Happy
May Day! Maybe you've already had a little basket of flowers left on your door
handle on this first day of May.
When Jill & Brent were little, we enjoyed making and delivering May baskets. For
those who don't know about the tradition, May baskets are delivered on May 1.
They are traditionally filled with flowers and treats and left hanging on a
friend or neighbor's front doorknob. Once the basket is in place, the deliverer
rings the doorbell and runs off to hide and watch the recipient's reaction.
My
husband's parents lived just two miles north of us when Jill & Brent were
small, and we often delivered a May Day basket to them. Their over-the-top
reactions always thrilled my little cohorts. It wasn't long until Jill &
Brent would burst out of the bushes to “surprise” Grandma and Grandpa.
I
suppose I have photos of this event … somewhere in one of the tubs full of photos. (But here's a cute one I could find - though it has nothing to do with May Day baskets.)
If you don't have a small basket you'd like to
use for your May baskets, you can make your baskets from items found around
your house:
- Use a cake mix box and cut it down to about 4 1/2 inches high. Wrap the box with gift wrap. Tuck flowers and a sweet treat into the box and make someone's day!
- Use a 12-inch doily and fold it into a cone (like the one shown at the top of this post). You can also use construction paper to make a cone.
- Back when Jill & Brent were young, we used to use the green baskets that fruits and vegetables came in at the grocery store, and we'd weave ribbon through the grid. However, many of them are now packed in plastic tubs. You can cut the top off the plastic rub and use the bottom for your flowers and cookies. If you wish, you can add leftover Easter grass or shredded paper to the bottom of the tub. You will have to put one cookie in the front and one in the back so that the tub doesn't tip!
- On each, just attach a ribbon with staples and use the ribbon to hang to the door knob!
Try these Blonde Brownies ...
These Caramel Coconut Squares ...
or these Fudge-Filled M & M Bars.
I'm linked today to Crazy for Crust and Two Maids a Milking. Check them out for other yummy ideas.
Kim
ReplyDeleteI like the cake box idea for a basket. I looked around on Pinterest and found some neat ideas. And they are just that ... neat ideas as I didn't make any baskets.
One idea was similar you yours only using Kleenex boxes.
Hope you have a wonderful day!
Thanks Robyn! Other boxes would work, too, I'm sure.
DeleteKim, I always made a May basket for Mother and hung it on the door knob, knocked, and ran--and she was always "surprised." As adults, Larry and I made baskets out of the large 7-up plastic bottles and took them to the greenhouse when we were in Kansas and left them to be filled with flowers and delivered May 1st, hung on our Mothers' doors, with the door bells rung and the deliverer hidden. We had glued photographs on the "baskets" so they knew we were the source of the flowers, but they couldn't figure out how we got them on their front doors when we were several states away. When we went through their things when they went to the rest homes, we found that both of them had kept those hand-made 7-up baskets... Mothers like that stuff, don't they?!
ReplyDeleteThat is so neat that your moms kept the baskets. It just shows that it's the little things we do for people that count the most.
DeleteSo pretty! Love the bars too. :)
ReplyDelete