How to Have a Frugal Tie Dye Party

My girls proudly displaying their shirts

The other day my friend Tanya invited myself and my kids and also her whole neighborhood pretty much for a fun tie dye party in her yard. It was such great fun and such an awesome frugal summer activity that I wanted to share with you how it was done.

Tie dye itself is relatively inexpensive. Tanya bought six colors for about $5 each locally, but looking online you can get tie dye kits for anywhere from $5 to $15 and you really don’t need that large a variety of colors, in my opinion. If you’re doing this for the first time, you can use just two or three colors. The amount of dye Tanya bought was enough for at least 30 people to tie dye many articles of clothing.

A random assortment of buckets and garbage cans, with the dye nearly finished

Although they sell kits with all sorts of equipment to tie dye, all you really need is cotton clothing- you can dye (stuff that are old and ratty and stained are perfect, tie dye helps them get a new lease at life), dye, salt, water, rubber bands, a few buckets or garbage cans, and little cups also help.

Once the dye is made, there are many patterns you can use to tie dye.

The standard tie dye pattern is made by twisting the fabric from a certain point, and rolling it in a pinwheel, then securing it with rubber bands. This video explains how.

We did a bunch of shirts like that, but then later on I helped someone do a take off of that one, where instead of just doing one twist, we did multiple twists on the same shirt and then dyed it. I think it looks fabulous.

While I was there, I was looking up how to do different techniques, and another that I really liked is called the crumple technique.

My son Ike used the crumple technique with one color.

I did mine with two colors, and my friend used multiple colors.

Some people made theirs gradient.

And others did bull’s eyes.

Afterwards, we let them dry in the sun on the grass, or hanging from trees.

This was such a fun activity, and I loved how there were so many different results, and that no two items looked the same.

Of course, make sure to follow the dye instructions on the package so that your dyes set properly.

If you’re looking for something fun to do, whether this summer to entertain your children, or for a party, consider tie dyeing. Yes, there were a lot of adults who came too, and this doesn’t just have to be for children.

Feel free to look up even more tie dye techniques online or make up your own. The sky’s the limit.

Have you ever tie dyed before? At home, or with a party, or something else? Does this look like an activity you’d try at home?

How to Have a Frugal Tie Dye Party

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