Getting Ready for the Tie Dye Slumber Party

Well, I think I'm doing pretty well on the housework side of things. I don't ever get all the things done that I think I can, so I'm learning to be ok with what I can get done. Still some things left to do though....

I'm looking all over the internet getting things together for Delaney's birthday party this weekend. She's having a Tie Dye Slumber Party. Including herself, she'll have 7 girls. That seemed like a good number and it isn't too big a group to be able to tie dye shirts (in the garage since it will probably rain). I found a lot of cool ideas for this party on the Cookie Magazine site. They have a great party idea section and a Tie Dye Party was on their list. Check out their ideas & photos of the Tie Dye Party here. Their party happens all outside in the yard during the summer, oh how nice that would be!

I bought the t-shirts & tie dye kit at Michael's. I'm going to be using the Tulip Ultimate Tie Dying Kit. This kit has 5 colors of dye in bottles ready to mix, with an extra packet of each color dye, in case you run out. I've been looking all over the web for tie dying techniques. I was a bit disappointed to find out that everyone recommends 100% cotton shirts for tie dying, as the sale ones I bought at Michael's for $2 each are 50% cotton / 50% polyester. Different sites say different things, but I was able to find one with photos showing the difference between 100% cotton & 50%/50% after they are tie dyed. More proof you really can find everything on the internet. This lady recommended putting the dye on damp shirts, so we'll do that, she said the dyes might work better on the 50%/50% fabric when it's wet. The real difference between the two fabrics according to her is that the 100% cotton turns out brighter. So maybe our tie dyes will be pastel this time. But I don't think a bunch of 7 & 8 year olds will care. I picked up extra gloves at the $1 store and some bags of rubber bands. Both things come with the kit, but I'm not sure there are enough gloves or rubber bands for our big group plus a few adults to help out. I also bought some extra plastic dish pans so that each girls can have one and hold her shirt over it when applying the dye.

So the girls will make their tie dyes as soon as they arrive. I'll put them in plastic ziplock bags and let them sit. Right now my plan is to the let shirts sit overnight and wash them in the morning, so we can get a big group photo of everyone in their tie dyes.

For dinner I'm going to make Mini Deep Dish Pizzas I saw on the Rachel Ray Show. I'm going to change the recipe a bit and put out all sorts of kid friendly pizza toppings, so each girl can make her own. On one of the sites I found some cut tie dye cupcakes. Just make regular cupcakes, frost them in white. Then take two different colors of frosting gel pens, make a large circle of gel in one color on the top and then a smaller circle of gel in another color inside of the first one. Next, take a toothpick and draw lines in the gels from the center to the outside of the cupcake. You will drag the colors through each other creating a tie dye effect on the top of your cupcake. Delaney wants to make all the cupcakes before the girls get here or else I'd let each kid decorate her own.

Delaney and her friends love to do crafts & play games, so I'm going to put out some beads for making necklaces or bracelets and then do some simple games. We did find one craft that fit in with our tie dye theme. We're doing to use Delaney's Lite Brite Flash Art FX Spin Art machine to create fun tie dye looking art. This machine is cool, it has a black light and plays music, showing off the fluorescent paints especially well. Since we already had the machine, it makes a cheap craft for the kids. Also, I wasn't able to find any refills in my area this week, so I'm going to be cutting some cardstock paper to fit the machine. I know that you can order the refill paper online, I'm just a bit late in starting my search.

So those are my tie dye party plans for now. We'll see what actually happens as the party goes along! I always try to over plan and then just sit back & see what happens. I usually have a few games or activities that never get accomplished. But I'd rather have too many things for the kids to do and then see how things are going. If someone is bored or things are getting to crazy, I can gather everyone for a game. Delaney & her friends usually just like the free time to hang out together and that's fine with me too! I have a couple friends coming to help Dave & I and we're going to have a few margaritas while we hang out, helping the girls when they need us.

But I'd better get back to work or my plans to be "over-planned" will fall by the wayside! Hope everyone has an awesome weekend and a fun Spring Break, if yours is next week. I'm heading up to visit a friend in Seattle with the kids for a few days, so we'll tell you all about our adventures after that!