Donald Duck Disney Bound (Donald Hat DIY)
Ahoy there! Need help making the perfect outfit to meet your favorite playful Duck at Disneyland? Look no further, this DIY is easy and the results will have you quacking about this to all of your Disney bounding friends!
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One of the easiest Disney Bounds you can do is Donald Duck. You can go a traditional route and use the basic colors of blue, white and yellow, and create a great bound. You could break out the sewing machine and make an exact replica buttons and all, or go my personal favorite with a sailor suit/dress. The sailor look is simple, already made, and has vintage vibes!
While perusing the second hand stores in your area, you are sure to find a few options, but searching Amazon and various other dress companies will increase your chances of finding both true vintage, and replicas in all price ranges.
I am a sailor dress hoarder because I love the look so much! In addition to wearing these gorgeous dresses on a regular basis, they are easy to turn into a Donald Duck bound.
For my outfit, I added a simple yellow belt and yellow shoes I already had in my closet, and a big red bow from forever 21. That was it, extremely simple and cost effective. For the second time wearing these outfits, I had actually forgotten my yellow belt at home. By adding a yellow cardigan, I was able to pull off the same bound, but slightly different, thus allowing for a unique look and the ability to wear this outfit multiple times.
Jasmin’s outfit was equally as easy to put together. She had a smaller version of the same bow from Forever 21, and little black shoes. After we wore our outfits the first time, I found these adorable and perfect yellow baby shoes from Amazon.
My daughter and I wore these exact outfits to the parks last year, when I bought her little white sailor dress. This year it was already too small, so I wanted to bust out these fun bounds one last time, before putting it away.
Getting ready to go to Disneyland, I realized though that the outfit was missing one very important Donald accessory… his iconic hat!!!
So the night before we had our trip planned I pulled this DYI together in about 20 minutes, using only materials I already had.
First I got some blue felt, I chose a more neutral looking blue so that it would go with more of Jasmin’s sailor suits.
1. Using a bowl I measured a circle, then cut it out.
2. Then I got some doll stuffing and placed a handful of it inside my circle.
3. Placing the felt circle with the stuffing in it in my hand, I squeezed it a little and scrunched it to look like this, and put a dab of hot glue in the overlap to hold it in place.
4. Next I cut another small circle out of felt to glue over the opening of the hat.
5. I then cut a thin strip of black felt and hot glued it around the base/brim of the hat
6. After that I cut another strip of black and cut the triangle in the bottom as Donald has on his hat and hot glued that to the top of mine. For a little extra pizzaz I added a big yellow button..
7. On the bottom of the hat I cut two small slits on either side for my hair clips to go through. (The first time she wore this I only used one hair clip and it was flopping everywhere and she was even able to pull it out of her hair a few times. The second time she wore it, I added another clip and secured it to her hair much better. She was not able to yank it out on day 2!)
For a variation in this DIY you could also sew the finished hat onto a headband of some sort, (the harder more curved kind, or a cut of elastic) if you like that look better or if your child is a good child and would actually keep it on their head, unlike my child… ha ha
Donald duck was so in love with this outfit he could not stop kissing Jasmin and did not want to let her leave. It was one of the most amazing and special experiences we have had at Disneyland. It is amazing how a simple, but well thought out outfit, could bring such a magical and memorable moment that we will treasure for years to come.
If your kiddos love meeting the characters and would have a grand time getting a little extra special attention, DRESS THEM UP AS DONALD!!! Donald is such an animated and playful character to meet, and from what I have seen personally, he loves to spend time with kids and really play with them. (Please note that just because you dress up as a character you are not guaranteed to get more attention, it depends on the time frame that the characters have until they need to take their breaks, go be in a parade, or eat their lunch, and the personality and willingness of the child to participate in said games.)
Tag me @boundingonabudget in your Donald hat DIY’s I love to see you all get creative!
Love, Hailee & Jasmin
