After a long, cold winter, springtime may make you want to break out in a happy dance. If so, you’re in good company, as many cultures around the world celebrate May Day with songs, flowers and dancing around a decorated May tree. If you’re not much of a dancer, you don’t have to skip the May Day celebration. Share a bit of spring joy with neighbors, friends and families with a May basket that you have made especially for them.
Traditionally, May baskets were made to hang on the doors of friends; in some areas, they were a part of the courting ritual, when the baskets were hung on the doors by secret and not-so-secret admirers. If the recipient saw the giver, he or she might give chase to steal a kiss. Today, the baskets are more often made by children to brighten the day of adults in their lives. You could start a new family tradition by making these baskets and delivering them to shut-ins or nursing homes, along with sharing them with family and neighbors.
For the most traditional variety of the basket, collect wallpaper or scrapbooking paper to make paper cone baskets. You could also use wrapping paper, magazine pages or simple colored copy or construction paper. Gather some embellishments, like lace, ribbon, buttons or beads, stickers or anything you and your children like best. You’ll also need glue or glue sticks, scissors and a hole-punch. In a pinch, you can use your scissors or an icepick as a hole-punch substitute.
Trim the paper into a square. Size will depend on how large you want your final basket to be; you can make tiny cones to hold a single bloom or large ones big enough to hold a whole bouquet. Once you have the square trimmed up, roll the paper into a cone and glue down the edge to hold the paper in place.Now comes the fun part. Go wild decorating your cones with the embellishments you gathered. You can even decorate them to match the recipient’s hobbies or interests. For example, are you taking a basket to a fisherman? Add feathers that look like tiny fishing flies and use fishing swivels to make the hanger. For a cooking enthusiast, make a collage of photocopied recipe cards as the paper base of the cone.
Next, add a hanger to your cone. Punch a hole on two opposite sides and thread a ribbon, yarn, twine or other string through each hole. Glue the end of the tie to the inside of the cone. Finally, fill your May basket with flowers, candy, small trinkets or other fun items.
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