DIY Football Helmet DOC Band for Cricut & Non-Cricuters

Update: Since creating this post, I’ve purchased a Cricut Maker and replicated my file in Cricut Design Space. You can find my Cricut Design Space project link in my Digital File Library.

You will still need to follow the instructions below to download the specific fonts and images I used!

Our baby boy is in the second week of wearing his DOC band, a helmet made specifically for his head to fix his flat spots. While the physically therapy since 8 weeks old, neck stretches multiple times a day and helmet adjustment appointments have been cumbersome, I have to say I enjoyed getting to tap into my creative side to turn his DOC band into an Texas A&M Aggie themed football helmet. In all of my research, I was not able to find a vendor in our area that offered a Texas A&M DOC band wrap so I decided to create my own DIY football helmet DOC band.

If you’re interested in making your baby’s DOC band into a football helmet for your favorite football team, I’ve included my Adobe Illustrator file template below and detailed instructions to make this process as easy as possible for other busy mommies.

What You Will Need for Your DIY Football Helmet DOC Band:

• My editable Adobe Illustrator football helmet template or access my Cricut Design Space project
• Access to Adobe Illustrator (Get a free trial for 7 days if you don’t already have a subscription)
• Printable Cricut Vinyl
• Cricut Premium Removable Vinyl in the color of your choice for your helmet stripe (I used the color Wine)
• Mod Podge
• A cheap sponge brush to apply mod podge
• Scissors
• Access to a color printer

Step 1:

Download the FREE football helmet template by subscribing to my site and entering the digital file library password below. If you’re an existing subscriber, simply enter the library password you already have below!

Get Access to My Free Templates and Printables

By subscribing to my site, you’ll get access to projects, free printables and templates in my digital file library. You’ll find the password to my file library in your subscription confirmation email.

Step 2:

Determine the logo brand, font and colors you need for your favorite football team. You can typically Google the name of your team and the font to find your team’s branding page.

If you don’t have the font already, download and install the correct font for your favorite football team.

For a Texas A&M helmet, you will want the Tungsten Black font. I used this download from GitHub. For the SEC logo, I created a monogram of my baby’s initials instead. To do this, you will need to download and install this Round Monogram free font.

Step 3:

Now that you’ve downloaded your fonts, open my file in Adobe Illustrator.

Step 4:

Update the font, team name and color of the front and back of the helmet based on your favorite football team. Then, update the monogram with your baby’s initials. You will need to use the Round Monogram-Left, Round Monogram – Center, and Round Monogram-Right fonts, in that order.

Step 5:

To add the logo to the helmet, you can order a vinyl decal online or pick up in store like this one from Academy.

Another option that allows you to ensure the proper fit is to copy and place a photo of a logo found online for your favorite football team in the boxes labeled for the side and back of the helmet.

Step 6:

Once updated, save and print the updated file on the printable Cricut vinyl. Don’t forget to save as you may need to reprint and update the stickers depending on how long your baby needs to wear the helmet.

Also, make sure to put the vinyl in your printer tray upside down so that you are printing on the correct side.

Step 7:

Cut your print outs with your scissors. If you are lucky enough to have a cricut then, by all means, use that and know that I am jealous.

Step 8:

Cut two 2 inch wide strips of your Cricut Premium Removable Vinyl. One should be about 4 inches long and the other 6 inches.

Step 9:

Now, for the trickiest part, placing the vinyl on the helmet. I have to admit, I wasn’t able to get my vinyl perfectly flat but I think it is good enough. You’ll need to pick a time where your little one can go without the helmet for a few hours. I decorated Lucas’ in the first few days after he received it while we were still doing skin checks.

To begin, start by adding your 2 inch wide premium vinyl helmet stripes first. Then, add the remaining stickers on top.

Start at the top or bottom of the helmet and use a hard flat edge, like a credit card, to help smooth the bubbles out as you stick the vinyl. You can also use a blow dryer to briefly heat and smooth out the bubbles, just be cautious not to heat it up too much as it is technically a really expensive medical device that you do not want to melt!

You will have stickers and vinyl that hangs over the edge that you will trim up momentarily.

Step 10:

Next, use a box cutter or other sharp edge to shave off the stickers that hang over the edge of the helmet.

Step 11:

Brush mod podge over your stickers & vinyl and let the helmet dry. Don’t worry about getting mod podge on the outside of the stickers as you can easily scrape it off whenever it dries.

Wa-la! You have a DIY football helmet DOC band!

Like this idea? PIN IT for later!

If you use my template, I would love to be tagged in your Insta photos of your little football star! Thanks and Gig’em!