Fun Team Ideas for Neon Color Run 5K

I recently did the Color Fun Fest Neon 5K with a big group of friends. While most of them prepared for the run by actually running, I spent the week leading up to it preparing fun good bags for our 5K team. (Evidence I think that party planning, not running is in my genes!)

I wasn’t planning to put these on the blog, but since they turned out so cute I decided to shoot a quick tutorial to share. The goody bags included a glowing ribbon hair tie, neon friendship bracelets, gum, lip balm, glow bracelets, flashing glow rings and a neon balloon.

A quick shopping tip: not everything that looks neon will actually glow under a black light. When shopping for things that will glow I carried a blacklight flashlight in my bag so I could check items at the store. When shopping online I only purchased items that said something about glowing under a UV light.

TO MAKE: These Neon Friendship Bracelets were all made using fluorescent cording from the hardware store that is less than $3. I cut lengths and tied them using our 80s Slip-Knot Friendship Bracelet tutorial.

TO MAKE: These glowing ribbon hair ties are super simple to whip together and were a fun way for us to keep track of our team members at the race. To make them you will need neon flagging tape and hair elastics. I purchased the solid pink tape at my local hardware store and ordered the reflective stripe tape (I know there are some negative reviews on Amazon saying this stuff doesn’t reflect, but I promise this is the stuff I used and with a blacklight it was fab!).

Cut approximately 3-foot lengths of each colored tape. Holding the strips together fold in half and thread the center loop through the hair elastic. Wrap the ends around and pull through to secure. (In case you were wondering, flagging tape does not have any adhesive on it. It is basically just plastic ribbon but for some reason they call it tape.)

We packaged everything up in decorative bags and stapled on small pieces of the flagging tape along with our free printable 5K HOORAY tags so they were ready to hand out to everyone at the race.

Of course the post wouldn’t be complete without a before and after picture of our team. Most of us wore these neon nerd glasses to keep the color out of our eyes.

:: Download free printable 5K HOORAY team goody bag tags

Want more ideas of things to put in your 5K team goody bags? These DIY elastic Hair Ties would be perfect — check out the easy tutorial from The Crafting Chicks.