Need Colored Tights?

For a lot of Halloween costumes, you need colored tights. But who wants to pay $4-$10 for a pair that you might only use once? Try this neat, money saving trick instead. **Note: For a wide variety of colors you can make with Kool-Aid, check out my other post: Kool-Aid Color Dye Chart**

Method #1 :: Kool-Aid

Go forth and procure:

: Tights or pantyhose

: Pot (not the drugs)

: Stove

: Kool-Aid

: A spoon/utensil for stirring

: Water

So as far as what pantyhose to get…the more opaque (not sheer) and lighter the hose are, the better and brighter the color will turn out. Also, try to stay away from those pantyhose that have ten different types of fibers in them; go for 100% nylon or a 85% nylon/15% spandex range.

 

First step is to fill your pot with water. The hose need enough room to float around in and not be too bunched up. I put it on medium heat…get some hottub action going on!

Next, grab whatever color Kool-Aid you want your tights to be. This is the fun part… EXPERIMENTATION!! Mix colors until you get the color you’d like. This picture shows two packs of Lemon Lime, a little sprinkle of the blue Berry, and half a pack of Lemonade

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Now toss in your tights and stir while it simmers on medium…your probably don’t want to boil it straight up. ALSO. Make sure to use a plastic spoon. Wooden spoons can catch on the hose and pull them. Runs in your awesome new hose? NO BUENO. Make sure you stir the tights. If you let them sit in one place too long, the color wont take evenly.

 

Don’t freak out (like I did) if you don’t notice the color taking right away. Just keep stirring! It will happen, promise 🙂

 

After you have reached the desired color, carefully (they HOT!) remove the pantyhose and rinse them in cold water until the water runs clear.

 

Wring  them out (gently) and hang them up somewhere to dry!

 

Method #2 :: Food Coloring

Go forth and procure:

: Tights or pantyhose

: Pot (please, not the drugs)

: Stove

: FOOD COLORING

: Vinegar

: A spoonual utensil of stirring

: Water

This method is almost identical to the Kool-Aid one, with the exception of adding vinegarto your dye water. For this method I picked up some opaque yellow tights at Target (on sale for $2?? YES.) The food coloring I used was just your average four pack of yellow, red, green, and blue that you find in the baking/spices section.

 

 

SO, once again, heat up a pot of water on mediumish heat. Again, I wouldn’t just flat out boil the water, but you want it to have some steam coming off of it.

Add 1 Tablespoon of vinegar for every cup of water in the pot.

 

Now add in your food coloring! Again…experiment! No two pantyhose/tights are exactly alike, so you might have to play around with color combinations.

**A note on adding the food coloring…when you think you’ve added enough…ADD SOME MORE. The tights literally absorb the color out of the water.

Throw your poor innocent tights into the bubbling green lagoon of DEATH.

NOW STIR LIKE YOU HAVE NEVER STIRRED BEFORE IN YOUR LIFE. Don’t stop stirring. For an even all over color, make sure every little crook, cranny, and crevice is equally submerged. Take tights out a few times to make sure they weren’t twisted.

When the color is all absorbed from the water (the water will become mostly clear), take out your tights (REMEMBER, they HOT) and rinse in cold water.

Hang these up and let them dry.

The verdict…