Growing up in the heartland of Iowa, we celebrated May 1 with May baskets. Arriving home from school, we would find tiny paper cups on our doorstep, filled with popcorn and small candies. Peeking out of the top might be a dandelion, a violet or a lily-of-the-valley.
The May Day tradition is that you must drop your "basket" at your friend's door, knock, then quickly run off lest they catch you and kiss you!
When I moved to Utah, many people had never heard of such a goofy practice. I gradually stopped commemorating the first of May.
Today, because of the need for some sort of giddiness at the [finally!] lack of snow, I handed out May baskets. I put them together, and Computer Geek and Weston made the clandestine deliveries. Males love doing things without getting caught. It's the closest they get to James Bond.
I am all for simple, so if you would like a simple, cheap, way to make someone's day today, here you go.
Supplies:
Styrofoam cups (Easy to write on with colored markers)
Pipe cleaners (Oops, I'm showing my age. These are now called "Fuzzy Sticks." )
Stickers
Markers
Ribbon, if desired (I had mine all ready to tie around the handles and then forgot!)
Popped popcorn
Small candies
Real or silk flowers
I used Hershey's Nuggets with Almonds, M&M's, fruity licorice (more spring-like than black and red,) Tootsie Rolls, and Tootsie Pops. In the picture, I don't have them filled all the way, so you can see what's in there. After the photo, I jammed it full with more popcorn.
The one that looks very bland is for a baby who is teething, and who won't know the difference anyway.
As you can see, girls got pretty flowers poking out at the top.
A truly wise person will make sure the popcorn is cooled off before assembling the basket, lest the M&M's melt. Not that I have ever done that. A truly rich person would have added some small toys. A person who is not in the middle of moving would have decorated the rims of the baskets with colored markers.
Go ahead. Make someone's May Day.
What a very sweet and creative way to celebrate May!! Great idea Randi :)
ReplyDeleteseptembermom: If you were closer you would have gotten one! :)
ReplyDeleteBeautiful, Randi. In my day, we used a paper napkin (cheap). We put the popcorn, peanuts, candy in the center, then brought the ends together and tied it with a ribbon.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad this tradition has died, except for us relatively few, because it would become too commercial if Hallmark ever got its mitts on it. Expensive cards, baskets, the whole works.
Love the May baskets! I may steal that next year.
ReplyDeleteIn the big city here, pipe cleaners are called "chenille stems". Ladeedah.