May Day Baskets

Friday was May Day and Andi, Tory, Aden and I celebrated by delivering May baskets to our friends at the lake. I modified tradition a bit and mailed some goodies to loved ones living out of state, too.

It's fun memories like May Day when I truly appreciate how special my childhood was. I remember my mom standing in the kitchen of our 28th Street house helping my sister and I fashion toilet paper rolls and disposable cups into handmade May Day baskets. Then, we walked to houses in the neighborhood and left the baskets on front porches for our friends to discover. We'd ring the bell and run away, hoping the recipient wouldn't catch us (or kiss us!), as true May Day tradition dictates.

Delivering May Day baskets this year went a little differently. Most of our cabin neighbors were home, so we capitalized on the opportunity and stayed for a beer. It was Friday at 5 o'clock, after all!

Tory helped me make two types of May Day baskets this year. For our out-of-town friends and family, we used empty toilet paper rolls, wrapping paper, ribbon and treats to assemble cute "candy" baskets.

At first, I had Tory stuff Tootsie Rolls and taffy into the toilet paper rolls, but the candies kept falling out when we tried to wrap the rolls in paper. We quickly learned it was easier to wrap the empty toilet paper rolls first, tie one end closed, drop the candies inside, then close it with a second tie.

I printed free Happy May Day tags from Pinterest, cut them out, and had Tory write her name on the back side of each one. Nothing fancy; just a homemade treat to say SPRING IS HERE!

We used disposable cups, stickers, pipe cleaners and construction paper to make May Day baskets for the cabin neighbors. I let Tory decorate the outsides of the plastic cups with stickers, and I glued the Happy May Day printable tags onto each one. Next, I used a hole punch in the tops of each cup to make openings for a pipe cleaner handle. Tory and I cut out flower shapes from construction paper and poked Dum Dums suckers through the center of each one. Finally, we filled each cup with white cheddar popcorn and stuck the flower suckers into the center. 

Our cabin neighbors were so surprised by our May Day baskets deliveries. One neighbor posted a picture on Facebook saying how appreciative she was of our thoughtfulness and good memories of years gone by.

My heart sings with happiness as I carry on my childhood traditions with Tory and Aden. I hope they'll always remember the fun times we had sitting around the dining room table doing projects together, and how simple acts of kindness can brighten the days of others. Happy May Day!