You won't believe how easy it is to make these paper fortune cookies. They're inspired by the Silhouette machine template below, but you can make them almost as easily without a machine.
When I saw these paper fortune cookies in the Silhouette store, I had to make some.
I saved the files, picked out some papers, and got started. And then I realized that you could make these just as easily without a Silhouette machine. That's when I decided to share the tutorial here. Because, who doesn't love fortune cookies? Grace is already all over them; begging to open a few before New Year's Eve.
Paper Fortune Cookie Tutorial
Materials
- Pretty paper - I found these to be much easier when made with regular patterned paper (as opposed to cardstock). They all look nice, but the thinner paper is easier to work with.
- Glue dots or double-sided tape - One glue dot per cookie works out just fine.
- Fortunes - You have to have something to write on the slips of paper in the cookies. I have written out 100 fortunes - some traditional, fortune cookie-like fortunes (like The extra mile is never crowded.), some parental ones (like Clean your room!), and 56 short and/or paraphrased Bible verses. {Side note - Something feels oddly heretical about putting Bible verses into a stereotypical Chinese fortune font and stuffing them in fortune cookies, but go with it, okay?}
You can get 100 printable fortune cookie sayings below.
Feel free to print and cut mine, using the strips in the fortune cookies, or rewrite them on strips of pretty paper. I started out writing mine on the backs of pretty papers, but after 8 of those, I just printed my printable, choose strips, and cut them out. 
Instructions
1. Cut circles. My circles have a diameter of 5 ½ inches, but you could go smaller - down as small as 3 inches - with no problem. Find a saucer, bowl, Tupperware, or some other round object with a diameter of approximately 3 inches and trace it over and over and over. I will be honest. I cut the circles with my Silhouette, because I think cutting circles with scissors is a drag. I started with 8 circles and made 8 paper fortune cookies, and 8 cookies was far too few. The next day, I made 40 more. Once you get the hang of it, each fortune cookie takes about twenty seconds (after it's cut out, of course).
2. Fold one of the circles in half, but don't crease it. Hold it shut at the edge where the two sides meet. Once you've made a few cookies, you'll be able to put the fortune in at this step. Don't push your luck when you're just getting started, though. It's just one more thing to manage when you're trying to figure out how to make the folds.
3. Using your other hand, grab the two "corners" - the places where you would have creased it if you were creasing it. Using your thumb and ring finger, gently pinch those two corners together, while pushing the center backwards with your pointer finger. It sounds much more difficult than it is.
When you do this, one of the pieces will crease underneath the other piece (or, if you are holding it, they will form a crease with both edges in the same direction - both ways look nice, so it doesn't matter).
Crease the center a little on the outside.
4. Reopen the cookie a little and tuck the fortune inside. Aim to have the words inside and unexposed.
5. Add a glue dot between the two ends of the cookie to hold them together. This is what will keep the cookie in the cookie shape.
That's it. Your paper fortune cookies are done. Now repeat three or four dozen times and put them all in a pretty bowl.
What to do with your Paper Fortune Cookies
These would be fun for any big family meal - hand them out after the meal and take turns reading your fortunes. Or make a bunch of them and leave them in a pretty bowl on a table somewhere. Our New Year's Eve tradition is to have a living room picnic for dinner and watch The Sound of Music (the original 1965 version of course!) together. We'll open our fortune cookies after that.
Lorraine says
What inspiration! Thanks for taking the time to give the directions. I see so many ways to use these ---- in addition, as a way to deal with changing out of bad habits - when it strikes, pull one out of a container full of helpful, supportive quotes / sayings.