Soooo… I have a 1 year old. Crazy. And fun.

We had a little celebration for Peanut’s first birthday, but I tried my best to not get all Pinterest-ed out and go over board. I didn’t want to make a HUGE deal out of an event that she won’t remember (except for the pictures), but I did want to make sure I have some sweet things for the day.

One of the little things I decided to do was make some tissue paper garland to hang up around the house. I’ve seen cute photos of these and figured it’d be a great way to decorate on a budget – especially because I’m a hoarder of tissue paper. I’m that person smoothing and folding the tissue paper after showers, birthdays, and Christmas morning. I just can’t help it. Max always rolls his eyes at this, but it came in handy for this project!!

These were super simple to make – easy to do while hanging out with Max and watching tv. All you need is tissue paper, scissors, and whatever type of string/twine you want to use to tie them off & hang them.

You’ll start by taking the sheet of tissue paper and folding it in half twice.

Keep the long folded edge on the top. (I kept the shorter folded edges on the right hand side, as this seemed to help keep the sheets lined up better.)

Cut your paper into strips, leaving about an inch and a half or so uncut at the top edge.

I noticed that the crinkled recycled tissue paper (like the pink one below) worked just fine, and depending on the look you want on your final product, may actually work better. The pre-used sheets of tissue turned out to make fuller tassels for the garland.

As you can see below, after cutting the strips in the paper, unfold the sheet once to have the fringe separated.

Slowly roll the tissue up – this doesn’t have to be too tight, but you’ll notice in the next step that it’s easier if it isn’t too loose.

Once you have your sheet all rolled up, you’ll slowly start twisting the uncut portion. As I made these, I noticed that different tissue paper held up differently during this step, but just be careful to not twist too hard as the tissue may start to fray a little.

You’ll then turn that twisted portion into a loop.

Secure the loop by wrapping the string/twine around the base of the loop a few times.

Lay out your tassels to the desired spacing, and tie up with twine.

Voila! Adorable – and WAY affordable decorations. We used them in a few doorways in the living room, on the mantle and on the wall behind her cake. Easy project that made just the right amount of impact!