How to Make Mickey Minnie Mouse Ears for a Party!
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.
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.
For even more tips, check out my video tutorial that will walk you step by step through the whole process.
I am a planner, my daughter turns 2 in April. She is all about Mickey and Minnie that I thought a party like this would be awesome!! Thank you for showing pictures and a great guide. I look forward to making these and seeing everyone wear them.
Do you have any idea how to put names on them?
Thank you so much for this!! I look forward to learning more from your ideas.
I had not thought about putting names on the ears. They aren’t very big, so if you had a long name it would be tricky. The only idea I can think of that would fit for sure is embroidery, but I am not that talented. Of course, puffy paint is always an option…
Would you consider making these and selling them. I dont need many. I need 3 girl and 4 boy. Im just not very crafty! Lol!
Sorry Melissa – At this time I am busy crafting for my daughter’s next birthday bash! But they really are simple to make, you don’t have to be crafty, just follow the steps. Good luck!
Thanks for sharing this idea!
You’re such a great mom! How adorable are these ears?!
could you not just use a black headband instead of covering them with felt? (as long as they were made of material that glue would stick to?)
Yes. You could. Since I was making them for little ones, it was very important to me to be able to use flexible headbands that could bend but would not break. I could only find those in colors, so I covered them. But use, you could use black headbands and skip the step of covering them. Have fun!
OMG!!!! Thank you so much for sharing the ideas!!!! I loved!!! You did a great job!!!!
Thank you SO much for the tutorial! I am trying to find ears on headbands that I can use to take some cheesy wedding photos when I get married on the Disney Dream in April, and cannot find what I have in mind, so using your guide, I’m going to make my own bride and groom ears! Thank you again for sharing your creativity, you definitely just made my day!
You are welcome. Congrats on your up coming wedding. I am dying to go on a trip on the Disney Dream, have a wonderful time!
You rock!!! Thanks for sharing!
Thank you so much! I Can’t wait to make Minnie & Mickey ears for my daughter Olivia, who is turning 2 in April. I guess i should start cutting away!!!
Love these headbands and I hope I can make them! Just curious…Did you make your little girls shirt too??? I ahve been searching for cute outfits of minnie for her party…nothing catching my eye! Thanks again for the great ideas!
Hi Tammy – I JUST made a video tutorial to make it even easier to help people make the headbands. (I hope to add it to the post by next week.) I didn’t make the shirt, but it was made by my friend (Crissi) who has a little home business. You can find her online at http://www.thepaisleygator.com/Site/Home.html. The shirt came with the bows on it (Gymboree), but I am sure Crissi could add bows like it.
I love your ears and am trying to make them for my son’s first birthday party but I am having trouble printing the template. Can you help me at all? When I right click on the picture and click print it ends up printing your whole blog post instead of the template. I tried to download the template to my desktop and when I went to open it my internet explorer just opened your blog page back up.
Hi Sarah – Sorry about the trouble. I just added that template this week, and I see the problem. I changed the file type, so the new file should prevent that issue. Please use the download link again. Also, I am adding a video tutorial to the page now too, so that should help even more! Good luck with your ears. Let me know if you still have problems.
Jen
My daughter if turning one In March I’m making her Minnie Mouse theme I was going to buy the Mickey ears and just and bows to them but they look to cheap I loved the way yours came out so i think I’m just going to make them since they look so easy to make i need about 30 as well i still have 15 days i think i will go get all my supplies tomorrow cant wait to start and since i already have bows made one step less ….
Thank you I hope that it docent take me that long ….
Good luck.
I am in the middle of planning a Minnie Mouse party for my little girl at the moment…..What kinds of other things did you do for your party. I have 2 parties back to back and am stumped on ideas
We didn’t do any games because it was for a 2 year old, but you can see all the other decorations and goodie bags here – http://www.thesuburbanmom.com/2011/09/12/minnie-mickey-mouse-birthday-party-decorations-cake-ears-more. Have fun!
thank you so much!!!!!
hi there!! i LOVE the headbands!! my daughter is turning 1 in july and i am def thinking about making these! how much do you think it cost for the entire project? i found some headbands online for $1 apiece, but these are WAY cuter!! love all the ideas!! thanks for the help!
The price all depends on how many you are making and how many things you already have (like do you have to buy a glue?). After the basic supplies, the most expensive part is the headbands, but if you can find those cheap everything else is very cheap. For example, you can buy a sheet of felt for $.99 and a sheet of foam for $.99 and you can make 2-3 from that. If you are making more, you can buy felt by the yard (I made 30 from a yard) for just a couple dollars and foam by the value pack. I made 30 pairs, and all total I paid less than $1 a paid, but I got free headbands and had everything but foam, felt an ribbon on hand. Hope that helps.
