Carolyn J. Braden • 3 Minute Read
Make Your Own Magical Sugar Plum Fairy Wand I Easy Craft for Holiday Magic
Create a whimsical Sugar Plum Fairy Wand with this super easy, budget-friendly DIY craft tutorial! Perfect for holiday parties, festive photos, kids’ activities, or adding a touch of Christmas magic to your décor. I’ll walk you through every simple step so you can craft a dreamy, sparkly wand in minutes,—no crafting skills needed. Get ready to sprinkle fairy-tale charm everywhere you go!
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The Creative Inspiration
In the summer of 2025, I was dabbling in some pipe cleaner crafts. Our Airbnb had some wooden skewers in a drawer in the kitchen and I wondered if I could use one to make a magic wand. I already had cookie cutters and pipe cleaners with me to make my pipe cleaner crown (I make easy car crafts to pass time in fun way!), and so I experimented and created a wand. See that tutorial here or below in my 1-minute YouTube video via my channel @carolynjbraden.
The Creative Process
In the winter of 2025, I wanted to continue playing with pipe cleaners, particularly sparkly pipe cleaners because I love sparkle, and I created some holiday crepe paper trees to capture the start of my Sugar Plum Fairy vibes. I then used my pipe cleaner wand idea and amped it up a bit with some ribbon, pink and purple colors and a cute sparkly heart button, as all my crafts are made with love. Then, the new version of the wand was born!
Why You Should Make Sugar Plum Fairy Wands
When I was a child, I loved the Nutcracker and the sparkly costumes of the ballerinas in the ballet. I imagined if I were a child again, a DIY magic wand would be a perfect addition to my imaginary play of pretending I was, in fact, the Sugar Plum Fairy.
I could see any young child wanting a wand like this for pretend play. You could even change the colors of this one to make a Harry Potter inspired wand if you child likes that book/movie series!
Kids love imaginary play!
Using your imagination as a kid is part of the growing process (I’m a former teacher and took child psychology classes to learn all about this in my degree program) and if you have a creative child, it’s even more important to their growth and understanding of who they are. Harvard Graduate School of Education has a great article for further reading on the importance of children’s imaginations.
You can make the wand in many colors
Other Wand Variations
You can make this with sparkly pipe cleaners or I also like these pipe cleaners:
Jumbo Furry Pipe Cleaners ($12, Amazon)
Extra Thick Chenille Stems ($12, Amazon)
Fuzzy Chenille Stems (large color mix of 500 for $20, Amazon)
Hello Hobby Rainbow Fuzzy Sticks (100 pack, $2.53, Walmart)
If you make a red, silver and blue one like I did, it could be fun 4th of July party décor. You could do one in traditional red and green colors, or silver, black and gold for New Year’s Eve parties. You can use different cookie cutter shapes on the end of your wand too!
Check out my 1-minute video tutorial for this project on my TikTok now or coming soon here and to my YouTube channel @carolynjbraden!
Sugar Plum Fairy Inspired Wand
DIY Wand Tutorial
Now for the tutorial. This is an easy and quick craft you can make in 20 minutes or less. Links go out to either Amazon, Walmart, Target or Temu, where I source most of my craft supplies based on cost.
12 inch sparkle pipe cleaners, 200 for $9.99, Amazon or I’ve used iridescent pipe cleaners from Amazon (Just an FYI, sparkle pipe cleaners can irritate very sensitive skin so use fluffy soft ones instead if this is an issue.)
Cookie Cutters (I used Wilton 2-inch star and heart cookie cutters I already had, similar to this $7 twelve piece cookie cutter set on Amazon or Target has an affordable set)
Bamboo skewers (I used 12-inch skewers, and you can get them at many grocery stores, on Amazon and here at Walmart)
Ribbon (I used three types that I had on hand, but Amazon has a set here you could use)
Eyelash Dazzle Yarn (Walmart has it here too)
Heart Button (I got mine at Hobby Lobby, but Amazon has some cute star shaped buttons that are similar)
Hot Glue Gun (My favorite cordless/rechargeable glue gun is via Amazon)
Optional:
IF crafting in the car or at home, I recommend using these plastic food service trays from Amazon lined in this non-slip drawer liner. It keeps things even and captures messes. The pipe cleaners do shed a bit when you work with them.
How-to:
Wrap a pipe cleaner around a cookie cutter and use your fingers to shape it, making the “end” at the bottom of the shape. While it was still on the cookie cutter, I twisted the “end” of the pipe cleaner (one end) to the left-over part of the pipe cleaner to close the shape.
Creating the end of the wand with a cookie cutter
I then slid the shape off the cookie cutter and it will look like a shape with a long stem coming off the BOTTOM. I practiced wrapping my pipe cleaners around the cookie cutters, always having the “end” or “stem” come off on the bottom.
Cutting the sharp ends off the skewers
Next, I cut the tip off the bamboo skewer so no sharp pieces would exist. I highly recommend doing this, especially if children will play with it. If children are making these wands, an adult could pre-trim the ends off, like I would have done when I was an art teacher.
Starting the wand creation
Wrap the left over “stem” of the cookie cutter shape onto the top of the skewer until it’s fully on it.
Next, wrap another pipe cleaner around the skewer, slightly overlapping the pipe cleaners. The overlapping will keep the top pipe cleaner shape in place without the need for glue.
Wrapping the skewer for the wand
Continue wrapping the pipe cleaners around the skewer until it’s completely covered. I alternated pink and purple. I had to slide them up a bit as I wrapped to make sure the skewer didn’t show.
When I got to the end, I just wrapped what was left around OR trimmed off extra with scissors if needed.
Stacking the ribbon and yarn
Then I measured out some ribbon and yarn, stacked them all together and tied them once around the top of the wand, under the star shape.
Gluing on the button
I hot glued the button over the tied group of ribbons.
Making a decorative ribbon end
I folded the ends of the ribbon and cut them at a diagonal for a nice edge finish, and used swoop of a lighter to seal them (not the yard though…it would catch on fire). Then the wand was finished and ready to create some holiday magic!
The end is now fancy!
Take Action
I encourage you to try the project with your own creative twists and share your creations on your social accounts! If you tag me using @carolynsbloomingcreations or @carolynjbraden, I’ll see it! Or tell me about it in the comments below.
The completed wand
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Carolyn J. Braden is the owner of Carolyn’s Blooming Creations is a regular contributor and editor for CBC. She has been featured in numerous media publications such as InStyle Magazine, on HGTV, on Bustle.com, and more. She is the author of the books Georgia McMasters in Amethyst Lake Cemetery, How To Be Yourself: 3 Ways To Help You Being You, and the illustrator for the children’s book Bridging Connections. She is a former classroom teacher that now dedicates her life to educating others on how to live their most healthy, creative and happy life. Learn more about her visiting our About Us page.