How to Decorate Your Kid's Bike for a Patriotic Parade

Transform your tot’s wheels into a super scooter with a cardboard cutout in the shape of a shield (ours was a pizza-box top!). Cover the shape with colored duct tape, then let your kid go crazy with stickers, markers, and more tape. For temporary handlebar covers, decorate cardboard tubes with colored tape, then cut open, and slide over the grips; wrap with tape to tighten and secure to the handles. Finish with Mylar strips for handlebar streamers. 

Stock up on faux blossoms for this cute cruiser. Clip stems off individual flowers and wrap pipe cleaners around the bases of the flower heads, then attach pipe cleaners to the frame. To affix clusters of flowers to the wheel area, punch two holes in the center of a paper plate (like a button) and thread a pipe cleaner through the holes. Hot-glue flower heads to cover the plates. To attach, twist the two ends of pipe cleaner around the part of the bike frame that holds the wheel (not the wheel itself). Firmstrong Mini Bella Bicycle, $200.

A combination of classic and homemade pom-poms add up to one playful three-wheeler. To make the plus-size yarn pom-poms, use a Clover pom-pom maker ($6 to $10) and yarn. Hot-glue pompoms to magnets so you can temporarily stick them on any metal part.

The arch is made from a slim pool noodle covered in crepe-paper streamers, which is taped to the inside of the wagon. Tie balloons to pieces of string and attach the strings to the wagon. Wind a second string of balloons around the arch.

Make his bike stand out in the crowd with a trove of shiny supplies, such as sequin tape, metallic pinwheels and star garland, and aluminum foil. The homemade rockets are cardboard tubes covered in aluminum foil, with tissue paper “flames.” Tissue-paper festooning on the wheels and helium-filled Mylar balloons affixed to the seat take this bike over the moon. 

Kids will be tickled to affix a personalized plate to their bike. To make, cut a 5” x 7” rectangle from foam core, rounding the corners, and punch two holes along the top side. Add a border of tape and spell your child’s name with vinyl-letter stickers on the center. Have your kid decorate the blank space with stickers and markers. To finish, thread ribbon through the holes to attach the plate to the bike’s seat.