Awesome activity despite epic failure.
I knew better, but I took the easy path. We used hot glue to attach everything. The finished product looked incredible. I walked away from the activity thinking….damn I’m good. It all caught up to me the next day when I was walking down the steps at a Kansas City Royals baseball game in the flip-flops I created the day before. The hemp I had wrapped around the top part of flip-flops unraveled and sent me flying down the steps in front of hundreds of people. Within a week, nearly every participant returned to the library with stories of how all of their embellishments had fallen off.
I’m not giving up though. I plan to do this craft again and I will conquer it.
So about this activity…..
It isn’t the cheapest craft. I bought my flip-flops from Old Navy. They frequently have sales and I bought these for $2.50 per. I bought way more than I needed so that I would have supplies for 35 participants. (A LOT OF FLIP-FLOPS!) I returned the ones we didn’t use for a refund the next time I was at an Old Navy. There are probably cheaper options, but the variety of the flip-flops and the Old Navy brand added appeal to the project.
As mentioned in my long intro, we attached different items to the top part of the flip-flop. We wrapped them with hemp, string, yarn, and other materials. We glued on shells, beads, jewels, buttons, tiny plastic flowers, and more.
We will be using an industrial strength epoxy or some other type of strong, pliable glue next time.
Young Adult Activities 
Use this stuff…..
When I was at Michael’s last week I saw Flip Flop glue. I have no idea how well it works since the glue I bought to glue CD cases together without killing everyone from the fumes didn’t work worth a flip. By the way, hot glue DOES work on the CD cases.