Candy Lei - Hats Off to the Class of 2012

 

  

Whirlwind headquarters here - we had a graduation in June (with all that graduation implies - prom, yearbooks, field trips, senior project and engineering presentations, final exams, parties, grad night, the works), a major accreditation survey at work (medical center), family visit to kick off July (beaches, tide pools, Disneyland, family time, picnics) - busy days, fun days, wild and wonderful days and nights, it's all good.

My son doesn't really like me to post photos of him to the web, which is why you don't see many photos of him here, but surely this one can't hurt? LOL, family teddy bear joke :)  

Naturally graduation was a craft opportunity, so beyond cards and such I played with graduation leis.  I don't know if they're popular beyond Hawaii and California, but here in CA there are always leis at graduation, and since fresh flower lei didn't really seem right for my son, I went with a home made candy lei (well, I went with two in the end, it was too much fun making these!)

 

You'll see leis of all sorts at graduations here, from kindergarten through college - fresh flowers, nuts, leaves, candy lei, money lei.  The Hawaiian kids at the school were just COVERED in leis, it was amazing, and most of the other grads had a lei of some sort.  One of the kids had a serious money lei, the other grads were more than a little jealous :)

These were pretty easy to make - I purchased inexpensive silk flower and leaf lei at the party store, twist-wrapped candy so you can tie onto the lei, and curling ribbon in school colors to tie on the candy.  Just cut a length of curling ribbon (about 8 inches long), tie in a double knot onto the end of a piece of candy (where the wrapper twists), then tie in a double knot onto the lei and curl the ribbon (AFTER tying :).  Repeat, over and over again, until it looks fairly full, but not so heavy that it's a chore to wear it.  Tip - tie candy on the lower part of the lei, leave the upper area free of candy so it sits well and is not too scratchy around the neck.

The red one has Smarties ('cause he's so smart :) and Tootsie Rolls, the green one has Werthers Original butterscotch (yum!).  He and his friends had fun tearing off the candy.  The graduation ceremony was fabulous, and seeing all those hats in the air was a delight.  Hats off to the Class of 2012.