DIY Mermaid Headband

There is something so magical about mermaids. I, for one, am obsessed. I mean, who doesn’t want to be a mermaid for a day or even an hour?

My daughter and I did a Mommy & Me mermaid photoshoot in May and I wanted to make something special for it. I decided on making these mermaid headbands and was so happy with how they came out! My daughter loved it and actually kept it on the whole photoshoot! I made ours pretty simple but identical to match.

In this post, I will show you how to make your very own mermaid headband. They are simple and fun to make. You can accessorize with whatever shells or items you want to make them unique to you and your style.

What You’ll Need

• Shells, Sand Dollars, or other items you want to put on the headband
• Headbands
• Hot glue gun & glue

SHELLS/SAND DOLLARS

You will need some mermaid/beach themed items to decorate your headband with. For my headbands, I chose to use starfish and sand dollars only. I got a pack of 3 different sized starfish and a pack of small sand dollars both at Hobby Lobby.

HEADBAND

You will need a headband to attach your shells too. I got a pack of 4 multi-colored headbands at Hobby Lobby for about $2-3. You can also find a 6 pack at the Dollar Store.

HOT GLUE GUN & GLUE

You will need the hot glue gun and the glue itself to get your shells and items in place on your headband so that they will stay in place.

Let’s Get Started

STEP #1

First, you will need to decide which shells/items you want to use on your headband. How many will you use and where do you want them located on the band itself?

I played around with this for a while when I made mine. Deciding the placement of the shells on the headband took me the longest out of all these steps. I took the different shells I wanted to use and laid them out on the ground to get an idea of how I wanted to place them on the headband. Then I put the empty headband on my head and held the shells up in the mirror to decide on the placing.

STEP #2

Once you have the placement of the shells set, the next step is to glue it in place. You can mark on the headband where you want it placed. I simply just held the place with my fingers.

Glue the first item in place by putting the glue directly onto the shell and/or headband. Stick the shell on the headband and hold it in place for about 30 seconds as it dries.

Add more glue if needed. Apply pressure for longer if needed while it dries. Depending on the shell it may need more glue and/or more time to dry while you hold it in place. All the shells on my headbands took multiple applications of glue.

STEP #3

Clean off the loose glue from the headband. Once the shell was attached, I picked off the strings that hung from the glue just to clean up around the edges. Giving the band a cleaner look.

STEP #4

Repeat steps 1 – 3 for every shell you wish to attach to your headband.

STEP #5

Let it dry overnight. I tried on the headband just to ensure everything looked good and didn’t need any adjustments. Then, I let it sit and dry overnight.

And there you have it! Easy, beautiful, and completely customizable mermaid headbands done YOUR way. Happy creating!