Special Occasion T-shirts

by Laura Torres | More from this Blogger

10 May 2006 08:39 AM

I've thrown a lot of birthday parties in my time, and part of my job is coming up with original and fun birthday party ideas. But the T-shirts I made at the last minute for my son's tenth birthday party is the thing that everyone still talks about, so it obviously made the biggest impression of everything I've done.

Here's what I did: I bought plain white T-shirts for everyone in the family. To save money, I shopped in the men's underwear department and bought thick Hanes undershirts. I washed and dried the T-shirts. Meanwhile, I found a good, recent digital picture of Andrew, the birthday boy, and downloaded it into a illustrator program. I added an illustrated background (in this case, a brick wall with graffiti that said, "Andrew is my homeboy," because that was a family joke at the time.)

I used the same picture for Andrew's T-shirt, but added an illustrated crown to his head and the words "King for a Day."

I printed the pictures out on iron-on paper for my printer and ironed them on to the T-shirts.

The hardest part of the whole operation was getting everyone to put on their T-shirt without Andrew noticing right before the party. When he walked into his party, he didn't notice at first that we were all wearing T-shirts honoring him, but when he did finally notice, I got one of those thank-you-Mom-smiles that makes it all worth it.

We gave Andrew his own T-shirt which he put on with false modesty and then took the picture you see here.

What I love is that the T-shirts have become a keepsake and a record of what Andrew looked like on his big day. In fact, I'm wearing mine as I'm typing this blog!

We've done variations on the T-shirt idea since, according to cost and what worked with the party. One time we made buttons with my button maker with my step-daughter's picture on them that everyone could wear and pass out to party guests.

The whole idea is to get the family together and show some solidarity in a unique way to honor the family member on his or her special day. What better way than to wear your affection?

Learn more about Laura Torres

Laura Torres is the best-selling author of many books for kids and teens, and a party planner. Check out her website at lauratorres.com.

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