Halloween Shirts You Can Make With Kids

Hello, my name is Amanda and I’m a Pinterest Addict. I adore Pinterest. It is full of so many fun, cute and clever ideas. There are so many pins I come across that make me say “Why didn’t I think of that?!?” And then there are some that make me wonder “This is too good to be true” And then there are some that are even worse… the pictures look amazing, the comments from other pinners are amazing, I try it and it turns out to be an epic fail! BOO! I’m here to find the cool pins and try them out and pass on whether they are awesome or junk.

I have such mixed emotions about Halloween. On one hand I think its just another holiday to go over board with and spend/waste a lot of money on. But its just so fun for the kids, especially my middle monster who adores dressing up. Plus the decor and crafts are SOOOOO cute! Pinterest is flooded with amazing ideas for halloween. Fun treats and cute home decor and super fun crafts for the kiddos to do (always looking for new ways to ward off boredom). I always get suckered into the fun and realize that, like most holidays, I am truly in love with Halloween.

Easy Halloween Shirts

One activity that my kids love is making shirts. My middle monster is quite the fashion diva and is always looking to expand his wardrobe. My oldest monster just likes being able to show off something he made and the baby monster just likes doing whatever the older brothers are doing. Plus shirt crafts are so cheap! Plus you get something they can wear again and again… not just hang on your wall and then watch it get wrecked and pitched with the trash. (I cant be the only parent who doesn’t save all the little ‘treasures’ they make)

Last year we made Halloween shirts that had the kids feet prints on them and the words “Trick or treat Smell my feet” on them, inspired by this craft.

This year I thought about just repeating that same shirt… but the oldest monster of mine said it was too “little kid-ish” and wanted a spooky shirt. So then I had to put some thought into it aka look on pinterest! I found a really awesome pin that lead me here

This is awesome for so many reasons:

1. I got to try something new. Id never done bleaching before
2. SIMPLE… no jokes even my 2 yr old managed with minimal assistance
3. Cheap! Ok it wasn’t as cheap as they say… I dont know why but up here in Canada things are way more expensive then in America… the shirts were on sale for $3.50 each, the spray bottle I got at the dollar store for, you guessed it, $1 and foam stencils which were about $0.10 each and then bleach… which I already had… so in total…it cost me less then $15 for three shirts.
4. Fast… this craft took no time at all about 3 minutes prep on my part and then 5 minutes with the kids.
5. Kid approved… which kid doesn’t love using a spray bottle and then they get an awesome new shirt… what could get better!?!?

So here is what I did:

• First get a black shirt.
• Find a cool halloween stencil. I used foam because thats what I found… but Im sure chipboard or heavy cardboard would work too.
• Tape down the stencil where the kids wanted them. (you could just place them down… but with three monsters running around its always better to secure them!)
• Make a solution of 3 parts water to one part bleach. Fill the spray bottle and head outside.

There was no way I was going to give my monsters bleach in my house so we did this out on the driveway.  I also wasn’t about to give each monster his own spray bottle when there is three of them and one of me… so we took turns. All they had to do was spray their shirts a few times and then pass the bottle onto their brother. Once they all had a turn we laid them out dry and magically transform! Once they dried I washed them before letting my monsters wear them… just because I didn’t want any extra bleach residue getting on them.

They loved it and wore them the very next day! There was a one minor issue… if you spray too much then it will seep under your stencil and not make a clear picture. my oldest was actually excited about that has he thought it made it even spookier… but just a heads up… my OCD brain was really bothered and I needed a minute to except that it was ok.  All and all this was an awesome Pinterest success!