Friendship Bracelets

My sons are celebrating their birthdays early this week in preschool. I was racking my brain trying to figure out some sort of little treat or present for them to hand out to their class mates. Even spending just $1 per child would easily add up to a total of over $30 for both their classes. Call me cheap, but I HATE spending money on junk that just gets thrown out. I was about to bite the bullet and buy everyone a bubble wand when the idea came to me...friendship bracelets. Last year for Valentines Day, Design Mom had her kids make cute little friendship bracelets for their classmates. I think it's such a cute little idea, and have always wanted to do it. What better time than now!

I started out by purchasing craft thread (it's colorful twine and there is TONS of it near the embroidery floss) for $3.99 (!!) Score! I grabbed me a clip board and set to work. Then, I discovered that making the bracelets could quite possibly take the rest of my life at the rate I was going. In desperation I texted my genius friend and blog partner for help. She had used the idea in February and had made almost 30 in a night, so I knew there must be an easier way. Sure enough, she saved the day and taught me how to make one bracelet in about 5-10 minutes (WAY better than the 30-40 I was spending initially.) I wanted to share this fun idea (and super cinchy method) in case you ever get the itch to make some yourselves!

Start with 4 pieces of string (I used an arms length and it seemed to work well), two of each color. You can do three of each color (even faster!), or more colors (slows it down), but I liked the thinness of the four strand as it seemed easier to tie on the wrist.

Tie a knot in the top and hold it down with either a clip board or tape. Separate the colors.

Tie two double knots with your first color (you can do more or less knots depending on how thick you want each block of color. I liked the way two knots looked.)



Alternate colors, tying two knots with each. Soon you will have something that looks like this:

Keep going for 5 or so minutes (add 45 minutes if you have a toddler cruising around.)

HOORAY! You made a friendship bracelet! Tie it on the wrist of your best pal (tell them to wear it till it falls off!)