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Summer’s coming and that means we start stocking up on one of our favorite drinks: Kool-Aid! While I love to mix up fruit juice Kool-Aid slushies, this time I did something a bit different and used Kool-Aid to stain wood then made a fun sign that I’ll use when I’m entertaining this summer! Let me show you how to stain wood with kool-aid for a bright, bold, and inexpensive way to color wood!
Earlier this week, I made a stop at Walmart and bought ready-to-drink Kool-Aid in the new 96 ounce bottle along with a package of powdered Kool-Aid.
How to Use Koolaid as a Stain
I poured the ready-to-drink Kool-Aid into a dish then added some powdered Kool-Aid until I had the shade I wanted.
I applied it to a piece of plywood using a foam brush, the same way I would apply stain. It soaked right into the wood, coloring it a beautiful, bright red. And it smelled better than any stain I’ve ever used {wink}!
Once it was completely dry, I used my cutting machine to cut a phrase from vinyl, applied the outline to my board, and filled in the letters with white paint.
The result was this fun sign that I’ll use for all my summer entertaining. It’ll add a fun touch of whimsy to the snack table!
This summer, we’ll be drinking a lot of our favorite fruit drink …
… and enjoying time spent outdoors with family and friends!
Head to your local Walmart and grab some Kool-Aid!
keri @ shaken together says
April 20, 2014 at 8:22 amWhat a great idea, Randi! And the color possibilities are pretty much endless! LOVE the sign!
Gina says
April 20, 2014 at 8:56 amVery cool!! I wish our store had the watermelon when we went to get ours. Tropical punch & grape were the only choices in the large bottle. Will have to keep looking.
JB Maryn says
April 20, 2014 at 10:53 amThis is a great idea! Will be trying this out for sure. Thank you for sharing!!!
Jenna Wood says
April 20, 2014 at 3:16 pmI absolutely love how great this looks, and how easy (and affordable) it is! What a great idea and tutorial! #Client
Cher @ Designs by Studio C says
April 20, 2014 at 5:37 pmWhat a great idea! Never thought of staining wood with Kool-Aid… If it can dye hair and dye wool, why not stain wood? LOVE this!
Deanna says
April 21, 2014 at 1:05 pmOh what a great idea! Looks like you bought it, I want to try this with blue raspberry!
Glenda says
April 25, 2014 at 12:03 amLove this idea! Thanks so much for sharing!
Jeanette Kenney says
April 26, 2014 at 12:20 pmI love this idea. How does it work mixing flavors to get certain colors? Example teal or a seafoam green. (Lemonline & Blueberry?)
Randi Dukes says
May 18, 2014 at 9:53 pmI haven’t experimented with mixing colors but I bet it would work!
Jennifer Sikora says
April 30, 2014 at 8:52 amThis looks like a really fun project!
Rachel @ BubblyNatureCreations.com says
April 30, 2014 at 5:32 pmThis is just SOOO genius!! Love it!
Heather - dollar store mom says
May 15, 2014 at 9:05 pmThis is simply brilliant!
carol says
June 20, 2016 at 11:25 amcoming into this late but wouldn’t the sugar in the ready to drink kool-aid attract bugs because of the sugar? i love the idea but i worry about the bugs.
Randi Dukes says
June 21, 2016 at 9:50 amIt never has! Once it’s dry, the smell fades as well so I think the sugar component is no longer an issue. I’ve never had bugs near it and I store it in the garage {in Texas – and we have a LOT of bugs}.
Jen says
July 30, 2016 at 9:22 amThis is cool! I wonder if I can soak wooden rulers in the mix for my classroom!
Twyla Hebert says
August 3, 2016 at 2:06 pmWith the powder form of drink mixes (no sugar), you can also change the shades of color. Less water darker color \ more water lighter color. If you want many different colors apply 1st color where you want it, let dry then add 2nd, 3rd, 4th color.