May Day Baskets

According to Wikipedia, "May Day was celebrated by some early European settlers of the American continent. In some parts of the United States, May Baskets are made. These are small baskets usually filled with flowers or treats and left at someone's doorstep. The giver rings the bell and runs away. The person receiving the basket tries to catch the fleeing giver. If they catch the person, a kiss is exchanged."

When we first moved into our neighborhood, the kids and I thought it would be fun to make May Day baskets and put them on our neighbor's door knobs. These made quite an impression! Our neighbor's loved them, so we have continued the tradition every May since then. They never have rung the door bell, but have quietly placed the May Day basket on the door knob, then they run away so they won't be caught.

This year, I looked through Pinterest for some May Day basket ideas. We saw a couple of ideas that would work, but adapted them for what we had on hand.

To make these May Day baskets, you will need:

berry baskets

flower foam

glue

craft sticks

cardstock

buttons

spanish moss

scissors

flower templates

ribbon

a couple of willing helpers... :o)

First, we glued the flower foam to the bottom of the berry basket.

The kids worked on tracing the flower templates and cutting out the flower shapes.

Homemade iced coffee is always appreciated by a hard working crew... :o)

We added some spanish moss to the berry baskets.

This stuff is really messy!

Ribbon was added to each basket so they could hang from the door knob.

Buttons were glued to the center of some of the flowers, then all the flowers were glued to the craft stick.  We added six flowers to each basket by gently pressing them into the flower foam.

I found a cute May Day printable on Pinterest to add to each basket.

Doesn't it look great hanging on a door knob? :o)

The kids were up at 6:30am yesterday to deliver all of our May Day baskets. They have such a fun time doing this! Have you ever done May Day baskets for your neighbors?