DIY Wedding: Paper Pompoms

Full sized Pom

Jeff and I are making everything for our wedding ourselves, so we decided to do one project every other weekend until the big day.  This way, it never gets overwhelming!

Paper pompoms are all the rage these days for a good reason.  They are ADORABLE, easy to color coordinate to your party, and super cheap.   We ordered three colors of high quality tissue paper from Paper Mart for about $70 dollars total.   Each ream has 480 sheets which is A LOT, so don’t expect to use all of it!

We created cute vertical garlands by knotting three of the small poms to yarn decorated with fabric "leaves".

We decided to make full sized poms to hang all around the ceremony and reception location and smaller versions to put together in hanging arrangements as shown in the photos.   The big ones use full sized sheets of tissue paper and the small ones are formed from halves.   We are storing ours in a box, folded up but “unfluffed” until the wedding.

What you need for one pom:

  • 7 sheets of tissue paper, stacked and lined up evenly
  • 1 piece of utility wire, about 7 inches long
  • wire cutters
  • needle nose pliers
  • scissors

Step 1: Stack 7 sheets of paper together, making sure they are evenly lined up.

Step 2: Accordian fold the stack into (about) 2 1/2 inch folds.

accordian folding completed

Step 3: Lay your wire next to the width of your folded paper and bend a little bigger than the width. Crimp with your needle nose pliers so the fold is tight. One side of your wire should be longer than the other.

Step 4: Slip the middle of the paper into the folded wire and twist the short end tightly around the longer one.

Step 5: Form a loop with the long end of the wire and twist extra wire around the base of the loop. Don't worry about trimming the wire unless it is excessive. This is your hanging loop.

Step 6: Using scissors, cut through all the layers to round the edges of your folded stack.

Step 7: Open one side up in a fan in your hand

Step8: Carefully pull apart each layer of tissue paper, pulling towards the center of the stack (at the wire)

Step 9: Repeat on the other side of the wire. Fluff until your pom looks good.

Don’t want to make these yourself?  You can buy custom colored poms from PomLove on Etsy!

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