Summer Fun Activities on A Budget | Tie Dye Shirts with Kool-Aid & Vinegar

What child doesn’t want to sport a homemade, tie dyed T-shirt!? Heck, I would! You can sport it pretty much anyway; camping, fishing, at the park, riding your bike, to the store and just hanging out at home. Every time your child puts this shirt on, it will bring back memories of the day they tie dyed it with Kool-Aid!

Materials:

• White Cotton T-shirt
• Distilled White Vinegar
• Kool-Aid Packets (vibrant colors work best)
• Rubber Bands
• Rubber Gloves
• Small Bowls
• Iron
• Towel

Mix 1 cup of vinegar with every 2 packets of Kool-Aid in a small bowl. You’ll need a separate bowl for each flavor/color. We tie dyed 4 t shirts with 4 bowls and had a little left over.

Pull, twist and secure T-shirts into your desired design with rubber bands.

Put on rubber gloves, if not your poor hands will be stained for a few days even if you scrub the snot out of them! Also, be cautious of your work surface. The Kool-Aid will stain your work surface. We used out kids table so I wasn’t worried about any spillage.

 

Dip desired portions (or use dropper) into bowls to saturate the T-shirts full of color. Come on now, get creative!

Keep rubber bands on, lay out to dry in the sun for 6- 8 hours. When fully dried, remove rubber bands and hang up to dry overnight. If you hang them up inside, beware your house will smell like vinegar….I advise you hang them outside 😉

To set the colors, iron your T-shirts on a medium-high setting using a towel between the iron and the T-shirt. Let shirt set for 24 hours before washing so the cotton absorbs all the color. Wash T-shirts separately in cold water for the first time so the dye doesn’t bleed onto others clothes.

 

This was our first tie dye experience! The kids had a blast being creative and making their own tie dye designs.

This post is part our Summer Fun Activities on a Budget for Kids series. See more of these fun ideas and posts here.