Due to inclement weather on Halloween, the reverse tie-dye and stuff-a-spooky events hosted by UConn Student Activities were moved to Saturday, Nov. 7 from 2 to 5 p.m. on the Student Union terrace and tent.
Students who signed up for the events on Halloween were told to reschedule a time slot on the following Saturday for reverse tie-dye and stuff-a-spooky. Students were given a link by Amanda Foxen, the administrative and program support for UConn Student Activities, to reschedule their time slot. Some of my friends who signed up for the events initially were unaware that they had to reschedule a time slot for Saturday.
The activities did not require a lot of time, so there was a good flow between students entering and leaving the events. Stuff-a-spooky took place on the Student Union terrace. Students who signed up for the activity had the opportunity to grab a small green-eyed black cat and one packet of stuffing to stuff on their own.
Reverse tie-dye took place under the Student Union tent. Students were given plastic gloves and the option to choose between dyeing a short or long-sleeved black shirt. The tables on the right side were stations with rubber bands to tie the shirt. Each of the tables on the left side had two bottles of different color dye and two trays for students to dye their shirts in. Some students used rubber bands to tie their shirt in the traditional tie-dye swirl pattern by pinching the middle of the shirt and putting rubber bands diagonally or straight across their shirt. Others put their rubber bands in random bunches on their shirt that would achieve a more sporadic pattern.
“I thought it was fun, a good thing to do on a Saturday,” Caileigh Ellsworth, a first-semester pre-teaching major, said. “I think they had a good amount of stuff to offer.”
When finished putting dye on the shirts, students were given a Ziploc bag with instructions on how to tie-dye and care for the shirt. Students were told to let their shirt soak for about 30 minutes. Students were then told to take the rubber bands off of the shirt, wash it under the sink, wash it in the washing machine with detergent and then finally it can go into the dryer.
“Everyone was kind and the instructions were clear,” Jon Restrepo, a first-semester civil engineering major, said.
Although each table had stated there were different color dyes in the bottles, the dye appeared orange on the shirt. Even by the time you finished washing and drying, the dye on the shirt remained orange. I had put “green dye” on my shirt, but by the time I finished washing/drying, the shirt was dyed orange.
“I think both events were good, they were fun,” Lexi Fix, a first-semester environmental science major, said. “My favorite one out of the Halloween events was the tie-dye just because I found it the most interesting, but I think they were all good and well organized. They even let me dye the pants that I accidentally dripped bleach on.”
