Last year we spontaneously decided to throw some May Baskets together for May Day, secretly deliver them, and hope they make someone feel thought of, and smile. The kids had fun putting them together, and even MORE fun delivering them. We only did 2 baskets last year, but this year we thought of 4 recipients that would be more than delighted with such an unexpected surprise, on a seemingly ordinary Friday. Now that the kids learned last year what fun it is, <click link see last year) they’ve been VERY excited this year/week to do it again.
So all week we’ve been picking up the little things we needed, and today we got it all together and made our May Baskets, to deliver for May Day.
I stamped 4 tags, and each of the kids colored them, and wrote Happy May Day! on them. That’s {J} trying to write slowly and neatly. (He prefers to ‘whip it out’.)
On the inside, I did have them sign them the R Children….because in this day and age, I fear no one would dare eat goods left on their doorstep from ‘Lord knows who’. Especially older folks, who have especially truly witnessed the deterioration of society. But this is a CHEERY HAPPY post, so I won’t even bring that up. lol
We baked some blueberry bread loaves, and wrapped those up once they were cooled enough. The house smelled so darned good, it was hard not to eat them ourselves! But, then we’d have to start all over baking again, and there was no time for that! (And who knows if we’d give in again! lol) We also picked up some tea cookies.
{A} got the tags tied on with a pretty little bowed ribbon.
They all made some baggies of sugar free candies, and {O} matched nicely. (This pleases her.) We know at least one of our recipients is a diabetic, and as far as the rest….well, sugar-free candy never hurt anybody. : ) Right? They are pretty good too. Yes, I tried them. One of each color, just to be sure. Got it covered.
{S} got a bunch of decaf tea bags out of our kitchen jar, to throw a handful of those in too.
This year it occurred to me that, perhaps it would be a good idea to include a little history on May Day Baskets. I assume most people know about this age-old tradition, but, you know….maybe not. We don’t want to look crazy or anything. I mean, that’s our little secret. lol
The kids packed up the baskets with all of the goods, and everything fit just right. Huh. We’ve got fresh flowers to stick in in the morning, and we’ll be good to go! With 4 houses to go to, we’ve got some driving around town to do, and each of the kids will take a house. Let us all pray (that means you, too) that no one gets injured trying to boogie back to the van after ringing the doorbell, before they get caught! That’s my fear. Seriously. (That’s normal for a Mama, right?) Weather said this morning that there was a 70% chance of rain tomorrow. But later this evening it’s down to a 50% chance. Maybe SOMEONE is pulling for us. Huh huh? But if not, {O} has got her hot pink raincoat ready, and since the boys do not have one, they are deciding if they want to wear one bad enough to wear {O’s} pink one, when it is their turn to deliver a basket. Because wearing a raincoat is a VERY exciting thing, you know. Just ask our 6 year olds! I can only imagine how they would contain themselves if they knew about the galoshes out there in the world, in all colors! (Please….we can’t keep up with the shoes and boots as it is! Footwear is sucking up our $ and our floor space.)
Soooo….Wish us luck! Wish us SUN! Wish us a band-aid free day!!
We’ll be reporting back to the blog about it all.
I love how bright your photos are… they are always so cheery to look at. Those blueberry loaves look delicious too! I hope we try them soon so I can taste them! lol.
Hi Mary!
I suppose it COULD be done anytime of the year. Happy June Day? July? WHY NOT??
But here is one link to the history of May Day Baskets giving: http://basketmakers.com/topics/seasonal/mayday/frprojmaybasket.htm
And here is the link to the blueberry bred loaves: http://www.pillsburybaking.com/products/product_detail.aspx
ROFL!!!! We usually bake from scratch….HONEST! But sometimes, these are just too convenient, and as they say….QUICK!
What a wonderful tradition! Can it be done at anytime or is it only on May 1st? Blueberry Bread Loaves?? Sounds yummy! Can you share the recipie with us? =)
Hi Samantha!!
Well, I wouldn’t say I grew up with it, but I learned about it and did it one year when I was little. If you look to the first paragraph of this post, the underlined words is a link to last year’s post of our May Day, and a story on my childhood experience delivering a May Day Basket. Pretty funny. Enjoy the chuckle! And Happy May Day to you!!
What a wonderful tradition. Is this something that you grew up with?