How to Make a Paper Pompom

Last Updated: October 21, 2021

Whether you're throwing a party or simply looking for a way to dress up your house, making pompom flowers is a fun and inexpensive way to add a vibrant touch to almost anything.

Method 1

Method 1 of 3:

Hanging Pompoms

1
Lay your paper out so that all the corners are aligned. You'll want to use between 8 and 13 sheets per pompom, depending on how thick the paper is. ^{[1]
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Research source} The thinner the paper, the more sheets you should use.
2
Fold your paper like a fan. To do so, fold the edge of the paper in about one inch. Then, flip over the entire stack of paper and do the same thing on the other side. Repeat until you have one long strip of paper with accordion folds.

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3
Cut down the edges. Once the paper is folded, trim the edges. For soft, feminine looking pompoms, round the corners. For more dramatic pompoms, cut them to a point. ^{[2]
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- Don't worry if you don't get the cuts as perfect as you'd like. While shaping the edges of the paper will definitely have an effect on the shape of the pompoms, you will not be able to notice small details or mistakes once they have been folded out.
4
Cut off 9 to 10 inches (22.9 to 25.4 cm) of floral wire. Bend it in half.
5
Slide the wire onto the paper. It should be placed as close to the center of the paper as possible. Twist the ends of the wire together to keep it in place.
- Don't worry about making the wire super tight. In fact, keeping the wire slightly looser will make it easier to fan out the pompom.
6
Bend the excess wire to make a loop. Then, thread the fishing line through the wire and tie a knot. Be sure that there is plenty of fishing line hanging out—you will use this to hang the pompom later.
7
Fluff out the pompom. Slowly lift the top sheet of paper until it is standing straight up. Repeat with the first four layers, then flip the pompom over and repeat. Continue until all the paper is fluffed out.
- Use gentle, slow movements to do this, or you risk ripping the paper. To push each piece up as far as possible, try running your first and index fingers along the accordion folds from the outside of the pompom to the middle. ^{[3]
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8
Hang the pompom by sticking a tack through the fishing wire. Enjoy your new decoration!

Method 2

Method 2 of 3:

Honeycomb Pompoms

1
Cut a circle out of the cardboard. The size of the circle is completely up to you—small circles will make small pompoms, and bigger circles will make bigger pompoms.
2
Cut the cardboard circle in half. You should have two identical half circles.
3
Plan the honeycomb paper. Cut down the paper you are going to use so that it is significantly smaller than your sheet of scrap paper. Then, place one sheet of paper flat on top of the scrap piece.
4
Plan the glue lines. Keeping it flat on the scrap paper, evenly divide the honeycomb paper into 4 to 8 sections (depending on how large your paper is). Instead of folding the honeycomb paper, draw lines on the scrap paper where each fold would be. Alternate mark colors every other line.
- If you do not have scrap paper, you can make these marks directly on your paper, using a pencil or thin pen.
- If you are using a piece of paper that is 4.25"x5.5" (half of an 8.5"x11" piece of paper), consider spacing your lines between 1 1/4 and 1 3/4 inches apart. ^{[4]
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5
Pick a line color. Keeping your honeycomb paper flat on the scrap paper, run the glue stick vertically across the honeycomb paper where you have made marks in that color.
- If you are using a thin paper, such as tissue paper, hold it firmly and gently work your glue stick from the middle of the paper to the edges to prevent tearing.
6
Place another piece of paper on top of the paper you just glued. Rub firmly to make sure it sticks.
7
Apply glue. Apply glue along the lines of the opposite color as last time. Place another piece of tissue paper on top and rub across to ensure the glue sticks.
8
Repeat the above process with 30 to 40 sheets of paper. Be sure that you alternate glue lines between each sheet to continue the honeycomb effect.
- For a multi-colored pompom, change the color of your paper halfway through the gluing process.
- For a stripe pattern, change the color of your paper every 5 sheets or so.
9
Cut the honeycomb paper. When you're done gluing sheets of paper, place one of the semicircles on top of the paper and trace loosely around it. Then, cut out the paper so that it is very slightly larger than the cardboard.
10
Glue the cardboard semicircles onto your honeycomb paper. Once you have cut out the honeycomb paper, glue one piece of cardboard onto each side.
11
Use the needle and thread. To ensure a uniform effect, pull the threaded needle at the top corner of your semicircle. Tie a loose knot, cut the thread, and repeat on the bottom corner.
- Be sure you've left some slack in your knots, or the pompom will not open. ^{[5]
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- Leave the thread long on one end—you can use this to hang the pompom up later.
12
Hold the cardboard on both ends. Pull apart slowly and round into a ball. The honeycomb pattern should become more apparent as you open up the pompom.
13
Glue the cardboard pieces together. This will allow the pompom to hold the spherical shape.
14
Hang. Enjoy your new decorations!

Method 3

Method 3 of 3:

Paper Pompom Gift Toppers

1
Cut the paper into small squares. This will help you avoid lopsided flowers.
- The size of the squares depends entirely on the size of your gift. If the gift is small, You will need to make smaller squares. However, if the gift is large you may prefer to make the biggest squares possible!
2
Stack your squares. You should have 4 squares per flower. ^{[6]
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3
Fold the stack in half twice. Your stack should now have 16 layers.
4
Fold the stack diagonally to create a triangle. Then, repeat so you have an even smaller triangle.
5
Fold the sides of the triangle up. The result should be an even smaller triangle.
6
Using the folded edge as the point, draw a half oval onto the widest part of the triangle. It should span from edge to edge.
7
Cut along the line. Discard the top of the triangle.
8
Open the tissue paper. Stack 8 layers so that the petals are slightly offset to make a flower. To make a fully round pompom, stack all 16 layers.
9
Fold the stack in half. Punch a hole in the center. Then, string some ribbon or twine through the hole.
10
Open the flower and flatten the petals. Then, slowly fluff the petals out to create a flower effect. For a flower, leave the last piece flat. For a pompom, fluff 8 sheets up and the other 8 down. ^{[7]
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11
Tie on top of a gift. Use the twine or ribbon to tie around your gift.
12
Finished.

Community Q&A

Question

What thickness fishing wire should I use?

Pillowpig

Community Answer

Not fishing WIRE, fishing line. It's clear and very thin and hard to see.

Things You'll Need

Hanging Pompoms

Paper. This particular method will work best with tissue paper, but wrapping paper, or, in a pinch, regular paper will work as well.
Floral wire or other thin wire
Clear fishing line
Clear thumbtacks