How to Make a Pressed Penny Bracelet - Video and Tutorial
Even though I would describe a chilly 50-degree Florida night as “freezing”, I would turn into an ice statue for my sister, no questions asked.
Anna and Elsa are like my sister Emily and me. She was the blonde older sister who shared all her coolest toys (it was My Little Pony) and I was the redheaded little sister that demanded all of her attention.
So you can imagine that Frozen is one of my favorite Disney movies, and when Frozen 2 came out, I was inspired to commemorate it. If I love a thing enough, you can bet there’s a craft for that.
For the Frozen 2 premiere, I created a bracelet made of pressed pennies I hunted down at Walt Disney World during a trip with my sister, Emily.
Pressed pennies are one of the cheapest and best souvenirs. I’ve created a pressed penny charm bracelet for World of Walt before, but this time I’m going for a bangle look.
Here’s my IGTV video on how to make a Frozen pressed penny bracelet:
Selecting your Pennies
We want a Frozen bracelet specifically, so we’ll need a few Anna and Elsa pennies!
To find these at the parks, I have a secret source, presscoins.com. This site is carefully curated to tell us exactly where every pressed penny machine and penny style is located at Walt Disney World!
I already had a few Frozen pennies from my adventures at the parks, but if you need to go penny hunting, presscoins.com is a great cheat sheet.
I typed in “Frozen” and searched all parks to get this great selection of pennies to hunt down!
Hunting your pennies at WDW is half the fun. See how many characters you can collect on one trip, or try to finish a penny series (they’ll be labeled something like “1 of 5” on them to let you know they are part of a series). They are only 51 cents to make, by far the cheapest WDW souvenir!
How to Put a Hole in a Penny
Believe it or not, there is a right way and a wrong way to puncture a penny. Driving a nail through a penny creates a few treacherous flaps of metal that can’t wait to scratch you.
To circumvent their evil, you’ll need to forge your penny ala a scene from The Mandalorian. Puncture the penny with the nail, then flip, puncture again, then flip again.
Hammer the puncture hole to flatten those metal flaps, then repeat on the other side. Do this a couple more times, puncturing the penny, then flattening the flaps until you have a perfect hole.
Check my IGTV video above to see how I forged my pennies! I wrote a whole article on the proper way to put a hole in a penny for The Spruce (then About.com), but watching the video is much easier to digest.
How to Make a Pressed Penny Bracelet
Here’s to Sisters!
My sister lives in Ohio and I’m here in Florida, so we don’t get to see each other as often as I’d like. This project is so affordable and simple to make, it would be a great opportunity to make matching “friendship” bracelets for you and your sister.
I wore my new Frozen pressed penny bracelet to my first viewing of Frozen 2, and during moments that made me think of Emily (Elsa got a My Little Pony, what other evidence do I need), I might have touched my bracelet and pretended it was just the movie making me tear up.
If you’re looking for more of a charm bracelet, check out my tutorial for World of Walt:
Make a charm style bracelet with my tutorial here!
Need help while you craft your bracelet? Hit me up on Instagram!
Thanks so much to Disney for inviting me out to see the Frozen 2 screening!
