Does your family celebrate May Day? The holiday reflects many different celebrations and traditions based on geography, cultures and more. At my house growing up, my mom always had bunches of beautiful flowers ready for us to give to our neighbors as surprise first thing on the morning of May 1.
To present the flowers, my brother and I drew pictures on one half of a plain paper plate. We folded them in half, so they looked a bit like a paper taco shell, and my mom then placed the flowers inside, punched a hole in the top of plate for hanging ribbon and stapled it all shut. My brother and I divided up the neighborhood and hung the plated flowers on front doors and ran back home to wait for the surprises to be found.
Your child can make his or her own simple May Day flower cone thanks to an empty paper towel tube and a few rolls of colorful washi tape. A coat or two of Mod Podge protects the tube from any rain.
Materials
- Empty paper towel tubes
- Cut flowers
- Washi tape (in various colors)
- Scissors
- Mod Podge
- Foam brush
- Hole punch
- Ribbon or baker’s twine
Directions
| 1. Start out by making sure the paper towel tube is free of any leftover towel so that it’s as smooth as possible. |
| 2. Depending on the length of the flower stems, you may want to trim the holder. On one end of the roll, cut off about 2.5 inches of tube for shorter stems. |
| 3. Start wrapping your washi tape at the top of the tube and work your way down. I used three total different rolls of washi tape. |
| 4. Try to overlap the washi tape in the same place to create the illusion of a washi seam; cutting the tape with scissors makes for a cleaner look. |
| 5. If your seam isn’t perfect, use a long piece of washi tape to cover the tape ends. |
| 6. To seal the tape design on your tube, apply one to two coats of Mod Podge. Make sure to let the Mod Podge dry in between coats. |
| 7. Once the tube has dried completely, punch two holes in one end so that you can string the ribbon or baker’s twine through for hanging. Tie a knot with the ends, leaving enough of a hanger to slip onto a doorknob. If the door you’re hanging the flowers on doesn’t have a doorknob, leave the ribbon untied so it may be tied onto the door handle. |
| 8. Place your flowers into the tube and get ready to make someone’s day. |
