Shirt Decorating as Entertainment for a Child’s Party

It’s that time of year, when your precious little baby turns one year older, and you know what that means, time for another birthday party!  There are so many things on your list that need to get done: making the food and cake, decorating, making party favors, cleaning (if you’re having it at home), and you need to think of a fun activity to keep the kids entertained, that won’t break the bank.  We have an idea for you, decorate shirts!  Here are some tips for a fun decorating shirt party:

Supplies:  An easy trip to your local craft store is all you need to pick up supplies for shirt decorating.  Some good supplies to get are: puffy paint, fabric markets, fabric spray paint, fabric glue, glue-on jewels, scissors, iron-on transfer paper or iron-on patches, shirt form boards, and tape.  Take a look in the clothing decorating isle at your local craft store to see if you can find some different decorating tools. You also want to protect the surface of the table where your kids will be working, so make sure you put down some other newspapers or an old table cloth.  You can also pick up shirts at a local craft store, or give your local shirt company a call to see if you can get a better deal. 

Iron-on Transfers:  It’s simple and easy to make iron-on transfer decals from your own home.    What you will need is an ink jet print, heat decal paper, an iron, and a blank shirt.  Find a design that you like online or through clipart.  Before you print it, make sure that you have the setting to print on a mirrored image (if you don’t, then any text will be read backwards).  Then print it on iron-on transfer paper and cut it to size.  Cut close to the image to avoid unwanted residue showing up on the shirt.  Place the design on your shirt, and grab a towel to place over the design.  Turn your iron on, making sure that the steam setting is off.  Then iron away!  You will have created a fun shirt in no time.

We recommend that you do this ahead of time to avoid having any little hands get burned at the party.  Then the kids can further decorate the shirt with paint and jewels.  Most heat transfer paper work best with white or light colored shirts, but if you want to go dark, make sure you get transfer paper that is made for dark apparel.

Spray Fabric Paint Design: Kids can create a fun t-shirt design by using spray fabric paint and tape.  If doing the activity inside, make sure that all of your working surfaces are covered, so that you won’t have paint everywhere.  If it’s warm, consider doing the activity outside.  Place the shirt over a shirt form board.  Next, place the tape on the shirt to create a cool design.  Now you are ready to begin spray painting!  First test the spray paint on the newspaper or scrap paper, and then move your way to the shirt.  Several light coats will work better than one heavy coat.  It’s best to start this activity at the beginning of the party, to allow time for the shirts to dry. 

Puffy Paint and Fabric Markers: These will be your friends if you don’t have time to prepare shirts ahead of time or you don’t want to be a helicopter mom at the party.  Have the work area protected with old newspaper or a tablecloth and set out a shirt on a shirt form board (or you can cut down a large piece of cardboard).  Next place puffy paint, fabric markers, fabric glue, and jewels in the middle of the table.  Have some paper plate hand, so the kids can test out the colors.  Then let the kids enjoy themselves, expressing their creativity.

No Dye Tie-Dye: Make super-easy tie-dye shirts without the traditional mess that comes with tie-dying!  Supplies needed are: shirts, permanent markers, rubber-bands or hair-ties, and rubbing alcohol or nail polish remover.  First take the shirts and scrunch/ball them up placing random rubber bands along the way.  You can do an internet search on how to create different designs depending on how you fold/ball up your shirt.  Next take permanent markers and color away!! After coloring, drop a little bit of rubbing alcohol or nail polish remover on the shirt, this will make the colors bleed together.  Allow the shirts to dry, then unravel and you will have a tie-dyed shirt!  Check out this video for video demonstration.

Check out this link for instructions on how to create different tie-dye designs. 

Cut-up Shirts: Have the kids put some originality into their shirts and cut it up!  Try cutting up the sides of your shirt by: 1^st cut the vertical seam of the bottom of your shirt up to below the armpit on both sides, 2^nd cut many horizontal slits over the area you just cut.  Next tie the horizontal slits.  This will give your shirt a new twist, and is a great solution if the shirt is too big. 

The options for creating unique fun t-shirts are endless.  Most importantly is that the kids have fun.  If some kids become frustrated, have some pictures of shirt designs available, so that they can get some inspiration.  Happy shirt designing everyone!!