Carolyn J. Braden • 3 Minute Read
How to Make a Customizable Giant Friendship Bracelet Banner
I’ve been making letter beaded sunglasses and hats, similar to friendship bracelets for a while now so when I saw the giant friendship bracelet banner trending, I had to jump on it. Many create this banner from ball pit balls and fishing wire, which works, and with all the kits hitting the market, it’s even easier. I created this banner from a kit and added a way to incorporate interchangeable numbers, allowing you to use it over and over. Here’s how I made my customizable friendship bracelet banner.
Taylor Swift Fans
This friendship bracelet style banner came about during the Taylor Swift Eras concert tour. It may have been out before that somewhere but the tour popularized it when the New Orleans Superdome venue welcomed her tour with one. There were HUGE inflatable friendship bracelets outside the concert venues and they were very fun. You can recreate something similar at home using a balloon kit (see the balloon version here on Amazon) OR you can use a ball pit balls to make it last longer like my tutorial here.
The completed banner
My Broken Heart Visor
I made an iridescent “friendship bracelet” style visor in the summer of 2023. I was inspired by the Taylor Swift song “I Can Do It with a Broken Heart” and you can get the full tutorial here. I love all things iridescent and it was cute to wear for my birthday boat trip (we now do a boating adventure every year on my birthday, weather permitting).
Happy 15th birthday to our furry FRIEND, Monica
If I had known about the giant friendship bracelet banner at the time, I would have hung that on the boat or around my cake, which matched my hat and overall birthday theme color (iridescent). Since this idea was presented to me in a Pinterest post around the time of my cat Monica’s 15th birthday, I made it for her.
See my matching iridescent visor come together in my 1-minute video below or via my YouTube channel @carolynjbraden:
Monica, Our FRIEND
Our cat Monica turned 15 on March 3rd, 2025. She is a big, beautiful BLUE (which means gray-ish) Maine Coon. We named her after the television show Friends, so this friendship bracelet banner was a perfect little thing to add to a photoshoot with her and our dogs, Minnie Pearl and Johnny Cash. Her white Maine Coon “brother”, Ross, passed away in 2024 and we still miss him and his BIG heart and presence. We wanted to commemorate “Ross” and “Monica” (both characters on Friends) with this banner and dedicate this tutorial to them.
Our pets live such short lives in the whole grand scheme of the world, and know while Monica won’t live forever, her memory and inspiration will live in my heart forever. On her 15th birthday, we played with her (she still loves to play), allowed her lots of napping, and limited our photo session to 15 minutes, as we know posing is not her favorite thing to do anymore.
My Tutorial + Tips and Tricks + Discount
Now for the tutorial. I learned a few things about putting this together and even stabbed my finger, so I’ll pass along my tips in this step-by-step tutorial to help others learn. Of course, the directions come with the kit, but there are always a few things that they leave out and being a former teacher and Learning Consultant, this drives me crazy! I also figured out a way to make removable numbers, which is not something taught in the directions either.
You can source this giant friendship banner supplies from Amazon OR you can simply buy a kit. My kit came with ball pit balls in various shapes, Styrofoam discs, a long needle, fishing wire and the letters/numbers. After pricing all the supplies, it was cheaper to buy the kit.
Supply List
The kit I purchased was from Amazon for around $30 and you can get it here. It comes in several colors. Additionally, Walmart has a similar one that is paper and already made up for around $11 and you can get it here. I prefer the ball pit banner as it will last forever and with some velvet ribbon and some diamond pins, you can make detachable numbers. The kit does not come with anything to hang this with, so I recommend push pins as it’s very lightweight and I included a link below.
Temu has a kit too and if you are a new Temu app user, you can use code afe55197 at checkout for 30% off or my link here.
If you want to source the products, you can buy them all separately to customize your colors more. Here are some Amazon links to the products you’ll need:
Push Pins (for hanging)
Get my 1-minute video tutorial for this project with tips and tricks below or via my YouTube channel @carolynjbraden:
This would be a cute addition to a Taylor Swift party
How-To
Place the vinyl stickers onto the Styrofoam discs.
Applying the letters
Next, place the numbers on the Styrofoam discs.
Applying the numbers
IF YOU ARE CUSTOMIZING THE NUMBERS: Cut a small piece of ribbon or yarn or string to about a 5-inch piece. Use a diamond pin to attach each end of the ribbon to the top of the number disc. I needed “15” so I did this to a 1 and a 5 and set them aside.
Making the numbers customizable and reusable
Lay out your design. I wanted mine to be small and in two parts. I placed the letters HAPPY out onto the floor and placed matching “beads” on either side of the word. I repeated this with the word BIRTHDAY.
I laid out the design first
Next, I ran a piece of fishing wire through the needle’s eye and tied it twice. I didn’t cut it off yet….I just let the wire stay on the spool and pulled out what I needed as I went.
Stringing the needle
I started with the end of the HAPPY strand first. I put the needle through the last ball on one side and pushed it slowly through the other side.
Stringing the ball pit balls
I grabbed the next ball in line and repeated the needle process. The needle is sharp so it can pierce the ball, so be careful. I stabbed myself once and was careful from then on. The balls can “deflate” a bit at first, but if you just push on them a bit, they “reflate”.
Stringing the ball pit star balls
Once I got some balls on the wire, I started pushing the needle into the Styrofoam discs, starting with the “Y” in HAPPY. Again, I went backwards and this worked best for me.
Stringing the styrofoam discs
Place the needle into the side of the Styrofoam disc and very carefully slide it out the other side. If you aren’t careful, you’ll stick it through the front of the disc, which I did once. Luckily, Styrofoam is a bit forgiving and I pulled the needle out and was successful the second time.
Slowly string on the styrofoam discs
Once I strung both strands for “HAPPY” and “BIRTHDAY” I tied some knots in the ends of the wire, cut it off and took it to my staircase. One or two balls fell off as I carried it, but I was able to string them back on easily with the needle.
I hung them with push pins
I used push pins to hang the banner. I wiggled the push pins into the knots I made at the end of each banner and it hung up on my staircase for over 24 hours without falling.
You could add a balloon banner around this one too
I then unpinned one end of the ribbon on the number discs, looped the ribbon around the banner in between the A and the P and repined it.
Monica is the sweetest gentle giant
Overall, it’s very simple and cute and you could even customize it with a name too. I think this would be super cute as décor in kid’s room with their name on it or a cute phrase.
Monica purred and loved some well deserved chin scratches while we took photos
You won’t have enough discs for “double” numbers, but I put the other numbers on the backside of the discs (mixing them up a bit) so I can do a “22” or an “11” etc. if needed one day as this will last a long time!
If you loved this article, then we know you’ll love this one too: How to Make a Pretty In Pink Sweet 16th Birthday Cake
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.