Sweet Anniversaries and Other Great Achievements

I know Jonathan and I just got married in December, but it was so close to our 5 year anniversary that I HAD to do something. He is also having a crummy time at the office, so I thought I might do something to brighten up his day.

Guys get embarrassed about flowers so I didn't want to send those. I decided that perhaps a cookie or candy bouquet would be better because a fruit bouquet would have probably gone straight in the trash. He scorns all things healthy. After Googling around, I found some neat ideas. Since he is a Reese's Peanut Butter fiend, I thought this number would be nice:


Awww!


That was until I realized that it cost 60 freakin' dollars! Sixty dollars + delivery charge for 12 standard sized Reese's PB cups plus another dozen or so "fun size" (read: mini) ones, a bow, and tissue paper. Screw THAT! I decided I could probably make it on my own and save myself some money. Not that he isn't worth the $60+, but if I ever want to move out of our ghetto hovel, we have to make some cuts somewhere. So I made a scaled down version because he didn't need THAT much candy, and I had to sneak around the house in spells to get it done. It would have looked suspicious if I carried in a giant grocery bag of candy. I swear he is like a puppy following me around at times. So here is a look at how it turned out, and I will give you a general brief on how it is made:



Not quite as flashy, but does the job. Probably should've added a bow. Oh well.

 To do this project, you will need:

• 1 cheap flower pot, coffee cup or tin bucket
• Floral foam that will snuggly fit into the bottom of your cheap pot
• Wooden craft sticks, dowel rods, or Popsicle sticks in the number appropriate to the number of candy stems you want.
• A hot glue gun with hot glue. Hopefully, your gun has a "low" setting.
• 1 bag of crinkled paper. (If you are cheap like me, you found some old construction paper you had lying around from a previous project, accordion folded it a bit, and sent it through the paper shredder. Ta-freakin-da! Shredded crinkly paper at half the price.
• A big bow (if you're into that sort of thing)
• Your loved one's favorite candy bar in a variety of sizes, in the amount according to the number of stems you want.

Heat your glue gun on a low setting and grab all your supplies. You can glue your foam into your container if you like. I didn't so I could reuse the flowerpot. The end result wiggled a bit because of this, but it was no big deal. If you want to glue it in, put a ring of hot glue around your floral foam and press firmly into the bottom of the container.

Now it is time to start making your "flowers". Turn your candy face down so that you will be displaying the candy name in the final product and not gluing over it. Spread enough glue along a wooden stick that will run down the entire length of the candy bar. Give it just a second to cool so that it does not melt the plastic wrapper of the candy. Then, firmly press the wooden stick into the back of the candy packaging. Repeat for all your stems.

Once all your stems have had time to harden, jab them into the floral foam at various heights and rows. Start with the back and tallest row first, working your way shorter and more forward. Feel free to break of the bottom of your sticks to achieve different heights. An ugly bottom won't matter because it is hidden in the foam.

Slap a bow on the pot for good measure. We had no bows, guys don't dig bows. ALL RIGHT! I forgot the damn bow. Stop judging me. Add the crinkly paper around the base of the sticks to hide the floral foam, and there you go.

I'm sure mine would have looked better if I had more time. (I.e. not done while hopping on one leg while trying to pull pants on for work and running late as usual). The happy effect was achieved despite missing the bow. My beau was happy to get some sweets on a day that was so completely shitty, except for the fact that 5 years ago on that day we became a couple. He was even sweet enough to bring one candy home for us to share.