Now it’s the party season, here is a reminder of how to tie your bow tie

Lift up your collar to make it easier, and measure your neck and size the bow tie correctly. (Bow ties are one size fits all, but they have ways to adjust the length either with a slider or button holes)

Put the bow tie around your neck with one end longer than the other like a normal tie

Cross the longer end over the shorter end

Loop the long end under where the two ends cross. With one hand hold the point where the two ends cross over the front of your collar. Take the dangling portion of the longer end and pass it behind and then up over the point of intersection

Pull both ends of the bow tie to make it as tight around your neck as you will be comfortable with and leave the longer end resting on your shoulder

Fold the dangling end to make a loop. Lift up the shorter end—which is still dangling—and fold it over on itself at the widest part of the bowed shape. Lift the whole portion and turn it 90 degrees, so it faces horizontal. (This will form a loop that points to the same side as the shoulder over which the longer end is resting)

Hold this fold together at the skinniest part of the bow tie, which should be just in front of your Adam’s apple… This will be the front loop of the completed bow tie, so it should already have the general shape of the finished product

Drop the longer end over the skinny center of the bow and drape it over the skinniest part of the bow section you created in the last step

Pinch the bow together in front of the long end. Grab the left and right sides of the horizontally folded end and pinch them together in front of the dangling end.  The top of the dangling end will now be held between them

Feed the middle of the dangling end back through the knot. There will be a small gap behind the bow portion that you can see while you have it pinched forward. Fold the draping end of the bow tie on itself like you did with the short end and pull the loop from the fold through the hole.  (The gap will be between the loose knot from step two and the where you draped the longer end of the bow tie in step four.) It will now form the back half of the bow

Finally, pull at the loops (if you pull the flat ends of the bow tie, it will untie it), straighten the bow tie and fold you collar back down