May Day Baskets

It’s that time of year again!

May Day is upon us and it is such a wonderful time to spread happiness with May Day Baskets!

If you’ve visited Mulch and Paint before, you know that May Day is one of my favorite days…it’s just so much fun to make sweet bouquets of flowers and give them to friends and family “just because”.

Today, I want to share how I made last year’s baskets.

If you can remember (or even want to remember) last year (you know, 2020?) we were coming out of several weeks of stay-at-home orders. There was still a lot of fear, confusion and stress for all of us.

I decided that for 2020, I would go all-out and try to make and deliver as many May Day baskets as possible. My kids, Mary & Trevor, were not taking their college classes in-person and my daughter-in-law, Kaytlen, was working from home—so I had them to volunteer to make deliveries for me.

I also invited my friend, Robbie Fields, to help me make the floral arrangements in the baskets. Robbie is one of those people who can look at the most unappealing item and find beauty in it. He can repurpose items and use them in decor that are just mind-blowing. I have been friends with Robbie and his wife, Deneen, for as long as I can remember…they’re those kind of people you describe as salt of the earth. He has recently been creating jewelry for sale. You can see his Facebook page HERE.

Having Robbie over was so much fun! I don’t think we stopped talking the entire day.

Robbie and I did a Facebook Live where he gave a short tutorial making the baskets. The best thing I learned from him about floral arrangements was that he filled the cans with greenery first and then filled in the remaining space with flowers.

When Robbie first got to my house, he walked around the yard and cut all different kinds of greenery from shrubs. I was amazed at the greenery he used because I would have never thought to cut stems off of my shrubbery. His favorite greenery of the day was liriope (also known as monkey grass). You can see him using it in the arrangement above.

All of the flowers that I used came from Trader Joe’s. They always have a wonderful assortment of flowers to choose from.

Days before May Day, I assembled the cans that were used. For a few months, I had saved all of my soup and vegetable cans and washed them up to make my baskets. Donnie (the husband) added holes on each side of the cans using his drill.

I found some pretty drawer liners from Dollar Tree that were used to decorate the outside of the cans.

Since each can size was different, I laid out the drawer liner and measured how much to cut for each can. It cut easily with scissors.

For this drawer liner, I used a hot glue gun to attach the liner to the can. There are some other liners that I used from Dollar Tree that are self-adhesive. For those, I was able to easily remove the backing and just stick the liner directly on the can.

I bought lightweight wired ribbon, cut two even pieces of the ribbon and threaded it into each side of the can at the holes. I tied the ends by knotting the ribbon on the outside the can. (Be VERY careful when touching the top and inside of cans since there may be sharp edges.) I then gathered the ends of the ribbon and tied a bow at the top. This ribbon will be used to hang the basket on doorknobs, so give some space for the flowers when you tie the bow.

Here’s a quick tutorial of how I decorated the cans! CLICK HERE.

When it was time to make the arrangements, I took foam oasis and soaked it in a pan of water. (Be sure that you buy the foam for fresh flowers…not silk.) You want the oasis to soak up as much water as possible. Once the oasis is filled with water, you can cut it to the size you need to fit into your can. (I used an old steak knife.)

Once the oasis is in place, you can make your arrangements.

If you’d like to see Robbie’s tutorial for flower arranging from last year, CLICK HERE.

Above is a photo of one of the finished baskets.

Here’s some other photos of our creations ready for delivery.

These are such simple arrangements but will put a smile on so many faces. I hope that you will spread the May Day joy and make some special surprises for your friends. I promise that you will spread more joy in your own heart by giving to others!!

Thank you for stopping by Mulch and Paint today!

Until next time,

PLEASE PIN THIS FOR LATER!

Click HERE to see MAY DAY 2019

CLICK HERE to see MAY DAY 2018