Spirit Stick Tutorial

Spirit Sticks are something I learned to make from my dad. He's been making them for various events for several years. They are super easy to make and infinite possibilities for themes lie in the ribbon colors. Holidays, parties, dress-up play, or a rainy day can all benefit from a spirit stick or two.

start with a dowel of pretty much any width and length. or find a nice stick and saw off one end. Sand or paint as desired.

get a small eyelet screw

screw it into one end. I find that this is easy enough to do by hand, but you can drill a small hole first if you like.

cut some lengths of ribbon. I prefer narrow but any will do, so long as the bundle will fit into your eyelet. Curling ribbon could be used as well for a fancy effect. A length of about 3/4 of your dowel is good. longer and tangling becomes an issue.

Melt the ends of the ribbon by holding near to a candle until the heat seals the end.  Do NOT burn yourself or let babies play with fire. Common sense please! This step can be skipped if a little ribbon unraveling won't bother you.

Thread ribbons through eyelet

and tie a double knot

voila, a spirit stick!

give to your kiddo and supervise for safe fun.

We made these for a friend's wedding a few summers ago. We all waved them for the wedding party's arrival, and again while processing in the ceremony. Very fun, but again, common sense caution! These have potential to turn into whips with the right sort of kid wielding the stick. And of course there is whacking potential when you give kids sticks. Shorter sticks reduce the danger, but supervision and limit setting is a really good idea. These are also nice made on a larger scale and inserted into a flag brace. They blow beautifully in the wind. This could be a party activity, if you let kids pick colors and screw eyelets into pre-drilled holes. This blog has her own tutorial for making ribbon wands, as she calls them, the main difference being that she adds a key ring before tying on the ribbons and adds a bell!