Happy May Day

Happy May Day! For the past couple of years I've wanted to revive the old tradition of leaving May Day flowers for neighbors with my kids. Again this year the idea had been percolating in my mind but I hadn't really done anything about it. Then this morning my youngest son and I were in Trader Joe's for a few groceries and right at the entrance they had the sweetest mini potted flowers on display. I decided that was serendipitous and bought two, one for each of our immediate next door neighbors.

I had my son, who is three, pick out which two flowers we were going to buy. It was actually very hard for me to let him pick because he didn't necessarily pick ones I would have chosen, but I really wanted him to be part of the process and help. He was very emphatic about which neighbors were going to get which flowers, he definitely had an opinion!

The flowers came in bright plastic pots, which were a bit tacky looking, so when we got home I went to work to make them into sweet little gifts. I took a regular brown lunch bag and opened it up flat. Then, using pinking shears, I trimmed it into two squares large enough to cover the pots. I wrapped the squares around each pot and tied them with regular white kitchen string.

I also made little banners so our neighbors would know why a potted plant was showing up on their doorstep! I used a banner die and alphabet stamp set to make the banners, then adhered them with glue dots to bamboo skewers I had trimmed down and stuck down in the dirt. I think they turned out very well!

We waited until my oldest son got home from school to deliver our May Day gifts. The boys were so cute running up to our neighbors' doors, leaving the flowers on the doorstep, ringing the doorbell and then high tailing it home as fast as they could! I hope our neighbors enjoy their little floral surprise!