Unfortunately, no one can stop time, things turn old, memories fade…but thankfully the spirit remains somewhere within. Cheer uniforms are very precious to one, they represent their love and passion for the sport.
But for how long are they to be kept in a little dark corner of your wardrobe, years after growing out of that lifestyle?
What to do with old cheerleading uniforms? Surely, you can use your old cheer uniform logos to customize various home items like quilts and pillow covers. You can also make shadow boxes and tote bags with them. If you are not the DIY type, you can always donate the cheer uniform to someone who needs it via non-profit groups and social media. Donating the cheer uniform to a junior or mate, who does not have the money to buy one, can be the easiest option!
You might wonder what to do with you old cheer uniform: throw them away just like that, or make something out of them for yourself, or perhaps for someone else.
Well, it is not an easy decision to throw away years of memories and several hours of hard-work into trash. In all probabilities you will not throw them, but continue keeping them in your wardrobe.
But, what if you can decorate your house with them; or make reusable party costumes and bags out of them; or maybe just share it with your cousins! Amazing right!
It would not just save the uniform from rotting; it will come to good use and also safeguard all the memories related to it!
Do You Get to Keep Your Cheer Uniform?
Cheer uniforms are a very important part of the sport; it not just represents the team, but also their spirit. It is seldom that you get to keep your uniform; generally they are shared and kept for common use in most public High Schools.
Although the graduating batch at some schools get to keep their cheer uniform. But varsity cheer uniforms are one’s own, so that will remain with you for sure. Yes, they are costly to buy, but you can keep them with you as tokens of love, or you can just make something funky out of it!
How?
Let’s see about it in the next section!
5 Unique DIY Ideas with Old Cheer Uniforms
You can make multiple interesting items out of your cheer uniform- here are five amazing DIY ideas that can help you preserve all your old uniforms and the memories etched with them!
Shadow boxes
This is something you do to embellish and showcase your pride for the team. Shadow boxes are basically glass front cases wherein the cheerleading costumes are displayed in a thematic or personalized fashion.
Hang them up on a wall or just keep them in the cupboard, your memories will remain safe within. There are many ideas and videos on making a shadow box- one click away to youtube or google! Choose your style and theme, tell your story, and preserve them carefully. You can use the shadow box mentioned below for your purpose.
Quilts
Quilts are the most interesting of the ways to put old cheerleading costumes to use. Generally these are made by cutting out the logos of the uniforms into square or rectangular boxes (depending upon the logo size), and then stitching them onto the quilts.
All kinds of garments and materials can be used for this purpose, from sweatshirts to skirts to bows and t-shirts. Although, it is necessary to handle the quilts carefully while washing them. I am talking about something like this:
Pillow Covers
Decorative pillow covers from old cheerleading costumes are not a rare sight. It’s making process is a lot similar to that of the quilts, just that pillows can contain either one big logo box or a number of small logo boxes like a patchwork.
It is difficult to adjust logo boxes of various sizes into one pillow cover. But yes, what else is better than having your home team’s inspiration all over the house!
Tote Bags
You would need a strong material like that of sweatshirts to make a bag out of it. Tote bags containing a logo of a team are nothing less than cheer merchandise. The only extra things required to make it would be a handle and a chain. Rest…sew and sew!
Remake Costumes
Old cheerleading uniforms can be made into various other clothing. For example: Halloween costumes, Christmas costumes, party dresses etc! They can also be made into casual attires by altering the style a tad bit, into a daily wear skirt or a sweet crop top!
Read more: Best Cheerleading Uniforms for Toddlers: Too Cute to Avoid
Some people alter the uniform in order to fit someone else into it.
It is necessary to keep in mind that the above DIY ideas are lifelong treasures, so you shall remember the following while making them:
- You can include almost anything you want in order to make these.
- The style or design of these items will affect the look, so invest time in research before scissoring through your costume.
- Every item here has to have a direction, a purpose, something to say about the beautiful life you had. Make sure to tell the story right.
Donate Your Old Cheer Costumes
It is a recurring thought that you can make money out of old items…for fundraisers or personal uses. You can also try these out just for fun in your free time. But, what about those who do not have the resources to buy cheer uniforms?
Well, donating old uniforms is probably one of the best ways to contribute to the sport. There are many who are unable to afford a decent costume, in spite of being talented as a cheerleader.
There are several local initiatives where you can donate your uniform so that someone else who is not as privileged, can wear it. Even if such initiatives are not known to you, you can start one of your own! Here is a list of places where you can donate your old clothes and cheerleading uniforms.
Or you can donate it to theatre groups, or art schools etc, where such costumes might be needed. There are many such organisations that would love to take in cheer costume donations, several of whom are even listed online- like Etsy, Csteatre and so on.
Also, if you don’t want to donate them, just share our uniforms with you junior and mates!
Final Thoughts
I hope you got a fair idea about what you can do with your old cheer uniform. Using them to make unique things for home and personal use is perhaps the best. You can also donate them to a talented, needy, and aspiring cheerleader and be a good person.
