Can you believe that it’s approaching the end of April already!? We’ve had such a roller coaster ride with the temperatures that it really makes me feel like I don’t even know what season it is from day to day! But the reality is that spring has sprung and May is on its way! One of my favorite memories as a child is making May baskets with my mom and secretly delivering them to the front doors of neighbors and friends as a springtime surprise. I love this tradition and still TRY to keep it each year! Even though it may not always be in a basket or delivered as a ring-and-ditch, doorstep surprise…each year I choose a different friend and offer up a tiny bunch of posies to celebrate spring! I’ve discovered that delivering May Day baskets is a tradition that is unfamiliar to some. I grew up thinking it was as much a holiday as Valentine’s Day…and if you’ve never celebrated it before I guarantee that it’s as much fun to deliver as it is to receive! Last year the May Day elves left me a darling gift hanging sweetly on my doorknob…and though I figured out the identity of the lovely girls who left it…part of the fun can be the wonder! However, today I’d like to share a fun and easy way to offer up some springtime blooms that you can deliver by hand. I decided to share this a tad early so you can be prepared for the fun…May flowers will be sure to brighten someone’s day! See how easy it is to spread the love…
deliver a May Day bouquet!
normally, the tradition for May Day is to fill a tiny, paper basket or cone with blooms and secretly hang it on the recipient’s door…such a cute idea! but if you’re afraid of getting caught, there’s no rule that says you can’t hand deliver some flowers…the end result is exactly the same! so this year i’m foregoing the baskets and just creating pretty bouquets…equally as lovely and so easy that maybe i’ll make a few extra this year! all you need to get started is flowers…
a quick trip to the flower market or a stroll through the garden will provide plenty to make a sweet bunch of springtime! the daffodils and greens were from the yard…and though cedar is typically thought of at Christmastime, i love the textural mix and think the foliage is just as lovely no matter the season! i don’t believe this bunch of blooms resembles winter…do you?
the other item you’ll need is paper. i love brown packing paper and keep a roll like this one in my home all the time! i really like the size, it’s about 14″ wide so it works for a multitude of projects! you can find paper rolls at craft and home improvement stores, but for a project like this one–a paper grocery bag will work just the same! use the side without the print and and you’ll have an equally cute wrap for your blooms!
you can get several bunches out of a couple packages of purchased posies…especially if you can cut some extras from the yard! and still no rules…make ’em as big or little as you want!
lay out the individual bouquet until you get it how you like…
and to hep keep them fresh, i like to wrap the stems with a moistened paper towel…
a simple sandwich baggie will keep the outer wrapping from getting soaked…
now for the brown paper…
there’s no right or wrong way to do this part! i like to wrap the stems with a smaller piece of paper and then create an “envelope” shape to go loosely around the bouquet…you can just fold or tuck corners to keep the flowers front and center!
fold up the bottom and the outer edges then secure the wrap with a rubber band. you can also adjust any flowers if necessary!
cover the rubber band with a pretty ribbon…and that’s it! the glory of paper wrap is that it’s not intended to be perfect–it’s going to get thrown out anyway when those blooms go into a vase!
so choose your method of delivery–leave it on a doorstep and sneak away or just hand it over face to face…either way, a bunch of posies is ALWAYS a welcome surprise!
get ready…May Day is coming!
i’ll be sharing more ideas next week on how to make really simple May baskets…so stay tuned!