Graduation Cap Templates and Patterns

Updated February 20, 2020
party table for graduation

Free graduation cap templates make it easy to create your own graduation party supplies while a pattern can be used to make a three-dimensional (3D) graduation cap. Use the free templates to make graduation centerpieces, hold or decorate high school graduation gifts, and create graduation keepsakes. Click on the image of the template you need then download and print using this handy guide.

Printable Black and Gold Graduation Cap Template

Mini black and gold graduation cap templates can be cut and out used for a variety of craft projects or used as small stencils.

Small black and gold caps

Ways to Use Black and Gold Graduation Caps

  • Print, cut, and glue individual caps to toothpicks for use as decorations on graduation cupcakes.
  • Place a sheet of parchment paper on top of the printable then use the cap templates as a stencil for piped, edible graduation caps.
  • Embellish graduation pictures in frames or a scrapbook by adding the tiny cutout hat on top of the photo near the graduate's head.

Printable Blank Graduation Cap Templates

If you want to use your school colors in your graduation cap designs, a blank graduation cap template is ideal. This graduation cap template to print features one large graduation cap and four medium-sized caps.

Large blank cap with small blank caps

Ways to Use Blank Graduation Caps

  • Print them onto colored paper that matches your school colors.
  • Create a graduation cap banner by cutting out all the templates, coloring them, then stringing them together with the large cap in the center.
  • Make your own free printable graduation announcements by adding the graduation details in text on top of the large cap template.
  • Cut out the templates and use them as stencils for your own graduation cap designs.
  • Use the large cap as a graduation cap template for a cake shaped like a mortarboard.

Printable Tossed Graduation Cap Template

Tossing graduation caps into the air after the ceremony is a classic graduation tradition. Celebrate this fun side of graduating with a tossed graduation cap template. The template features a blank graduation cap at different phases as it is tossed into the air.

Printable Tossed Graduation Cap Template

Tossed Graduation Cap Template Ideas

  • Create a custom graduation cake topper by cutting out the templates as one arched piece and gluing each end to a toothpick. You can then set the mini banner on any cake.
  • Cut out each cap separately then glue them around a plain picture frame to make it more fun.
  • Alternate your school colors as you color in the blank caps.

Printable 3D Graduation Cap Pattern

If you want to make a standing graduation cap, you'll need a 3D graduation cap pattern. The pattern features a scalloped band piece and a flat top board piece that even has room to add a 3D tassel.This type of graduation hat looks more realistic and formal than one with a straight rectangular bottom band.

Printable 3D Graduation Cap Pattern

How to Use the 3D Graduation Cap Pattern

You'll need scissors, tape, glue, a pencil, and a tassel to complete your 3D graduation cap. While you can make the cap out of standard copy paper, it will be more sturdy and visually appealing if you print on heavyweight paper or card stock or print the pattern on copy paper then use it as a stencil to trace the pattern onto poster board.

  1. Cut out the Bottom Band piece as a full rectangle.
  2. Cut out the scalloped parts from the Bottom Band.
  3. Put the ends of the Bottom Band together so the band becomes a circle. Secure with glue or tap on the inside of the band.
  4. Cut out the square Top Board.
  5. Use a hole punch to make a hole in the center of the Top Board.
  6. String a tassel through the hole and secure with tape, glue, or a large knot.
  7. Center the circular Bottom Band, flat side down, on the bottom side of the Top Board.
  8. Trace the inside edge of the Bottom Band onto the bottom side of the Top Board.
  9. Remove the Bottom Band and squeeze a thin strip of clear-dry glue around the outside edge of the traced circle.
  10. Place the Bottom Band, flat side down, on the strip of glue and leave until it dries.
  11. Flip the hat over so the scalloped side of the Bottom Band is on the table.

3D Graduation Cap Ideas

Three-dimensional graduation caps work great as decorations for graduation and graduation parties or as keepsakes.

  • Write each guests name on top of the flat part of the 3D cap and use them as name cards for a formal graduation dinner.
  • Tie your own graduation tassel through the hole for a cute tassel keepsake that can sit on your dresser or a shelf.
  • Create a 3D graduation cake topper that can sit on top of a tiered cake.
  • Make a fabric graduation cap by gluing fabric or felt to the pieces before you attach them together.

Creative Graduation Cap Ideas

Graduation crafts like DIY mortarboards are fun and inexpensive to make. You can use a variety of pre-made products to create cute graduation hats for creative use.

  • Follow the tutorial for a folded paper cube then add a square, flat piece to the top for a simple paper graduation cap.
  • Glue an upside-down plastic dessert plate to the bottom of a plastic punch cup to create a 3D grad hat.
  • Break off two rectangles from a standard Hershey bar as one piece then secure to the bottom of an unwrapped mini peanut butter cup with melted chocolate for an edible graduation cap.
  • Use a dessert or lunch napkin as a stencil for the square part of your graduation hat.
  • Turn a cube gift box into a graduation hat gift box by adding a flat square panel on the top that is only secured to the box on one side so it can still open.
Graduation party table

Cap Off Your Celebration With a Grad Cap

You can really use the graduation cap templates and patterns for anything from preschool graduation and kindergarten graduation to middle school graduation or even college graduation. Parents and teachers can make grad caps as decorations and teens can make them as gifts or keepsakes for friends.

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Graduation Cap Templates and Patterns