This post is a long time coming. I made 30 pairs of ears for my daughter’s second birthday party back in March. When “designing” the ears, I looked all over the Internet for a good guide, but everything I found was too complicated or too simple. I wanted something reasonable, but super cute. So, as I created my own “design.” I detailed my process with pictures planning to share it. Unfortunately, everything else has taken precedence, and I am just now posting more than 3+ months since I made the ears. Oh well, better late than never! I hope you enjoy my guide, and if you make some, please share your pics and/or experiences!
Materials -
- Headbands – look for about a 1/2 inch wide, any color because you are going to cover them. I found flexible ones at Publix that won’t break! Cost – $2 for 5 headbands, and I used coupons and got for free! ($5 off $50 purchase, so I bought them over time using my $5 coupon for 2 pairs each coupon.)
- Black Felt – I purchased felt made out of 100% recycled water bottles, cheap and eco-friendly! (Don’t forget your 40% off coupon if shopping at Joann’s or Michael’s)
- Foam Sheets – I bought the ones with sticky on one side, it was helpful. There were 2 thicknesses at Joann’s I bought the thinner ones and doubled up. (Again, use your 40% off coupons for these and buy a bulk pack because color won’t matter.)
- Circle Tracer – I used a circle tracer from Scrapbooking materials I have, but you can use anything that you want to trace the right size. Circles approx 3 inches and 3.5 inches will be needed.
- Scissors – sharp enough to cut felt smoothly.
- Chalk pencil in white – to trace your shapes on the black felt to be cut out.
- Sharpe marker – to trace your circles on the foam to be cut out.
- Hot glue gun – LOTS of glue!
- Ribbon – This is for Minnie Mouse bows, so you can skip if all Mickey Mouse. You will need 1.5 inch ribbon for the bow and a thin ribbon 1/8 inch to tie it on with – preferably in the same color.
- Template – Download my template for your ears (Adobe PDF File).
Step 1 – Cover the headband – The dimensions used in this step vary based on the headbands purchased. You will basically need to measure enough felt to be wide enough to wrap the headband and long enough to close on either end. Roughly 2.25 the width of your headband and 1 inch longer then the length.
Since I am always nervous abut cutting fabric and wasting it, I recommend cutting 2 strips that you think will be the right size. Test one and use the other as a pattern for the rest of your strips, adjusting bigger or smaller if needed.
To cover your headband, place a line of hot glue down the center of your strip. Then starting with 1 end of the headband, rock your headband down the center of the glue until you reach the end (be sure to leave a little extra fabric on either end of your tip to close up – about 1/2 inch). Remember, when working with hot glue, you want to press with your finger as you go so you don’t end up with lumps.
Next, bring one side around and seal with another line of glue down the edge. Finally, wrap the other side around and glue down. Note – there will be lots of bumps and lumps, once cool, you will want to go back and fill in with little squirts of glue to seal flat. For the ends, put a little dot of glue in each end and pressed closed with my fingers. Once cool, cut off any extra fabric.
Step 2 – Cut foam circles – The foam circles will stiffen your felt ears so they stand up nice and firm on their own. Since you will totally cover your foam, any color works. I made my mouse ears 3.5 inches in diameter. This size works well for toddlers – adults, but you can adjust if you like. You will need 4 foam circles for each pair of ears – remembered I doubled my thin foam to make stiffer. The foam circles will be 3 inches in diameter.
When cutting out your foam circles, it is not necessary to be exactly precise. As you can see from my pictures, my foam circles are not pretty – jagged and you can see the Sharpe marks. It won’t matter because they will totally be covered.
If you purchased the thin foam with adhesive, go ahead and stick your foam circles together in pairs.
Step 3 – Cut your felt ears – When creating your felt ears, you will create 2 circles joined together by a small rectangle (see picture). The purpose of this shape is to wrap the ears onto the headband. The circles will each be 3.5 inches in diameter. The size of the rectangle between the circles depends on your headband, the rectangle should be approx double the width of your headband (already wrapped in felt). Again, cut a pair to test and adjust accordingly.
