April 30, 2013

On [making our own] Colorful Throwing Rice.


During the wedding planning process, I stumbled upon and fell in love with an idea to throw sprinkles for the big post-reception getaway rather than rice, bird seed, bubbles, or sparklers. After reading reviews of said idea though, I became concerned about the sugary beads melting on people's hands, and clothes. I also found the bulk prices for sprinkles to be outrageous.

Then I found this post, where Stacy used food coloring and rubbing alcohol to dye rice rainbow colors for a toddler sensory bin. I don't have toddlers, but I definitely have use for colored rice!

The fun colors were what I loved about the sprinkles idea, so we decided we could make our own colored "sprinkles" for the price of rice (really cheap!).

Step 1: Measure out 2 cups of rice. (We only had white and brown rice mixed together, so we used that. White rice would probably make more vibrant colors, but our mixture actually made a fun gradient/ombre look.)

Step 2: Pour rice into a gallon size zip-lock bag. Add 4 tablespoons of rubbing alcohol and 1/2 tablespoon of desired food coloring. Zip baggie.


Step 3: Squish contents all around until color is evenly distributed.

Step 4: Pour the rice onto cookie sheets. Spread around using a spoon or spatula.

Step 5: Lay rice out in some sunshine for a few hours.



Step 6: Repeat steps 1-5 for each color you desire to include. When all rice is dry, mix all colors together in a large bowl.

Step 7: Cut squares of tulle (I got a roll of 80 yards at the Dollar Tree). Place a small handful of mixed rice in the tulle.

Step 8: Tie with a ribbon.


Expenses:

4 cups rice..............................................free (from our pantry)
Food coloring.........................................free (also in pantry)
8 T rubbing alcohol................................free (bathroom  cabinet)
One roll of tulle.......................................$1 (dollar tree)
Ribbon....................................................$2 (dollar tree)

total.........................................................$3

2 comments:

  1. That is an ADORABLE idea! I don't think we plan on throwing anything, but now I'm thinking we should!

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    Replies
    1. Thanks for stopping by, Vanessa. It worked out beautifully! :)

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