Months ago, I saw a banner made out of pumpkin paper plates and I thought I have to make one out of flag plates when summer comes around. I started stalking Target and Dollar Tree for the paper plates in May and finally found the perfect ones at Dollar Tree to make our Patriotic Plate Ribbon Banner. You can find some great ones at tons of different stores and online. I even linked to some cute ones for $2 on Amazon for you. I got the straws at Dollar Tree, too, but again, you can find cute patriotic paper straws all over during May and June.
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Patriotic Plate Ribbon Banner
Materials
- 8 or 9-inch Patriotic Paper Plates
- Blue Cardstock
- White Cardstock
- White 3/8-inch Ribbon
- 2 Patriotic Paper Straws
- Scissors
- Hole Punch
- Pencil
- Double Sided Tape
- Glue Pen
- Printable Ribbon Banner Template
- Printable Varsity Letters OR
- Cricut
- Varsity Letter Cartridge
Instructions
Step 1: Print and cut out the Printable Ribbon Banner Template on some cardstock. You’ll use this to trace around like a stencil, so cardstock is ideal. Punch out the holes.
Step 2: Trace the template around the center (or portion of the image in the center you want) to include the holes. Repeat for as many plates as you will need to spell your desired word and any shapes like stars. I used five.
Step 3: Cut out the ribbon banners from the plates. Punch out the holes.
Step 4: If you have a Cricut, skip to Step 6. If you don’t, no problem, just sign up to get access to our FREE Printables page where you’ll find the PDF used in Step 5.
Step 5: Once you have the template saved, print the first page on blue cardstock and the second page on white cardstock. Cut out the letters on the outside most or middle line for the blue and the inside most line for the white. Cut out the stars, too. Glue the white pieces on top of the blue pieces. You can skip to Step 11.
Step 6: For the Cricut, in Craft Room or Design Space, use the Varsity Letter cartridge or another collegiate style font. Select the images for U, S, and A. Resize them to 3 inches tall and 3 inches wide. Add two, 3-inch stars from the free Cricut Font and Basic Shapes files, under Geometric Shapes.
Step 7: Cut the file on blue cardstock.
Step 8: Back in Craft Room or Design Space, delete the other art and click Shift. Select the images for U, S, and A. Resize them to 3 inches tall and 3 inches wide. Resize the two stars to 2 by 2 inches. (Mine were a little too big.)
Step 9: Cut the file on white cardstock.
Step 10: Attach the blue layer to the white layer using the glue pen . The smaller white stars will go on top of the larger blue stars.
Step 11: Attach the letters and the stars to the banner pieces with the double sided tape.
Step 12: Cut the two straws into 2-inch pieces
Step 13: Cut a 6-foot length of the ribbon.
Step 14: String the banner pieces and the straw pieces alternately on the ribbon.
That’s it! I think this Patriotic Plate Ribbon Banner gives a lot of bang for the buck. I chose for it to say USA, but you could make a longer one that says FREEDOM or AMERICA, or even a name for a Boy Scout’s Eagle ceremony. If you don’t have a Cricut, and you want different letters, the font I used is called Collegiate Heavy. I love how this banner is super customizable. How would you customize it? If you make one, we’d like to see photos!
Be sure to check out our other Patriotic Crafts and follow our Patriotic and 4th of July Inspiration board on Pinterest for even more ideas!

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2 Comments on "Patriotic Plate Ribbon Banner"
I would have never thought of this. Very clever and super easy. Love the idea!
Thanks, Mary! Yeah, I’m already thinking of other plate ideas, lol. Can’t beat the price, either.