Our yearly beach vacation in Sanibel, Florida is finally getting close, and I’m so excited! As usual, I’ll be spending several hours of that week on the beach with shovels and buckets, making a sandcastle or two (or more, who knows?). After completing almost every sandcastle I’ve ever made, I usually wish I had something to use as a flag for the top. I always tell myself that I should make some ahead of time. Well, this is the year I came through, and I’ll finally be prepared with flags.

To make it easy to re-use year after year (and of course to make it easier on you guys to recreate), I made a downloadable template! This template has two pages — one is in full color, and the other is just the outlines, for those who want to color their own flags.

Download our sandcastle flag template

Once you’ve downloaded the sandcastle flag template, just print it onto regular white paper. Then grab some scissors, a handful of toothpicks and/or wooden skewers, and adhesive of some sort. I found my Scotch adhesive dot roller to be a fantastic solution, but a glue stick would work well, too.

Once the pieces are cut out, flip them over. Apply your adhesive to the back of one side and stick the toothpick or skewer in the middle.

Then just fold the flag in half, pinching it around the toothpick and pressing the two sides together. Voila! You have a flag!

These flags are so fun and easy to make that you might not be able to stop.

There are three different types of flags in the downloadable template, and I can’t decide which one I like best, but I think it might be the bright rainbow colors.

Or maybe my favorites are the waving red and orange flags that remind me of the sunset? Or the quirky blue patterns that remind me of the sea?

Okay, I guess they are all my favorite!

UPDATE! I took the flags with me to Sanibel this year and used them on the big sandcastle I built. What a perfect finishing touch!

If you don’t have a beach in your future, you can use these flags for more than just sandcastles. You could use them as cupcake picks or make the most charming appetizer toothpicks ever. You could even personalize them with children’s names or the name of your favorite baseball team. Now that I think about it, those waving red/yellow flags would make great decorations to go with our Princess Peach party ideas!