How to make your own Bike Streamers

It’s almost week 3 of summer and operation Occupy My Restless Kids is in full effect. Almost every day there is some craft or activity that we do just so I don’t have to hear, “Mom I’m bored”. Which about as grating on the ears, “Mom I’m hungry”. I’ll take bored. I hate cooking in the kitchen in the heat of the summer. In which case, kids, it was time to get outside and make your own bike streamers.

HOW TO MAKE YOUR OWN BIKE STREAMERS

For these you’ll need:

• Wooden golf tees
• Eye screws
• Rubber gloves
• Thumbtack
• Ribbons of your choice. I recommend grosgrain as satin ends tend to fray more.
• Small pliers (as needed)

Most bike streamers that are sold come with this plastic piece of crap.

The kids pull off the streamers and I’ve had more pairs break that I can count.

In which case I went looking for something sturdier that could slide into the handle bars. Most bike handle bars have a small hole at the end of them. At least in kids bikes.

When I came across the golf tees at my local dollar store, I thought there we go.

STEP 1

Take your golf tee and a thumbtack and put that thumbtack ALL the way down to into the golf tee.

This well help you screw in your eye screw.

STEP 2

Next get on your rubber gloves and screw in the eye screw.

TIP: You can try to do this without rubber gloves, but it’s kind of like asking to walk around with a welted bruised thumb for the next week.  This is to help you screw in the eye screw easily.

If you are struggling to do this manually, you can use small pliers to twist it into the golf tee more easily.

STEP 3

Tie your ribbon on the eye screw.

The kids picked out which ribbons they wanted to use and we threaded them through.

I used 20″ (51 cm) of ribbon per each streamer.

STEP 4

Stick them into the handlebars and you’re good to go. Ta-da! You’ve made your own bike streamers.

I tried this out on 3 different bike sizes from a tricycle to a big kid bike and they all fit.

And then you get to keep your kids outside to burn energy.

Happy Kids, Sane Mother. Now go and make your own bike streamers!

For more craft ideas visit my Everyday Craft section!

How to make your own bike streamers was originally published in 2013 and has been updated.