DIY Luau Flower Hair Clips and Beach Bag

Kids crafts that are cheap, easy, cute, and super fun? That’s what we’re all about! Add in some inspiration from our fave Disney film and some great supplies from Dollar Tree – Winning!!

This Dollar Tree DIY Luau Flower Hair Clip and Beach Bag super awesome craft tutorial is a partnership with DollarTree.com, #DollarTree, and contains affiliate links that support this site. :)

I love DIY and crafting and making things. I’m on a budget. A very, very tight budget. So – we do a lot of creating and upcycling around here. So this project is SO “us” – it’s thrifty, really simple to make, easy to customize with different materials, is something useful, and it’s just fun. All of the supplies are from Dollar Tree. This is an awesome project to do on your own, or with a big group, which is what we did. For just $2 in supplies per kiddo, every girl went home with a new set of handmade luau flower summer accessories!

For our project, I had a bunch of little girls age 5-10, and since the weather just got HOT, we were all in the mood for something to celebrate summer. Since I had a group, I ordered in bulk at DollarTreee.com – these are the Large Luau Tote Bags {SKU: 235790} and come in case packed with FIVE assorted colors. Then, we used bushes of Dollar Tree fabric flowers in different colors and styles, plus a few little basics I’d picked up on a previous trip, like glue, clips, and ribbon. Each of the girls was SO excited to choose her bag color, her flowers, and get to work creating a one of a kind, super cute, DIY summer accessory set! You can see in the video how quickly basic little flowers from a bush turn into BIG bright tropical looking blooms! {Abby chose this pink, because it reminds her of Moana.}

So, I know these steps all kinda look the same at first glance. But what you’re doing in this part is taking apart a floral fabric bush, then recreating your own customized flowers. You can do this with just about any types of flowers – the basic idea is the same, the creative options are endless. I’m rather addicted to doing this once I get in the mood :)

Step 1: You start with a simple $1 floral bush from DollarTree.com. {If you order online, you can bulk order a bunch of similar blooms in a variety of colors, and mix and match colors and styles as you recreate them!} Step 2: Pull it apart. Just pop off all of the flowers and leaves and any other pieces your bush has on it. Step 3: Now, take apart each individual bloom too. Kids love to help with this, since it feels like something they’re not supposed to do, lol. Take them full apart, until you have just individual petal sections, leaves, etc. Step 4: Now, the fun starts! Take the stamen-style piece, in my case it’s the glittery center piece, lay it face down on your work area. Then start re-layering the different petals and leaves, one of top of another. It’s easy to take apart and try multiple looks until you’re happy with the final combo.

Step 5: Once you have your new flower created, pop the back piece back on, that came off of one of the original flowers. Step 6: For our Moana-inspired tropical blooms, I used one floral bush that had four individual flowers on it. I used one big, one small, plus two sets of leaves, layered up to make one new flower – so I was able to make two big pretty blossoms out of just one bush.  Step 7: This is another fun part – add some “jazz.” I used some glittery markers to add just a bit of depth and sparkly to each petal. You can use regular glue brushed on and sprinkle with glitter. Spritz with a fabric glittery spray. Use paint pens, markers, acrylic or watercolor paints, whatever – to decorate your petals in new ways, if you want. Step 8: We used a few other basic craft supplies from the Dollar Tree – big hair clips, ribbon, glue, safety pins. And, for this part, you have tons of options – if adults are there to do lots of the work, hot glue gun would be a quick way to do this. If you want your flower decor to be permanent on the bag you could sew it. {My little one wants to switch it out with different matching sets, so we just added the flowers to pins.} Or just use some regular glue to stick ’em on. Flowers could also go onto headbands instead of clips.

And – tada! I glued one big flower to a ribbon-covered clip, to make a big, bright, bold summer hair accessory. The other flower was glued to a giant safety pin, then we added some pretty ribbons, and that got pinned onto her new summer beach bag! $2, plus some basics I had on hand, and she’s got a super fun new set of matching summer accessories.