Cutting perfect circles is not an easy task. I did my best to make them look nice and round, but I didn’t kill myself making perfect circles. Remind yourself that these are handmade, and people will be impressed with that. Plus once they are on, you won’t see tiny imperfections in your circles 
Step 4 – Create your ears – Once you have everything cut out, it is time to assemble your ears. (Note, cutting is the longest process, I cut all my pieces out over several days because if you are making 30 like I did, your hand will get tired!)
Starting with a foam circle (doubled), use the sticky side to attach to the center of one side of the felt ears. Next squirt a generous amount of hot glue all over the top of the foam circle and fold the other side on top. Again, squish as flat as you can. Note, in order to avoid large lumps you want really hot glue, yes, you will burn your fingers a bit Sorry.
Go ahead and glue all of your ears. Be sure to leave the rectangle area unsealed (for now).
After your ears have cooled, go back and run a thin line of glue on the inside edge of each ear to seal. Again, not on the edge with the folded rectangle.
Step 5 – Assembly – Now it is time to put your ears on the headbands. Slide your headband through the loop created by the rectangles at the bottom of each ear. Once you determine where you want your ears, squirt glue into loops securing ears to headband. (I attached mine a little less than 2 inches apart – this is rough because I did each pair to look.) As you are securing your ears, be sure to pinch the ears down firmly to the center of the band. Add as much glue as needed to seal.
Step 6 – Minnie Bows – To create your bows, cut a length of ribbon approx 9 inches long. Fold the two ends back until they over lap in the center, and then pinch all three layers at the center. This creates the look of Minnie’s bow. Next take the thin ribbon (in matching color) and tie around the pinch at the center. Vola, a bow! Next wrap the thin ribbon around the top and bottom of the headband and tie off. Then glue the ribbon flaps down, and use a squirt of hot clue behind the bow to secure.
That’s it. Minnie Mouse bows in just 6 steps. This pattern could be modified to make bear ears, dog ears, etc. The hardest part about the project is cutting straight felt circles and working through each time-consuming step – if making multiples. Good luck!
If you are having a Minnie Mouse (or Mickey Mouse) birthday party and want more ideas for party decor, check out my other post with details about all of the other fun decorations for a Minnie Mouse Birthday Party.
DIY Minnie Mickey Mouse Ears Video Tutorial
For even more tips, check out my video tutorial that will walk you step by step through the whole process.
Hi,
I just want to know how can i get the discount to Joann’s or Michael’s
Thank you
Both stores regularly have flyers in the Sunday paper with 40% off coupons. You can also sign up for JoAnn’s mailing list to have them mailed to you. From time to time there are printable ones too – I usually post those when they come out
Hi, what size ribbon did you use for the bow?
Never mind I just saw the size…thanks for the awesome tutorial!!
You’re welcome
Have fun!
You can buy 4 flexable bands in a pack at Dollar Tree for $1.00
Thank you so much! I just made a pair for my little girl’s first bday! Sooo cute!
Those are amazing you should sell them!
Thanks for the great step by step lesson…gonna try 40 of these for my sons Cross Country team they will be running in Disney next month…I’m going to pirate style them…there team is the pirates…lol…THANK YOU!! Will send pictures when I am finished!! Think some sort of cheap gold earring on one ear…hmmm…to the drawing board I go!!
Liz
Good luck! And I would LOVE to see a picture
Where do I find the pattern for the ears? I’m having trouble locating it.
In the actual post, click on the words “Download my template for your ears.” The file is a zip file, so your computer should first try to download the folder. Next when you open the folder, it is an Adobe PDF. If you don’t have an Adobe PDF reader installed on your computer you will need to download it. (I am guessing that’s what it is trying to download.) The Adobe Reader is safe and free. You can download it directly here – http://get.adobe.com/reader/. Hope this helps!
Joann now has an app. It will store current coupons for you! And Michael’s has a customer rewards card now that also gives discounts and coupons.
Thanks for the step by step on the mouse ears!
Kim – I did not know about the JoAnns app. That might be the highlight of my day! I am off to go look into both of those programs. Thanks for the tip!
