DIY ~ Annual 4th of July Shirts

The 4th of July is one of our favorite holidays as a family. We always spend the week in Missouri to attend the 4th celebration at our local park. This celebration has been going on annually for over 100 years.

Something I do every year is try to come up with homemade t-shirt ideas for my four kids and my 11 year old niece. A couple of years ago we used corrugated cardboard to make star stamps and stamped striped stars onto white shirts. Last year the kids taped off stripes and painted them red for the stripes of a flag. Then they put star stickers on and sprayed blue shirt dye for the stars of the flag. 

This year we used bleach to make stars on red and blue shirts. Here's how we did it ...

Step 1. Trace different size stars onto freezer paper and cut them out.

Step 2. Iron the stars onto a dark colored shirt, with the waxy side down, in the pattern of your choice.

Step 3. Put a piece of cardboard or poster board (or in my case a cutting board) in the shirt to keep the bleach from bleeding through.

Step 4. Take it outside, lay it flat and spray it with pure bleach in a spray bottle.

Step 5. Wait for it to dry and watch the bleach spots turn white.

Step 6. When completely dry, peel the stars off the shirt.

Step 7. Voila!!

Here is a picture of two of the four shirts I made. The older kids haven't made their shirts yet, but these projects are fun because everybody's shirt ends up different.

I'll post a group picture in the t-shirts later.