DIY Christmas Reindeer Antler Headband

This Christmas, I've broached again the question on what theme we'll be having for the Christmas picture. In the previous years, we've had the color themes. So we've had blue, red, yellow, white, green and gray. Colors we've not used yet include orange, pink, and violet. Since three of us already have orange shirts, we finally decided on taking the orange theme. The three girls who did not have orange shirts went on to buy new shirts!

Then the idea of a Christmas headgear like a Santa hat came up. Well, my youngest daughter cherished the thought of wearing a reindeer headband. There's an idea, I thought! And so I planned on having reindeer headbands for the kids this year.

Thus started my quest for the Christmas Reindeer Antler headbands.


Why Make Your Own Christmas Reindeer Headband

Unfortunately, the only kind that is being sold in stores is too small and is really meant to be worn by kids. The headband is small. The reindeer antlers are short at maybe 5 inches long. When an adult wears the headband, the headband is forced outwards. This causes the antlers to move toward each other.

For the few and flimsy materials that was used for it, I thought the headband is a bit expensive. Nonetheless, if they were actually made for adults, then I would've readily bought four for my kids.

DH then suggested that we just make our own. There's a nearby mall that has plenty of craft materials for hobbyists and art and craft entrepreneurs.

Finding a Template for the Christmas Reindeer Antler Headband

For DIY or do-it-yourself projects like this, it would be easier and more practical to find a suitable template to copy from. There are plenty of images of reindeer horn headbands on the internet. Use search key words like "Christmas", "reindeer", "antlers", "horn', "yuletide, "holidays", "headband", among others.

The designs you'll see are plenty. They would range from simple horns that look like clip-art samples all the way to antlers that have many horn branches and look realistic and intricate. Be forewarned though that using an antler template that has many horn branches are more difficult to execute. There would be plenty of cutting and gluing to do to finish a pair. The simple ones would only have around two or three horn branches in an antler.

Choose the ones that appeal to you. I've seen some samples that look outright goofy for my taste. Some antlers look like lollipops or small balloons sticking out of your head. Some look like antennas. Here's one of my choices for the deer antler headband.

It's simple and looks easy to make.

However, one of my kids complained that it looked a bit too "cartoony" or "clip-arty". She suggested adding a third horn just to make it just a bit more realistic. My solution then was to add a third reindeer horn to this particular antlers template.

Sketching the Reindeer Antler Headband Template

If you do intend to modify an existing template such as the one above, be sure to consider matching the change to the elements of the existing template. These elements include the length of the horns, spacing between the horns and the shape of the horn.

(See Part 2 for the continuation of this article)