When throwing a birthday party for children, keep the guests engaged with baseball cap crafts. Buy one adjustable baseball hat for each partygoer and set up a project area full of decorative items such as gems, beads, craft paints, brushes, glue and stencils. Decorated baseball caps also make charming gifts and party favours for themed events. Customise a hat according to a friend or loved one's hobbies and interests for a personalised gift.
Cover the work surface with newspaper or waxed paper as protection against spills and drips.
Hold a stencil against the hat and create the design using a fabric pen or fabric paint and a small, fine brush. Use stencils featuring shapes such as hearts, stars, cars, frogs, butterflies, ladybirds, cats or dogs to reflect the wearer's interests. Personalise the hat with a person's or sports team's name using letter-shaped stencils.
Grasp flat-backed gems and beads with tweezers, dot their backs with glue from the hot-glue gun. Press the gems onto the bill of the cap. Apply gems around the perimeter of the bill, or completely cover it with the shiny decor items. If you use glass or plastic gems with adhesive backings, heat the glue using a heat-set tool and press the gem onto the cap's bill.
Squeeze a tube of sparkling glitter glue of any colour and apply it to the front of the hat or the bill. Use the glue to create swirl patterns, names, team numbers or phrases such as "#1 Dad" if the hat is a gift.
Tip
Pick colours to match with the overall theme of a party or to coordinate with a particular decor style; for instance, go with pink hats if you want to create a glamorous look for girls.
Warning
Don't let children use hot glue guns unattended.