May Day

For most people, I don't think May Day is probably even on their radar... it is kind of an obscure holiday. You can tell it's obscure when Hallmark doesn't  make a card for the occasion. To be completely honest, I usually realize it about a day before. But I can't let it slide by without any acknowledgement.

I think this probably stems from the fact it's my grandparents' anniversary -- yesterday would have been 69 years. Growing up, I think they were the only ones with whom we consistently did May Day baskets.

I distinctly remember selecting my favorite wallpaper samples from old books my momma had collected to make our paper cone baskets and filling them with fragrant lilacs. But I don't have any wallpaper sample books (lame, I know) and because of our extremely mild winter and very early spring the lilac blooms have been spent for weeks. We were going to have to improvise.

So off we went to the grocery store to get our supplies... followed by a quick drive by my grandparents' home. (Which is only a couple of blocks away from the store.)  After reminiscing, the kids and I got to work.

After we found mini cupcake liners and dum-dums. We were set to make these little flowers. Construction paper leaves added the final touch.

I'd seen something similar to these baskets months ago on pinterest here. We improvised with old National Geographic's pages. I printed a photos of a butterfly... reversed the images on the right side of the page then folded them in half, glued them together then cut them out. I think they turned out well for being nearly free. Here's the document if you'd like to give 'em a try sometime.

My favorite part of the day (of which, of course, I failed to take a picture) was letting the kids drop them off at people's homes, ring the doorbell and run away... they thought they were so sneaky because no one saw them. ;) Right?

So what about you? Do you celebrate May Day in your home?