A post shared by Meagan Paullin (@sunandsipcups) on May 5, 2017 at 5:22pm PDT

We also picked up some fun luau themed accessories – the weather just started getting hot, we are getting the pool ready to open up for summer, and do lots of luau-themed parties in the summertime, so I thought it was a good time to stock up on party gear! She LOVES this little outfit – child size grass skirt, pretty floral lei, coconut top that ties with strings and is actually really sturdy for only a buck – and now her new Moana inspired accessories. She wears this as she wanders the garden, singing at the top of her little lungs,

“I’ve been staring at the edge of the water,
‘Long as I can remember, never really knowing why.
I wish, I could be the perfect daughter,
But I come back to the water, no matter how hard I try….”

She uses these lyrics are her excuse to keep tip-toeing around the pool fence, eager to get it cleaned up and ready for swimming, even though I’ve told her to leave it all alone until we get the pool guy out. :) She’s a funny kiddo.

I’m a Dollar Tree junkie. I shop there regularly. I get everything there – snacks, my serving dishes, party supplies, frames, candles, cute holiday outfit accessories Abby wears for school, EVERYTHING to create our Nightmare Before Christmas themed Halloween tree, gift bags and wrap, office supplies, Abby’s huge rainbow and unicorn crafty birthday haul last summer, hair clips and ties, storage containers, lunch bags and baggies – As you can see in those linked pics, seriously EVERYTHING. It’s always been one of my go-to places for crafting supplies, but I LOVE that I found out this new way to shop for projects: DollarTree.com. Most items are sold in bulk, in different amounts, in packages of exact same pieces or in assortments like the tote bags I bought for this project. This bulk option is extra awesome for lots of things – making crafts to sell, party favors or gifts, wedding or party decor, or big group projects for scouts, camp, school, youth group, birthday party activities, playdates, etc. Definitely take a look!

Pin Me – Moana Inspired DIY Luau Accessories!

If you have a little Moana lover like me, this luau style project will be a huge hit. She chose the pink flowers because it reminded her of Moana. And Dollar Tree has SO much fun luau style decor and dress up pieces, for much less than an official costume you’d buy other places. Then use this DIY post to inspire you to create fun hair accessories of your own – plus you could customize a matching Hawaiian lei, using more flowers taken apart and strung together. Sew petals along the waistband of the grass skirt. Decorate flip flops. So many ideas!!

What we purchased from Dollar Tree:

• Large Luau Tote Bags {SKU: 235790}
• Search “Floral Bushes” to find their selection of different styles of bulk flower bundles
• Hair clips, headbands, or alligator clips, to create your hair accessories
• Safety pin, needle and thread, or glue to add your second flower to the beach bag
• Hot glue, or regular glue
• Ribbon, glitter, fabric markers, sequins, etc – whatever you want to jazz up your flowers and bags!

Are you a Dollar Tree lover too? Be sure to share your projects using #DollarTree – feel free to share on my Facebook wall, or tag me @sunandsipcups on Twitter or Instagram. I have so much fun seeing what you guys come up with! And let’s chat in the comments – what are some favorite things you buy at Dollar Tree? Do you have any Dollar Tree hacks or tips? I want to hear your ideas :)

Follow me on Pinterest too:

• Dollar Store DIY & Decor Ideas – Since we have to be pretty frugal with our spending, our Dollar Tree is the best spot in town for us to stretch our “Fun Money” funds. We do a lot of reusing, upcycling, and creative crafting with our Dollar Tree finds!
• Luau Party Ideas – we have a pool, and do lots of entertaining, so I’m always adding to my tiki, luau, hawaiian, pool party supplies. This year we’re going ALL OUT with it, and throwing a giant Moana themed 7th birthday party for Abby in July. And, most of our supplies will be coming from… can you guess? Lol. Yep, Dollar Tree!

To buy the items listed in this project and more go to DollarTree.com today! @DollarTree #DollarTree