Thanks for this idea my daughter is turning 2 and were doing minnie mouse theme. im “altering” it a bit though and just wanted to share the tip with your users. I am making the ears exactly like u said but will be making bows and putting them on alligator clips(i make bows as a side business so i have all the stuff already) and then will have ears in one bucket and bows in another and if people want minnie ears then can attach a bow to one of the ears with the alligator clip and if they dont want a bow then they just grab the ears. HTH
I can’t get your ear template to download the file, all it’s doing it trying to install something and not open it. Help please
Hi Crystal – 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!
My daughter is turning 4 and we are having her first kids party next weekend. Thought abut buying ears for the kids (so far only 5 kids total) but found this sight after searching for DIY Minnie ears. Have already bought the supplies and hope to get started tomorrow. Cannot wait to see how they come out.
Thanks for posting this! I was going to buy them from Etsy, but wasn’t a big fan of any of them. I love these.
Just a tip for everyone, I found black glittery foam at Hobby Lobby, which eliminated the need for the felt and cut out a step with the added bling of glitter. I also found black satin headbands at Hobby Lobby for a reasonable price and cut out that whole step too.
Thanks again!
OMG!!! How fun is this??? Okay, so where do I get toddler sized headbands??? I need about 30? Help help
I didn’t use toddler headbands, I just used regular headbands. It was my daughter’s 2nd birthday, so the kids were 2-3 years old and it wasn’t a problem.
I dont have a Publix near me. What brand did you use?
I am pretty sure they were Goodie.
ohhh, just regular goodie headbands!!! Thank you so much for sharing!! My daughter is turning two as well, and I am soooo in love with these head bands!! I will attempt to make them!
Good luck!
Thank you so much for sharing!
I am making a buch of these for my son’s 2nd Birthday Party.
I am sure the kids will love it.
All the best
Thanks for the tutorial- I will be making these for the Forget-Me-Not’s at my church-I co-host a luncheon for the widows of our church every other month. In August we always play croquet and ‘travel’ somewhere. This year we will be traveling to Disney World! Looking forward to making these for our very special Mouseketeers!
Can or if Stiffened felt is used the foam is no longer needed correct? but can still use ear template? found 12″x18″ (felt)and they feel rather stiff/sturdy.
can stiffened felt be used? if used is foam still needed?
it feels rather sturdy perhaps the equivelant of 2 foam circles…
Stiffened felt is great. I definitely stand ups, however, I had a problem getting it to wrap around the headband without buckling. I found it to be too stiff to get the right look. But try it, and let me know what you think.
Thank you so much for this idea! I just finished making 12 ears. Half Mickey, half Minnie for my daughters 1st birthday party. What a wonderful idea.
You are most welcome! Happy 1st birthday baby girl.
Just made these for my daughter’s 2nd birthday! Thank you so much for making the instructions so easy to follow and doing the how-to video! You rock!!! Keep up the wonderful work with this and your kiddos!
Awe thanks
Thank you!! I am working on making 42 pairs… oh yes, 42! We have a HUGE family and my little one is turning 3. Thanks to a great coupon for hobby lobby I managed to cut the cost of these beauties to just under .82 a piece. WHOOT! We all know it would have cost a fortune to buy enough for everyone.
That’s fantastic!!! Have fun making them, they were such a hit for us!
Lovely thank you so much
Just what I was looking for. I was a mickey mouse club fan as a child & as my partner & are are going to a square dance fancy dress night back to the fifty’s TV. I didn’t want to make the full mickey mouse head. You are a life saver, I will definately make this.Thank you.
Cool idea. But how did you make the ‘foam ears’ stick?
I used foam that had adhesive already on it.
Then I hot glued them into the felt. If you watch the video, it will walk you through all of the steps.
Hi Jen!! This i a fun and creative idea. It is saving me soooo much money. I am trying to download the template for the ears however it is telling me to register/buy winzap. Shouldn’t it be free?? Help …
You shouldn’t have to buy anything, but it is a zipped file. (Because it is SO big, I “zipped” the file which compresses it so it can be loaded to the website.) Most computers come with an unzipping program, but if you have an older computer you might not have one. You shouldn’t have to buy anything, you should be able to find a free program to unzip it. Try this program to unzip it – http://download.cnet.com/7-Zip/3000-2250_4-10045185.html
Thank you so much! I have watched your video, printed the template and bought the supplies! I am so excited about creating Mickey & Minnie Mouse ears for my daughter’s 3rd birthday! You rock!
Thanks so much for the idea. My daughter is turning one this month. I just started making them and they are coming out great! I am not crafty at all but it was pretty easy to make. I found it the hardest to glue the felt on the band, but not impossible. I would recommend anyone doing Minne and Mickey themes to do this.
Thanks Deseree! Happy birthday to your little one, and I hope your comment encourages other “non crafty” people to give these a try. I think anyone can make them
Thank goodness that I found this. You did an amazing job and I can’t wait to get my supplies and make my daughter minnie and my son Mickey. I just finished up their outfits for our up coming trip to Disneyland and these will be Adorable!!