DIY: Badges for every occasion

Read Time: 4 minutes

So you need to make badges for that school event? Or perhaps a team competition and you want your team to stand out? Maybe you just want some unique identification for your own small group? A craft project for your kid? No matter the reason, it’s really simple to make badges for any occasion and within a couple hundred rupees too! These DIY Badges are especially handy when you have no time or are working with limited resources. They are easy to make and in just 4 steps! Ready?

Let’s go –

STEP 1: COLLECT THE MATERIAL

So the first step is getting everything you need in one place. Don’t worry it’s a really short and simple list. You just need a good base, which can be any paper you prefer, a good pair of scissors, a double sided foam tape, glue and safety pins.
The base or the paper depends on you. Readily available in any local market- go for the desired design and thickness. The design should match the occasion you need the badges for, like if it’s a party, go for more flashy ones and if it’s for your kids’ project, go for a more pastel choice.

The thickness of your choice paper is important too as it ascertains how sturdy your final product is. The size of your sheet is based on how many badges you need- a full sheet of thick chart paper can give you around 50 badges.

STEP 2: GETTING THE BASE READY AND GIVING IT SHAPE

Now that you have your materials ready, it’s time to get to work. Take your sheet and fold it into half with the plain side inside, open it and spread glue on one half on the plain side and then stick the two sides together. Now you have same design on both sides and the thickness of your badge has increased too. Having the same design on both sides makes it look neater too.

Now we get to the cutting part. Choose something to draw out the shape you want your badges in. most go for circular badges, so a bangle or bottle cap would do (the size depends on your preference), but perhaps you want to go for something different like a square or diamond or hexagon? In any case, draw your preferred shape over the paper- the number of shapes is equal to the number of badges. Once you are done, cut them out.

STEP 3: THE MAIN STEP

Now you have the cut outs and the shapes of the badges. Next is the main step where your badges actually work like one. You already have safety pins, which should be equal to the number of badges. Take the badges and stick the safety pins to them with the help of double sided foam tape. Make sure to leave the paper on one side intact though- you don’t want it sticking to your fingers or clothes.

Because the double sided foam tape is quite strong, it can easily hold your safety pin and the badge together- making it easy to put and remove the badge. You might be wondering why not use the more common bell pins? Because safety pins are safer and more secure, plus if the badges are thick using bell pins on them can be quite a pain (literally).

STEP 4: FINAL TOUCHES

Now you have a badge that you can put on and off easily, it’s quite sturdy too- so all that is left are finishing touches- what to and how to write (or draw) on the badges. This of course depends on you but there are two ways you can go about it.

Either you can print out whatever design or writing you want featured on the badge but make sure it is slightly smaller, then cut it and paste it on the badge, or, you can use a marker (thin or thick) to write what you want directly over it. For the second option, make sure you use the same style of writing on for all the badges so that they are uniform.

And voila! Your own DIY Badges for any occasion!