Coffee Filter Garland tips and tricks...

My friend made a beautiful coffee filter garland for her daughter's birthday party. I loved everything about it and when I decided to throw a baby shower for my niece I gave it a shot. It was just as cheap and easy as I was hoping for.


You can find hundreds of instructions searching pinterest - they're all pretty much the same. Here's just a few tricks I learned in the process.

First off - I used 1000 filters (although not all of them ended up being strung, I ran out of time!) I used the larger filters that are for 12-16 cup coffee makers.

Many instructions tell you to put color water in spray bottles and spray the filters. This would've taken forever to dye 1000 filters. After dying 25 filters with a water bottle I became more efficient.


I mixed water and dye in a medium sized bowl. I then separated the filters out into groups of 50 (my filters came divided at 50 filters). I took the entire stack and dipped them in the bowl.
Each bowl of water covered 100 filters and then I would mix another bowl of water and dye. Each bowl had different ratios which gave a great color variance.

Some stacks I would dip just one side and let the color bleed to the other. Some stacks I only dipped the outside edges. Others stacks I saturated the whole stack.

I then separated that stack into smaller stacks and layed them across my backyard to dry.



They took a warm Arizona afternoon to dry and once they were dry I threw them in a large garbage sack.


Then it was time to string them. 1000 filters could make one 8 foot garland with really dense filters. I needed more than 8 feet so I spaced my filters using clear drinking straws cut into 1/2" sections.

Using fishing line and a sewing needle I strung 2 filters and then a 1/2" straw section, 2 filters, straw section...repeat.

The finished product was several 6 foot garlands that I hung from the ceiling using command strips.

They were the main focal point of the shower. The wow-factor. And they were so darling I couldn't bring myself to get rid of them. So...they're now sitting in my attic just waiting for someone else to have a baby boy so I can throw a party!