I really have a soft spot for all things miniature. Anything that’s awesome in its regular size just gets oh so much more adorable in mini. So, when i was thinking of a fun way to invite friends to a little backyard carnival, the idea for these mini cotton candy invitations popped into my mind. Now, these are really not suitable for little kids – they might try eat the cotton, but older children and grown-ups like me will go crazy over these sweet things with the hidden message inside! You can use them as invitations like I do or you could make them as the carnival alternative to fortune cookies and hide little fortunes inside. And hey, if you want, you can also use real cotton candy instead of cotton. Yum!

Supplies: Printable cone templates, scissors, paper glue, cotton, paper strips & pen

Step 1: Print out the templates and cut out along the lines
Step 2: Create your mini invitation strips, secret messages or fortunes & add a little “Pull me!” to the right border.
Step 3: Roll up the templates into little funnels/cones.
Step 4: Then glue closed the bottom half of the mini paper funnel.
Step 5: Your cone should now look as in image 5.
Step 6: Now roll up your invitation strip tightly, leaving open the “pull me!” bit.
Step 7: Carefully push the rolled up invitation into the top of your paper cone, so that the “pull me!” end comes out from the open side of the cone.
Step 8: Push the paper strip as deep into the cone as you can, to the point that is glued shut.
Step 9: Carefully apply paper glue to the top of your paper cone to close it. Make sure you don’t accidentally glue the paper strip onto the cone – otherwise one won’t be able to pull it out.
Step 10: Grab a strip of cotton and fluff it up a little.
Step 11: Apply some glue to the top of your paper cone, then loosely wrap the cotton around.
Step 12: Fluff up your “cotton candy” by pinching and pulling here and there. Now you can fix it with hair spray if you like, but I didn’t find it necessary.

Done! Pull out the paper strip to test your ready mini cotton candy invitation, then repeat the steps above to make many more. It’s quick, it’s easy and so much fun!