You Only Need To Pack One Pair Of Sandals With This TikToker's Easy Customization Hack

Packing everything you want to bring on vacation is a challenge. You've studied all the techniques. You've tried the folding-in method. You've saved space with the ranger roll. Those only works for clothes, however. What do you do about your shoes? If you're going to a tropical place, you may want sandals to match each outfit, and they take up a lot of space. (Hey, we all want to look good on social media in our vacation pictures.) One brilliant TikToker has a great idea to customize your sandals or flip-flops, and it's going to change your packing forever. The TikTok technique comes to us from @cup_o_jo, and it requires nothing more than a single pair of sandals/flip-flops and some ribbons.

It's especially easy if you start with the type of flip-flops above, but most thong-style sandals will work. You'll need a wide ribbon, in several colors and patterns that will match the outfits you're bringing. You can even bring extra to tie in your hair if you like the matchy-matchy look. Then you'll wrap the ribbon around the straps (we'll explain how) to customize your footwear. It only takes a minute or two and it's going to save you a lot of space. 

You can watch the technique in the TikTok below, but we tried it out ourselves. We used similar flip-flops in women's size 8 with a thin strap, but chose ribbon that was 1.5-inches wide to see if that would work, with great results. The ones we used were 48-inches long for each foot, but you may want to test the size before you go to make sure you have enough slack.

@cup_o_jo

Such a good trick for traveling when u dont wanna bring more than one sandal🩴🩴 #diy #summeroutfit

♬ original sound – SUMMER RIALS

To execute the hack, take the center of the ribbon and wrap it around the thong, with the excess on both sides facing the heel. Then, on each side, wrap the ribbon around and around the straps, leaving the ends loose. When you've covered each of the straps, slip your foot in and wrap the excess ribbon on both sides around the back of your ankle and tie in the front. That's it! You could get even longer ribbon if you want to do a double tie around your ankles.

While it would be more difficult to do this with slip-on sandals, you could start at one side for the wrap-around technique, leaving slack on both ends to tie with. Another option is to grab some clip-on bling like these roses for around $10 on Amazon. They make lots of clip-on decorations for weddings and events, so you can find bows and gems and all sorts of things. Hey, you might be able to pack everything you need in that carry-on bag after all!