In a sea of green robes and hats at commencement, many students might want to stand out. Decorating your graduation cap makes it easy for friends and family to find you as you walk across the stage during commencement.
The State News created a guide for how to decorate your graduation cap so you stand out, while on a budget.
Step 1: Gather your materials.
It’s recommended you invest in a piece of card stock big enough to cover your cap, so if you make any mistakes, you won’t have it on your cap forever. For this hat, we used:
Card stock, 69 cents from Hobby Lobby
Scissors
Metallic Sharpies or paint pens, $2 to $4 from Michaels Craft Store
Washi tape, $5 from Hobby Lobby
Photos of friends, we used an issue of The New York Times for this.
Acetate film strip, $3 from Hobby Lobby
A glue of your choice, $1 to $3, can be found at any dollar store
Step 2: Cut your card stock to be the size of your graduation cap.
Punch a hole out in the middle for the button on top. Next, take you acetate film strip and measure it to whatever length you want to show on your cap. Mark it there and cut to size.
Step 3: Collect some of your favorite photos of friends.
If you’re taking pictures off of a computer, resize them on any software — even Microsoft Paint would work. The film strip we used here measures to about 1.5-by-1 inch. Print those out and cut them to the size you desire.
Step 4: Arrange the photos you cut in whatever order you desire.
Make sure to place them under the film strip before you glue or tape everything down, just so you know how everything looks before it’s secure. Leave markings for yourself where you want the film strip and the pictures to be.
Step 5: Begin gluing down the pictures.
Once those are secure, use tape to secure the film strip over top of the pictures — it’s recommended you not use glue here, because the film strip is made out of plastic and won’t stay down without the help of tape. Instead of using regular tape, we decided to use washi tape, which is both more decorative and more forgiving. You can usually remove it without messing up the paper underneath.
Step 6: For some finishing touches.
Take a metallic pen or something that’s your favorite color and write a quote you like on the rest of the cap. Here, we used a simple “we did it!” but this part is easily changeable. Make it as decorative or as simple as you like.
Step 7: For a final touch, bring a marker of your choice around and have your best friends, roommates and favorite study buddies sign your cap.
They can even write messages to you, if they so desire. This, paired with some of your favorite photos, is a sweet and very personable way to end out the year and commemorate it all on your graduation cap.
