Whether you are looking for colorful event décor ideas or just perky party favors, pinwheels truly are, no pun intended, easy breezy to create. They are a fun & lighthearted splash of color to add to any empty shelf or table and will literally cost you next to nothing. In fact, when we decided to create a child’s table at a recent wedding and were struggling with centerpiece ideas, we simply filled a vase with brightly colored pinwheels. Large or small, you can use them in a wide variety of ways to add a perfect punch of whimsy.
You will need:
- Scissors
- Hot Glue
- 1 dowel slender dowel rod, cut in half
- Poster board
- Double stick tape
- Ruler
- Assorted paper (I like to use a mix of solids & prints, in complimentary color shades. Do not feel like they need to all match perfectly…I tend to prefer a wide variety)
- Decorative Button (for center of pinwheel)
What to do:
- Draw a square on your poster board, any size you like. The one pictured is a 10” x 10” square and creates a fairly large wheel. You can vary the dimensions based upon your needs.
- Draw a diagonal line connecting the two diagonal corners. This will divide your square into 4 equal triangles.
- Next, you will cut along these lines, starting at each corner and stopping half an inch before you hit the center. This will leave a full inch center in which to glue the flaps of your pinwheel down. You should now have one piece of poster board cut into 4 equal squares, but still connected at the tips.
- Next you are going to cut out 8 separate triangles in a variety of different papers. They should be the same size as each triangle of the pinwheel. I use the actual pinwheel pattern to help me trace out the shape.
- Once your triangles are cut out, you simply adhere them to each pinwheel triangle with double stick tape. You will use four paper triangles for each side of the poster board, and at the end should have covered all of the visible poster board.
- Next, you will take the bottom right corner of each triangle, fold the flap inwards and hot glue it to the wheel’s center.
- Finish off the center by gluing a decorative button or bead in the center.
- Finally, glue your dowel rod to the back center of your pinwheel and you are done! Feel free to decorate the dowel rod by spraying it a color, dipping it in glitter, or wrapping it with twine or ribbon if you like.
*I glue my pinwheels to the dowel rod for stability, but you can also stick a straight pin through the center of the pinwheel and into the dowel rod if you want a spinning wheel!
DIY: Easy Breezy Colorful Pinwheel
