DIY Thanksgiving Shirts for the Family

Last year I was in desperate search to come up with some cute outfits for Thanksgiving since we would all be together.  It's hard to find something that appeals to all 4 kids including a teenage girl, tween age boy, and a 6 year old!

Oh ... and it had to cost next to nothing ;-)

CHALLENGE ACCEPTED!!

On the front of dollar store shirts, I freezer paper stenciled the fronts of the shirts with all different ways of saying we're thankful ... 

and on the back we each took sharpies and decorated them with all the many things we were thankful for!

Supplies I used:
6 white t-shirts (already had, found at the dollar store) - $6
6 colors of fabric paint (already had these, but they run about $1.25 ea at craft stores) - $7.50
Multi pack of sharpies (found on sale at Kmart) $3.50
sponge brushes (already had, dollar store)  $1
freezer paper (already had, found at Walmart) $3
cricut
Project Total for 6 Thanksgiving Shirts for the Family =  $21
Memories of making your shirts as a family = PRICELESS :)

1. Have everyone decide what color they want on their shirts and what you want them to say.  Using your cricut, cut the phrases out on your freezer paper (shiny side down).

2. Iron down the freezer paper onto your shirt, shiny side down.  Put a piece of cardboard inside the shirt so the paint doesn't seep though and paint over the stencilled letters using FABRIC paint.  Allow for the shirts to dry overnight.  We used this as a fun family Thanksgiving morning activity, so I made the shirts the day before.

 3.  On a piece of scratch paper, have the kids write down or sketch out what they are planning to do on their shirts.  If you're anything like me, you'll want to know what they're going to write ahead of time ;-)

4. Using the multi color pack of sharpies, let every one draw or write everything they are thankful for on their shirts!  We had so much fun with this!  It was also a great way to keep the kids busy on Thanksgiving morning and really get into the spirit of the day :)

 

 My sweet babies

 

And their awesome shirts!

 My oldest (14) is in French at school so she chose "I'm Thankful For" in French ;-)

I love how she set up her shirt :) and that she is not only thankful for butter, but also for bacon ;-) A girl after her mama's heart!

 My 12 year old stepson :)

 I thought it was cute how he used the letters in FAMILY and FRIENDS for other words and he used pictures too. And also that he is thankful for "Nerds" LOL

 My 9 year old baby girl :) 

 So cool how she set hers up like a crossword puzzle! And that she is thankful for herself LOL! Oh and also bacon ;-)

 And my youngest (6) :)

 I thought it was so sweet how she was thankful for her teacher first and foremost! And her house and room and hearts ;-)

 And then there's me :)

I tried to do mine in a Subway Art Style.  Mixing different colors, fonts and directions.  I really love how it came out :)

And my amazing husband who is a VERY good sport and totally got into the spirit of things!

He's such a sweetheart :) He had fun making up his shirt!  

My favorite part of the whole thing was how much fun we all had designing them :) I adore my big old crazy family!

MONDAYS ~