Enjoy the ears
thank you for the tutorial! How many yards of felt did you purchase and for how many headbands did you make?
Unfortunately, I can’t remember how much felt I bought. (That’s what happens when you make something and then decide months later that you should share your creation with the world.) But you can calculate for what you need. The ears are 3.5 inches each side with about an inch to inch and half in between. So that’s 8 to 8.5 by 3.5 per ear – call it 9 x 4 to have extra (felt is cheap) per ear. (Remember 2 ears per headband.) Then if you are covering headbands, you need to measure the length and width of the headband and add that to your ear calculations and you’ll know how much felt to buy. I hope that helps. However much I bought, I still have some 2 years later! LOL. Good luck!
Just wanted to give you a big THANKS for the Minnie ears tutorial!! My daughter’s high school is having spirit week and tomorrow is Disney character day. I had an idea in my head of how I could make them, but I’m sure this was a much easier way and saved a ton of time, which is nice since she decided at ten o’clock that she would need them in the morning
Thanks again!!
If you have a smartphone (iphone or android) both stores have an app that you can download with coupons. And remember if one store has a better coupon than the other that week both stores will take each other’s coupons!
thanks for the minnie ears tutorial……
Hey Jen, these are great:) I am going to make about 10-12 pairs for Halloween. I have a home daycare and am going to get all my kids white teeshirts and puff paint their names on them, then make the ears and have the MM CLub for our group party!! I am going to make extras for the siblings:)So happy to find your site, I have looked into buying these, but don’t want to spend $100.00 on 6 of them. the ones that are $2.-$5.00 are cheapo looking:)
You are most welcome. Enjoy!
How many yards of felt did it take to make 30 headbands? I didn’t want to buy too much.
Unfortunately, I can’t remember how much felt I bought (that’s what happens when you make something on a whim and decide later to post about it). But you can calculate for what you need. The ears are 3.5 inches each side with about an inch to inch and half in between. So that’s 8 to 8.5 by 3.5 per ear – call it 9 x 4 to have extra (felt is cheap) per ear. (Remember 2 ears per headband.) Then if you are covering headbands, you need to measure the length and width of the headband and add that to your ear calculations and you’ll know how much felt to buy. I hope that helps. However much I bought, I still have some 2 years later! LOL. Good luck!
thanks so much for this tutorial! my 2 year old’s birthday is coming up and she LOVES mickey’s clubhouse so i am making mickey, minnie, donald, daisy AND goofy hats! all her aunts and uncles are gonna be wearing them! i just have to remember to posts some pics!
again, thanks so much! it definately got my wheels a turnin for her 2nd birthday party!
I made these for my 2 y/o granddaughter to wear with her Minnie Mouse outfit for Halloween. They were super easy. Thanks much for the help.
You’re welcome
This tutorial is awesome! Thank you, i just made my daughter a set for her Halloween costume. I found some glitter felt, it was a lot stiffer than the traditional felt so i used all the felt i bought instead of buying foam. They came out great. Thanks again.
Fantastic! Hope your daughter loves them!
Thanks for the tutorial! I am going to use it for my dtrs birthday, one questions though, I bought the sticky sided foam as well. U stuck them together and then stuck on side on the felt and glued the other side. Is it possible to stick each foam piece on each side of the felt ears and then but the glue between the foam circle? Just to avoided burning my fingers, or would that not work?
It *might*. I was concerned that the sticky on the foam wouldn’t be strong enough to adhere to the felt – stickers on felt don’t generally hold up long term. I made my ears to last. Two years later, my daughter still wears her ears. It’s worth a try, but I can assure you that it holds up the other way
Good luck!
One more thing… HOw did u not get glue everywhere! I just finished my first one and when I went to put glue on the loops to secure the ears, I got glue everywhere, sticking to the fabric, their dried on the ears white. So I just colored them in with a sharpie, but am I doing something wrong? I am using a mini glue gun.
What brand of chalk did you use? I bought a dressmakers marking pencil in white and it will not trace on the felt….
