost listed is per headband

• Headbands, $0.17
• 1 1/2 inch black feather boa, $0.66
• 1 inch Poms, $0.08
• Black Chenille Stems (Pipe Cleaners), $0.07
• Hot glue
• Scissors

Once all my materials were gathered, I started with the antennae. I’m sure there is a more sophisticated way to do it, but I wrapped two chenille stems around my finger tightly to look like a corkscrew. Because I used my chubby fingers (no, I’m serious, they are short and stubby), the chenille stem cork screw was wider at the bottom than at the top (like my fingers), but I kinda liked the look. I could have just as easily used a thick marker, too.

Then, I looped the bottoms of the corkscrews around the headband, placing them on opposite sides of the center. Each one was a little unique, I just placed them where I thought they would look good.

A side note, I buy my kids headbands at the Dollar Store because they are SO cheap – 6 for $1 – and they don’t need to last forever.

After I looped the stems onto the headband, I then placed hot glue on the top and underside of the headband to hold the chenille stems in place.

I grabbed two poms, placing hot glue in the center and pressing them to the tops of the chenille stem cork screws.

Finally, the cutest part – adding the feather boa. I found the spool of feather boa at Hobby Lobby in the ribbon isle for  $5.99. This was the most expensive part of the headband, but with a 40% off coupon, it’s not too bad.

I cut a 7 inch strip of boa and glued it to the headband with hot glue.

Cutting the boa made a HUGE mess and I think I’m still breathing in feathers. lol.

Clip-On Version
Some of the younger girls invited to the party may not like to wear headbands. I adapted it slightly to clip into the hair by hot gluing the boa to two clips, one of each end of the 4 inch boa.

And here are my beautiful bugs, first the birthday girl!

Izzie got a little carried away and wanted to make all her silly faces.

And one final of the two.

What do you think? Any more tips or suggestion for our upcoming bug party?

As always, thanks for reading!

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