DIY cheer gear ideas! Liven up your sports day or athletic festival!
When you take part in a sports day or athletic festival, you’ll want to bring some handmade cheering goods, right? Even small items can motivate the athletes and fire up the cheering squad! This article introduces cheering items you can make yourself.
Many of them are easy to create using recycled materials or items from 100-yen shops, making them perfect for beginners or anyone short on time.
We’ve covered the classics like megaphones, tambourines, fans, and pom-poms, so feel free to use this as a reference and give them a try!
Handmade cheer item ideas! Liven up your sports day and athletic festival! (1–10)
Easy to hold! Bottle Pom-Pom
Here’s a cute and easy idea for making a pom-pom from a plastic bottle.
You’ll need one 500 ml plastic bottle and some vinyl tape.
First, cut the bottle in half and warm the cut edge of the top half with an iron.
Be careful to avoid burns while working.
Next, bundle the vinyl tape together and tie one end.
Then place the bundle into the bottle and pull the untied end out through the mouth of the bottle—that’s it! If you’d like one for each hand, make a second one.
linked character panel
Let’s try making a connected-letter panel.
A connected-letter panel is a design panel where multiple characters/letters form a single illustration.
You often see them at concert venues.
There’s actually an easy way to make one.
First, create the text design with an app.
Next, print it out and cut a sheet (or board) to that shape.
Then decorate it however you like to finish it.
It also looks great to add cut-out photos or illustrations on top.
Although it originally started as a fan-support item, I think it can also be used as a cheering item for events like sports festivals.
plastic bottle megaphone
Here’s a great megaphone idea for cheering on your friends.
All you need are two 500 ml plastic bottles.
Cut each one in half with a utility knife, then use the top halves as megaphones.
To prevent injury, wrap vinyl tape around the cut edges, and decorate the sides with stickers you like.
You could also swap the caps for colors you prefer.
Finally, try clacking the two bottle tops together—they’ll produce a sound like a megaphone.
maracas
Items you hold in your hand to make sound don’t just produce ringing tones—they also boost your spirit through movement.
Let’s make maracas that create those cheering sounds, designed in your own style.
Use a simple shape like a capsule toy case with a handle attached; just put small items like beads or buttons inside the case and it’s done.
Fine-tune the details to make them easier to use: How much filling makes the sound stand out best? What handle length makes them easier to shake? Because the shape is simple, adding eye-catching decorations is also highly recommended.
Lace and ribbon cheering megaphone
Charming with a girly look! This is a cheer megaphone decorated with lace and ribbons.
The idea is to decorate a standard megaphone like the ones sold at 100-yen shops.
Wrap it with lace and add ribbons to give it a cute finish.
The rest depends on your taste, but using white lace gives it a pure vibe, while black lace creates a darker feel.
Talk it over with your friends and decide what kind of megaphone you want to make!
plated pom-pom
Introducing beautifully shiny metallic pom-poms.
These are made using metallic tape.
The main steps are almost the same as when making them with vinyl tape, but the look changes dramatically and the result is much more glamorous.
They’ll be handy when you want to differentiate from other grades or classes.
Note that metallic tape is a bit stiff, so you’ll need some force when cutting it with scissors.
It’s easier to cut if you use a pulling motion with the scissors.
Since they can be a little hard to hold, adding a rubber grip as a handle is convenient.
Cheering goods made from plastic bottles
The sounds from the cheering goods and the chants that won’t be outdone really boost the players’ spirits.
Let’s make our own powerful noisemaking cheering goods using plastic bottles, with designs unique to you.
It’s a simple item where you bang a decorated plastic bottle; you don’t do much to the striking surface, but instead decorate the inside.
If you pack the inside too tightly, the sound will be muffled, so it’s best to think of decorations that emphasize the sound—like making holes or adding beads.