I don’t know what brand it is, it is just a dressmakers pencil. I do have to go over it several times and apply some pressure to make it leave a light impression. Try some regular kids chalk if you have any lying around, it will be dustier, but should work. Good luck.
HELLO JEN. JUST WANTED TO THANK YOU FOR SUCH A GREAT TUTORIAL AND FOR SHARING IT WITH ALL OF US. CAN NOT WAIT TO GIVE IT A TRY.
You are most welcome. Thanks for the note! Have fun.
Hi!!
I loved your post. We had a Minnie Mouse Theme party for my 2 year old daughter and it was beautiful!!
I did my own post of how to make the Minnie Mouse Ears, as I took a few shortcuts
and i didn’t forget to mention your post as you were my inspiration 
Thanks again for sharing all your beautiful DIY projects.
Thanks so much Mage, I am glad they turned out so well! Saw your little boxes too, cute
Hi, instead of using a dressmakers pencil, I like to use a thin piece of soap. It works wonderfully on fabric and can be washed out or rub off. Instead of covering the headband with material, my hubby spraypainted it black. It can be done in matt, gloss, glittery, etc. Thanks for the pattern. My little girl just loves Mickey and Minnie.
THIS IS SUCH A GREAT TUTORIAL MADE MY LITTLE GIRL A MINNIE MOUSE HEAD BAND FOR HALLOWEEN AND SHE LOVED IT <3
Jen you rock! Love the tutorial!! Thank you for blessing my life with your site!
Hey Jen, I have a Mac and your pdf file isnt working to open up the template for the ears. Do you know if it only works on pc?? Thanks, they look awesome and trying to make for a family reunion to disneyland.
I got it figured out. Excited to get started. Thanks for your tutorial:)
Glad you got it to work
Good luck!
Just curious:
about how much did you spend per headband? I am trying to decide cost wise if it would be better if i make them or worth it to just buy them!!! Thanks!!
Using coupons I spent about $1 – $1.50 per set of ears on materials. I can’t remember exactly, but in that range.
Hi like the way you made your minnie ears …but there is an easy way to make them .. the stick on foam ..glue the color sides together , than peel the paper and stick to the black felt. ad glue to seal ears .. Thanks Maria
Those are sooooo cute!! My daughters birthday is in March, and I would love to use those as the “party hats.” Have you thought about selling them?
Thanks so much. Unfortunately, I just don’t have the time. If only there were more hours in the day I’d love to
Hi, are you willing to sell these??? They are toooooo CUTE!
Sorry. At this time, I do not have the time to make them. Thank you so much though. If there were more hours in the day, I have thought about it
I am soooo excited about making these. I found super thick foam paper so I need only half as many to cut out! Yay but I will post photos when they are finished. I’m stoked and so are my twin daughters who turn 4yrs old tomorrow. Thaaaaannnk you so much for this great idea.
You are most welcome. Have fun & Happy Birthday to your girls!
Thanks so much for the pattern and info. I am going to a Red Hat Event with a Disney theme. I will be making these in Red. I will send a pick of us at the event. Again thanks.
I love that, and I would love to see pictures
Have fun!
I am going to a Red Hat Event so I will be making these in red. Thanks so much
I love that!!!
thank you for posting, i’m using this for my twin’s birthday- great tutorial!
You are welcome! Have fun.
Love this idea. My daughter is turning 2 next month and since before her first birthday, I’ve been planning on doing Minnie Mouse for her 2nd. I made my first ears tonight to put in her invites. I’ve noticed though, that you can really see the foam. It sticks out quite a bit. How did you make your’s look so smooth? It is my first one, so maybe after I do more, I’ll be able to make them look much better. Thank you so much for the “how to”. I’m excited about these.
Hi Jana – I am so excited for you! These originated from my little girl’s 2nd birthday, and she will be 5 next month (tear). I am not sure what you mean that you can see the foam? Do you mean that you felt is shear and you see the color or that you see the outline? Either way, my best guess is that you might have very thin felt. This is something I never experienced, so I am not really sure. You might have to play with it, if the felt is too thin, you might need to double up… Good luck!
The felt is thin, you can see the outline of the foam. When I went to buy the felt, the didn’t have any black by the yard, so I bought the sheets. Thank you!
