Graduating, whether that’s from high school or college, is a huge milestone. Not only is it a monumental celebration to honor the accomplishment of making it all the way through four years of school, but it’s also your last rite of passage before you enter into your next phase of life. Getting to walk across the stage in a cap and gown to receive your diploma, shake your dean’s hand, and wave to your family in the audience is a really awesome feeling. And speaking of your cap… it’s a great way to express yourself one last time by decorating it for the big event.
With hobby culture trending in such a big way these days, it seems like there’s more inspo than ever to craft your graduation cap in a way that shows off your personality or sends a message as you walk across the stage. That said, if you’re stuck on what you want to do to your grad cap, or how to actually do it, don’t worry, I’m right there with you. That’s why I’ve compiled some inspo for DIYing your grad cap with a variety of styles and techniques — spanning a range of skill levels — based on what speaks most to you.
Paint It
For anyone who has always wanted to do one of those paint by numbers or pottery painting classes, this may be just the right thing for you — and your grad cap. If you want, you can make this an intricate painting, or you can just keep it simple. Start by using some acrylic paint to paint a white base. If you are hoping to use colors that may be overshadowed by the color of cap and gown, a white base will help those other colors stand out. Either way, start by sketching out your ideas with pencil, and once you’re happy with it, go over those sketches with acrylic paint or paint pens if you want more precise detailing. This idea takes more time than the others, but is still so fun.
Add A Bow
A bow is a great way to personalize your grad cap while still keeping it pretty simple and traditional. You can commission someone to make the bow for you, and print your name and graduation year on it. But, if you’d rather do it yourself, you can get away with some good ribbon, letter stencils, and a marker. Or go freehand if you are feeling confident or have some backup ribbon in case you need a do-over.
Add 3D Elements
You can definitely find premade 3D flowers and other items at your local craft store. Grab those, then just hot glue them right onto your cap or onto a paper topper.
Crochet It
If you want to give cottagecore at your graduation ceremony, then I suggest going for crochet as your DIY of choice. Even if you’ve never attempted to crochet before, you can get crochet kits specifically for grad caps from Tyra The Stitcher’s website.
Use Adhesive Letters
One of my favorite craft tools is adhesive letters — especially the sparkly ones. It’s one of the easiest ways to express yourself on your cap, without being too artistic.
Recreate Your favorite album cover
If you feel like one album was the soundtrack of your time in college or high school, what better way to commemorate that than on your grad cap? This one is, in theory, pretty easy — just print out your favorite album cover to the shape and size of your grad cap.
Bedazzle It
If you want to pull a Sharpay Evans at your graduation, I would suggest bedazzling as your cap craft of choice, diva. All this takes is time,a stencil, a vision, and a lot of little gemstones.
Make it a Photo Scrapbook
Maybe my favorite idea on this list, turning your grad cap into a collection of photos and memories from your time in school is a great way to really make the craft unique to you. Do some looking around for pictures of you from your time in school, or just pictures of you growing up. You can also use pictures of you and your friends, or just pictures that encapsulate some of your favorite memories from your time in school. Then, print and cut them out to glue onto your cap.