Halloween Tie-Dye Fun

Have you seen the adorable Halloween tie-dye shirts from Family Fun? They are so cute, we had to make 'em. My daughter, at right, wore hers to school today and she beamed with pride as she showed everyone the jack-o-lantern faces she drew on it. We used an undershirt from my son plus a $1 box of Rit dye and, presto! Instant Halloween shirt.

Here's what we did:

1. I created the dye bath according to the directions on the package.


2. We twisted the shirt into multiple peaks to create many jack-o-lantern faces. (See also the picture of my brother-in-law with his shirt. We made just one large peak in the shirt's center to create the single jack-o-lantern.)


3. We let the shirt sit in the bath for an hour (I dyed multiple items so the water:dye ratio was a little off. Less water to cover less material would have created a brighter orange in less time.)


4. I rinsed off the shirts following the directions.


5. We removed the rubber bands and laid out the shirts to dry (VERY exciting for my daughter).


6. Once dry, I ran the shirts through the washer so that they'll be safe to wash with other clothing items later.


7. Once dry, we used Bic permanent markers to create the faces.

Sunnbrook Farm Designs' post about creating shopping bags from old t-shirts really struck a cord with me too. Plastic bags are the bane of humanity as they clog landfills because they are too expensive to recycle (returning bags to the grocery store for recycling just isn't enough) and injure animals as they litter the ocean and streams. SO, why not create Halloween treat bags using the above tie-dye method and an old t-shirt? I tried, but failed miserably. I couldn't figure out how to set-up the bobbin on my sewing machine so I tried Heat n' Bond instead. Well, considering my Heat n' Bond is 8 years old... didn't work so well. The tie-dye turned out cool but the seams busted immediately; how could they ever hold a ton of candy? Oh, well... maybe next year.

HSM3: A Trip Down Memory Lane?

Have you seen it yet? Have you seen High School Musical 3? I took my kids on Saturday but to be honest, I was just as excited as they were. And even though my expectations were high, I was not disappointed. For 112 minutes and 12 songs, I lived vicariously through these six+ individuals going through the angst of high school graduation, college selection and long-distance first loves.

As a base review, let me say that the song and dance numbers are a real step up from the made-for-TV movies, though not all-together original. They pay homage to many movies from "my day" -- I recognized "Footloose," "The Breakfast Club" and "Grease" at the very least. But, you know what? Those musical numbers work; they were used appropriately at just the right time to convey the same types of emotion as in their predecessors. And they are darn catchy (the soundtrack is bound to be in my little girl's stocking this Christmas).

What I didn't expect was to go on such a personal emotional journey. Suddenly, I was seeing my future... As Gabriella sang about dreaming of prom her whole life, my eyes welled at the thought of my daughter going to prom (true, she's 4 1/2 now but time is flying!) and as Troy gave his graduation speech, my eyes welled AGAIN at the thought of my now 7 year old son graduating from high school. Wasn't he born yesterday? How is he in 2nd grade already?

And on top of that, I began reliving my own history as well! And I don't just mean senior year of high school. Instead, it was like I was five years old watching Grease at the movie theater (which is my earliest memory of being in a theater). Sure, in hindsight the content was SO inappropriate but I certainly didn't get it at the time. What I did get was the wonder of the music and dancing. Soon after, my sister Monica and I had the double LP. Do you remember it? It looked like the Formica diner tables with pictures laid across. We listened to it over and over again, standing on the couch as we performed with one another. Monica was always Danny Zuko and I was always Sandy Olson... why, I don't know. Maybe it was because I was the youngest and poor Monica had to give in or I'd cry for days? Regardless, we loved re-enacting the whole thing, start to finish. So now I wonder, will the High School Musical trilogy be for my kids what Grease was for me? Will they be off at college, dancing in a bar and suddenly screech because the DJ is playing a montage of HSM songs that they haven't heard, let alone thought of, in years? Will their memories of seeing the movie (and subsequently dancing and singing in the kitchen with Mom) come rushing back to them as they dance along in some random bar while away at school? I hope so!

(The soundtrack to High School Musical 3 is offered on Amazon.com for $9.99 and on iTunes for $12.99.)