May Day Baskets

We have never made May Day Baskets, but have been the recipients of them many times and boy, what fun that is!  My Aunt Linda and her girls introduced us to May Day baskets by sneaking them onto our doorstep in years past, but now we live too far away and her girls are all grown up!   We have a couple friends here that have surprised us the last few years. It is always such a fun thing to hear the doorbell and find treats left behind by someone who loves us.  For those of you who are not familiar with the May Day Tradition, the basket giver rings the bell and runs away.  The person receiving the basket tries to catch the fleeing giver.  If caught, tradition said a kiss was to be exchanged!

Every year I say I am going to do it, but then do not get around to it.  I saw a few cute ideas online which made me think that I REALLY had to do it this year, so I did!  The baskets we made are inspired by three different May Day Baskets that I found online.

 I started out making holes in the cups with a paper punch, but that made my hand sore, so I used the point of my scissors instead, twisting the scissors to make the hole.  Much easier!

I found some items of clothing that were ripped and not worth sewing back together.  I cut them in 3/4 inch wide strips of fabric and laced it around the rim of the cups.  My lil’ one loved helping me with this part.

The handle was made with wire, glued between two strips of ribbon.  This basket from Skip To My Lou was the inspiration for the handle.  We glued little flowers in pretty spring colors on to embellish, which I found on clearance at the craft store.

I wanted to fill them with treats that are not full of all kinds of artificial stuff.  I know that holidays are a fun time for treats, and we eat our share of junk during a holiday, but I wanted to see if I could find a way to make a treat basket without a bunch of artificial colors and high fructose corn syrup.

I choose popcorn, honeycomb cereal (I thought the flower shape was cute and they don’t have a ton of sugar in them, at least for a treat), dried blueberries, multi-grain cheerios, and to top it off, …a Lindt Lindor Truffle.
My girls are very excited to deliver these little baskets tomorrow. There is just something so fun about ringing a door bell, leaving a basket and running away!
Happy May Day!!
This post is linked to:
Saturday Nite Special @ Funky Junk Interiors
Weekend WrapUp Party @ Tater Tots & Jello
Super Crafty Saturdays @ One Crafty Mommy
Sundae Scoop @ I Love Naptimes
Saturday Is Crafty Day @ Along For The Ride
Made It Mondays @ The Persimmon Perch
Made By You Mondays @ Skip To My Lou
Just Something I Whipped Up @ The Girl Creative