How to Make a Tie for Father's Day

Children love making gifts for special people in their lives. Here is an easy craft where children can make a tie for their Dad or the special man in their life. Dads will wear their tie with pride.

Difficulty: Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Heavy construction paper
• Child-safe scissors
• Markers, crayons, stamps
• Tape
• Glue
• Glitter
• Assorted decorations for the tie
• Hole punch
• Heavy duty string, 25 inches long
• Small piece of cardboard for reinforcement

1. Using your construction paper, tape 2 or 3 pieces together so that it’s long enough to be a tie.

2. Draw a tie shape, including the knot, on your piece of construction paper. Also draw part of the sides that go under the shirt collar. Only include about 2 inches of these sides on each side of your tie.

3. Let your children decorate their special tie in any way they want. Use color, paint, glitter, stamps and stamp pads, as the sky is the limit. Remind them that there is no right or wrong.

4. As your children get older, they will probably want a theme for the tie. Try to help them think of something that the receiver likes to do or has as a hobby. You can even get magazines that specialize in that activity. Cut out pictures and glue them to the tie to make the design.

5. When your child has finished decorating the tie, let it dry completely before proceeding.

6. Using the small pieces of cardboard, cut them into 2 1-inch circles. Glue 1 of the circles on the back of the tie at the area that goes underneath the shirt collar. Let these dry completely.

7. Using your hole punch, punch holes through the tie and cardboard in the area that goes underneath the shirt collar.

8. Put the string into an envelope and tack it to the back of the tie. Wrap the present in a box. When you give Dad his special tie, take the string and tie one end into a knot through the hole that you punched in the tie. Then take the string and wrap it under his collar, like a real tie, and tie a knot in the other end of the tie that you made him.

9. Dad will love wearing his special, handcrafted-with-love tie.

[favefive]

on 2/3/2008 What a fun and creative gift for dads! :)

[bizewriter]

on 1/31/2008 I can't tie one, maybe I can make one. :-)