I first saw shadow puppet characters on Etsy and loved them. What a great gift idea! The puppets were $20, so relying on my own master cutting skills and inginuity, I gathered some supplies (most of which were on hand) and wallah! I had made an adorable gift set including a flashlight and carrying case- all for under $10.

Hope you enjoy.

Step 1: The Supplies

For the Puppets:

black card stock (6 sheets or so)
large flashlight ($4)
1 pkg wooden dowel sticks
glue gun, glue stick
scissors

and the Carrying Case:

scrap long piece of fabric, measurement varies
matching thread
8" ric rac
1" button

Step 2: Cutting and Laminating

Decide on a theme for your puppets, then search online for some image inspiration. My image inspiration came from a set I saw online.
Sketch your figures on to some card stock, or print some images and then trace them on.
Cut out your images then laminate. Cutting them first will help them seal better than trying to cut them after laminating.

Staples laminated all my figures for around $2.

Step 3: Attach the Dowels

Using your hot glue gun, glue 1" down on a wooden dowel to the back of each finished puppet.

Step 4: Create a Carrying Case

Using a long rectangle scrap piece of fabric, create your carrying case with a pocket for the puppets:

Decide how long you want your case. Take that measurement and add to it the length of the pocket you would like. This is so you can fold your pocket piece up to where you'd like.
With right sides of your material facing together, sew around the edges of your scrap piece, leaving a small opening for turning it inside out.
Turn the piece inside out and topstitch, closing and topstitching over the opening that was left open.

POCKET PIECE and CASINGS:

Fold your finished material a little over halfway up to create a pocket. Insert your ric rac midway and pin the ric rac and pocket piece in place. The ric rac is used to tie your case together.
Sew down the two sides and bottom of your pocket, making sure to secure the ric rac in place on the side.
To make the casings for the puppets, start at the top of the pocket and go in about 7/8 from the edge. Sew down to the bottom of the pocket, creating a little casing. Check that your casing is big enough to hold your wooden dowels.
Continue to make the rest of the casings across the rest of your pocket piece.

Step 5: Finishing Up

Put your puppets in the case and fold or roll it up to decide where to put the button. Mark, and tack on your button. To close your case, roll your case together and simply wrap the ric rac around your button (making it easy enough for even a 3 yr old). Grab your flashlight and your gift is finished! If you'd like, you can also write up an adventurous story to go along with the puppets and include it with your gift.

These puppets look so amazing on the wall and are so cool to see! I am confident beyond the *shadow* of a doubt that you'll absolutely love it! ;)