Woman in Real Life

There's a good chance that you've already seen a guide to making tissue paper pom poms. But maybe you haven't. Or maybe you need a refresher. At the very least, you haven't seen MY guide to making tissue paper pom poms. And that's something.

My guide includes the truth about making tissue paper pom poms. Which is that they (and you) don't need to be perfect. Tissue paper will rip. That's life. I'm okay with it. Nobody will notice when they're hung from the ceiling. You may, like me, make one giant red pom pom with only 8 sheets of tissue paper, only to find that it's not full enough and you just want to toss it into recycling. That's fine too. It's all part of the process.


The thing is, this is an extremely easy, inexpensive and, yes, kinda fun craft for adults and kids alike. It's super quick and it doesn't require much in the way of materials. Best of all, you can choose your own colour scheme that suits the décor for your special occasion. My little girl and I went with red, pink and white for - you guessed it - Valentine's Day.

Hang these tissue paper pom poms over a table, in front of a window, from the ceiling in the corner of a room - hey, you could even hang 'em in the bathroom - give your guests something to look at while they're in the can! Maybe not.

Materials needed:

• 8 to 12 sheets of tissue paper (20" by 20") per pom pom (the more sheets the more dense the "leaves" and if you are doing a very large pom pom I like it better with the 12 sheets)
• baker's twine, string, floral wire - whatever you've got that will tie around and hang these babies
• scissors

That's it! Oh, and a helper can't hurt. Most jobs are more fun when shared with a friend or loved one, right?


Here's my (very cute) helper. First, count out how many sheets of tissue paper you want. Keep them stacked as they were in the package. Trim them down to the size you want. I like to follow one of the folds to make it easier.

You can keep your tissue whole for a big pom pom. Cut it in half to get smaller pom poms like our white ones. You could cut the tissue even smaller to use in place settings too. Next up, fold your tissue paper an inch or two in and continue to fold back and forth on both sides like a fan.


Tie your string, twine, wire - whatever you are using - around the middle of your folded piece and tie a knot. Cut the string long enough to hang your piece with. (I used Martha Stewart baker's twine from Michaels just because that's what I had handy.)

Then round off the ends of your folded tissue with some sturdy scissors. Or don't. The pom poms look fine without this step too, if you don't want to do it or you forget (ahem). See our red pom pom for an idea of what it looks like without the trimming.


Fan out the two sides.


Gently start pulling each layer of tissue up on one side. So, if you have 10 sheets of tissue, pull 5 sheets up on one side of the string and 5 on the other. Rocket science, I know. Tissue will rip. Unless you are much more skilled than I.


Here's one side of the pom pom done.


And then both. And that's it! So easy.


A great crafting activity for kids. It's very safe and simple. (Very small children may have some trouble with ripping the tissue paper, but then so did I!)


Here are a few of our Valentine's Day tissue paper pom poms decorating our family room.


Here they are from a different angle. I show you this, one, to give you a better look at the white pom pom and, two, so you can see what my couch looks like on a typical day. Doggy bookends. Note how they must lie comfortably on a pillow or blanket.

We had a lot of fun making tissue paper pom poms. It's my kind of craft, ie. easy and cheap! I will probably make them in different colours for just about every occasion now...birthdays, Father's Day, Halloween, you name it.

So, what did you think of my guide? Perfectly imperfect? Just say yes.

Happy Valentine's Day friends!