Easy DIY Patriotic Banners and Pennants for 4th of July Decorating

Is there anything more fun than decorating for the 4th of July? The red, white, and blue color palette, the stars and stripes, the festive spirit – it’s one of my favorite holidays to decorate for. And this year, I decided to make my own DIY patriotic banners and pennants. Spoiler alert: they turned out so cute, and they were so easy to make!

I designed the templates myself in Canva, printed them on cardstock, and had them up in no time. The pennants are hanging in our entry and the banner is draped on the living room mantel – and both spaces look so festive and celebratory. The best part? This little decorating project cost just a few dollars and an afternoon of fun.

If you love the idea of customizing your own patriotic decor without spending a fortune, you are going to love this project. I’m sharing exactly how I made, printed, cut, and hung both the banners and pennants – plus, I’ve listed the templates in my Etsy shop, Bluesky at Home Designs, so you can skip straight to the fun part and make your own.

Let’s get started!

I’m excited to share that I’m joined by nine other bloggers also sharing their 4th of July decor. Some are DIY projects, some decorations and a tablescape. I’ve taken a peek and you will enjoy all of them.

If you are joining me from Suzanne of Shop at Blu, you’ll love her flag project. Thanks for visiting Bluesky at Home and all my blogger friends.

I’m excited to show you my new pennant and banner for your 4th of July decoration.

This post contains affiliate links to products used to create this project. If you should order any item from this site, I may receive compensation, but you do not pay a penny more. Your purchase is greatly appreciated as it helps support the continued publication of this site.

Banner on the Mantel Inspiration

This year, I made a brand new banner for our home.

This new banner was inspired by one that I bought years ago (either Hobby Lobby or Joann). I used it on our mantel, our second-floor walkway, and, last year, outdoors on the patio.

The American flag is another DIY project that has been reused multiple times.

Last year, hanging on our pergola, the banner got a little damp during a rainstorm.

New DIY 4th of July Banner

I thought it was time for a new banner, one that had more color and pizazz. This time, I decided to make my own banner for our living room mantel. Since I already had my DIY chinoiserie pots with topiaries on the mantel, I thought the blue of chinoiserie would be perfect for 4th of July decorations.

I used those as the foundation for my 4th of July mantel vignette.

First, I added two American flags to both topiaries.

To ground the center of the mantel, I added my Chinese footbath (estate sale find) and filled it with faux roses.

Now I was ready for a banner. How did I do that? I made the banner on Canva. I made templates in red, white, and blue so I could mix colors. I also made stars in red, white and blue.

I decided to use red stars and blue letters for my 4th of July banner on the mantel. I printed them out on my printer using 65-pound white paper.

Then, I used a paper cutter and a rotary cutter and cutting mat for the straight edges (no reason, just to change things up). For the rounded edges, I used my favorite craft scissors.

I used a hole punch to make holes at the top of the letters and the stars, and I wove white curly ribbon through them to hang the banner.

To hang the banner, I used something new. I had just purchased an adhesive nail meant for hanging pictures. I thought it would work well on the mantel to hold the banner. I felt like a genius!

You just peel off the backing, stick the clear plastic “nail” to your surface, and let it sit for several hours. No nailing into wood with a hammer! To remove the adhesive, the instructions say to blow a hair dryer on it.

Then, Sweet Shark helped me to center and adjust the banner. We looped the ribbon around the nail to hold it, and we were done.

I was a genius! I can’t wait to try the adhesive nails on our pictures.

I love how this banner turned out. It’s colorful, but simple. Bright, festive, and works with my chinoiserie.

I added a bit of blue curly ribbon for more color.

Red Star Balls and Chinoiserie

To round out our living room, I added a bowl of new DIY decoupage red star and blue chinoiserie balls in a white bowl on the coffee table.

this Idea.

I also added some red, white and blue star pillows to the sofa. I originally bought these for our patio sofa.

Pennants in the Entry

I wanted a new patriotic look for our entry. I’ve decorated it in so many ways over the year, like this basket vignette.

I always find something to put on our entry mirror. How about some cute red, white and blue pennants?

In Canva, I created three pennant styles to my banner design. Each page had two pennants. I printed two pages of the star pennants and three pages of the red and white stripe pennant.

Just like the banner, used a paper cutter and a rotary cutter and cutting mat for the straight edges. For the angled inner edges, I used my favorite craft scissors.

After punching two holes in the tops of all the pennants, I used red and blue paper string to hang them. I just used Scotch tape to attach them to the sides of the mirror.

I wasn’t through with the entry. I recently bought a clear acrylic tray with brass handles. I have a future project in mind for it, but, for now, I placed a scrap piece of red fabric (never throw fabric away!) on the tray.

I bought out my favorite vintage red truck as the centerpiece. While searching through our patriotic bins, I found the three DIY decoupage terra cotta pots I made several years ago. Two of them would nicely fill the truck bed. Some DIY 4th of July napkins stuffed into the pots hold small American flags.

A third pot fills in the space in front of the truck. I didn’t have enough cloth napkins, so I used two star cocktail napkins, right sides together, in the pot.

To finish the patriotic entry, I added fresh Gerbera daisies from Trader Joe’s to the white faux flowers in my white pitchers.

That’s how I used these printable banners and pennants in our 4th of July entry and mantel.

If you would like all the templates for the banner and pennants, please check them out in my Etsy shop. I think you will be very pleased with them.

By the way, you only need white cardstock unless you want to use the white letters and stars as a template for your own paper.

I hope that these ideas gave you ideas to decorate your own home with pennants, banners, decoupage, and other accessories for your 4th of July decor.

Please PIN this post (and all the posts of my fellow bloggers) to your favorite Pinterest Boards. Check out my patriotic Pinterest Boards: Patriotic DIY Ideas and Patriotic Holiday Ideas.

Ready to see what’s next on our 4th of July blog hop? Please visit the talented Kim of Exquisitely Unremarkable and see her glass flag plates.