How to make an Egg Carton Rainbow Wreath for St. Patrick's Day

I just LOVE all the Rainbow Decor that comes with good ‘ol St. Patty’s Day. This super simple Egg Carton Rainbow Wreath is a such a fun craft to do with the Kiddos. You can make one with supplies you already have at home with just an egg carton, a paper plate, some pipe cleaners, cotton balls, and your favorite paint!

I have to be honest, St. Patty’s Day has never been one of my favorite holidays. I am not Irish, I don’t love the color green, and what’s with the damn pinching?!? This year it suddenly dawned on me – RAINBOW!

If you haven’t already noticed, I love me some rainbow colors. I feel like I’ve been missing out all these years on an excuse to make all things rainbow. Well that ends now (I have a feeling my house may look like a leprechaun threw up all over this year!). This Egg Carton Rainbow Wreath is the beginning of a very colorful era.

I am always saving empty household things like milk jugs, egg cartons, coffee cans, etc., because who knows, I may need them right? They definitely all have untapped craft potential that’s for sure! We made these Toilet Paper Tube Leprechauns and these beautiful Egg Carton Tulips!

This past weekend I planned to take the Twins to the San Diego Zoo on Saturday, but (gasp)…it rained! Yes, it does rain in San Diego. So instead, we decided to get in the St. Patty’s Day spirit! (Don’t worry, we got our Zoo on the next day).

So, being that it was rainy and I was feeling very comfy and very dry in my warm home, making a run to the craft store was not an option. After a quick assessment of my craft stash, we decided to make this simple egg carton rainbow craft wreath…complete with a Pot O’ Gold!

Supplies Needed for Egg Carton Rainbow Wreath:

Paper Plate
Paint in all colors of the rainbow plus Black
Rainbow colored pipe cleaners
Glue- (Here is a guide to choose the right glue)
Scissors
Egg Carton (18 pack was perfect)
Cotton Balls
Gold Coins or glitter

How to Make an Egg Carton Rainbow Wreath

Start by cutting the egg carton into individual cups. You may want to “round” off some of the edges, since the middle cups tend to look a little different from the outer ones once they are cut.

Paint each individual cup a color of the rainbow, and one black. I counted out how many would fit around the edge of the paper plate first, so I knew how many of each color to paint. Mine ended up being 2 of each, plus the black Pot ‘O Gold, for a total of 13.

You could also paint the cups all green instead of rainbow if you don’t have all the colors, or if you just want it to look more simple. Either way, you definitely want to do this step before the rest so that the paint has time to dry. You could always do as my Twins did and graffiti the place mat while waiting too!

While the paint is drying, cut the inside out of the paper plate, leaving only the outer rim. I drew a circle around the rim first to keep my circle fairly uniform.

Using 2 of each color pipe cleaner, glue together in the shape of a rainbow. Then twist the end just a little on the end that will have the Pot O’ Gold to give the look that it is going right into the pot. You may have to cut a few inches off before gluing it to the wreath, so that it fits across the paper plate without going off the edge.

Once the paint is dry, which mine already was by the time I got to this step, glue each cup around the outer rim of the plate. Position the black cup so that it is on the bottom right-hand side.

Glue your gold coins into the black cup. Take a piece of cardboard or cardstock, cover generously with glue, and sprinkle lots of glitter! You could also use gold paper if you happen to have it, or I had little gold coins from the Dollar Tree leftover from last year that worked perfect.

Glue the pipe cleaner rainbow across the middle lining the end up with the Pot O’ Gold.

Now, glue 3-4 cotton balls on the opposite side to make a cloud for rainbow to come out of.