Hi! I just wanted to say a huge thank you for your tutorial! My high school cheerleading team is going to nationals in Disney World next week and I made these for all 30 of us! It was so helpful I can’t thank you enough!!
CONGRATS on nationals & good luck! I bet you will all look adorable in your ears. I’d love to see a picture, if you care to share after the event.
I am going to attempt my first one using the template and tutorial! I’ll let you know how they turn out as I’m not that crafty and have never used a glue gun. Thanks for posting!
This is a great tutorial! I just had a question…I bought the 2mm thick foam sheets and doubling them seems too thick. I was just wondering how thick your foam sheets were. If they were also 2mm and you doubled them, I’ll stick with it! Thanks!
Wow this is awesome! I’m doing this for two kids 13 months apart the boy loves mickey and the girl loves minnie.
how many pack of felt did you buy in total?
Hi Yessy – I didn’t buy packs, I bought felt by the yard. If you scroll up through the comments, you will see that I calculated the felt needed for other commenters.
I just made my 1st pair of ears, and I bought sheets of self-adhesive felt at JoAnn’s. It worked like a dream!! No need to mess with hot glue, just stick the foam circles in the middle (not self-adhesive, just regular foam), position the center of the rectangular part of the ear on the headband where you want it and it will stick and then fold the rest of the ear up, match the two circles together and press it to stick! It’s great! I’m not sure. The brand was Stick’rz felt and it was a little more expensive than just plain felt, of course, but it is worth it not to have to mess with hot glue! It’s extremely sticky and comes in 9 x12 sheets. You can fit 3 ear,on a sheet, so you can make 1 and a half pairs with each sheet.
This blog was… how do you say it? Relevant!! Finally I have found something which helped me.
Appreciate it!
We made 60 mickey ears for my son’s first birthday with the help of this tutorial. I used a circle city to cut the foam. We cut rectangles and glued the felt to the down and cut around it. We got clean finish and perfect circles. It was fast easy and very clean. Also for the headbands my friend sew straight line pockets and we just cut it close to the stitch. It saved us some hot glue woes.
A cool fun project
Jen, You saved my life last night! my 17 yr old, junior in high school told me at 9:15 that today was ‘Dress up like a cartoon character’ TODAY! I stayed up till almost 1am after he ran to WalMart for red shorts and head bands. I used some heavy fusible interfacing, but YOUR pattern. I got a HUG (that NEVER Happens!) and a promise for pictures (THAT REALLY NEVER HAPPENS!) I will post the picture on my blog later and email you the link. thank you Thank you THANK YOU!
Awe!!! You are welcome! I am so glad I could help. I hope your Mickey Mouse has a great day. Can’t wait to see pictures.
I used this template to make Minnie and Mickey ears for my daughter’s 1st birthday, and they came out great! I am not usually a crafty person, but I was very proud of myself after doing them. Of course, I did have help from family!! We made over fifty ears!! The majority were minnie. We used a thinner headband, and just to save time and felt, since the headbands were all black, we did not wrap them. However, the actual ears we did in felt. We also used a slightly thinner ribbon for the bows, because it was what I could find that was hot pink with white polka dots. That worked out perfectly. Being that I was “Momma Minnie”, my ribbon was hot pink and black zebra print. I also did my own centerpieces, which were very nice!! Thanks for the very precise tutorial!!
I am so glad to have inspired you! 50 – wow! Glad you had help
Thank You so Much! Your Tutorial was so helpful!
You can’t beat classic Disney! These are awesome – I’ll keep them in mind for my daughter when she gets a bit older, she’ll hopefully enjoy them! Long live Mickey and Minnie
Thank You SOOOOOOO much!!!! I was alittle nervous about trying to find all of the things I needed to make a successful party for my soon to be 2 year old little girl. However, after finding you website… I can honestly say that this party will be great!! And I know her class will love the ears! Thank you so much!
Thank you so much for this tutorial. it helped me to create mickey and Minnie mouse ears for my daughter’s birthday party that is this Sunday. thanks you again.