How to make a Cookie & Gumdrop Flower Bouquet

Monday was Maren's teacher's birthday, and since I'm one of the room moms I volunteered to bring in a little something fun for her. I knew just what I wanted to make: a cookie and gumdrop flower bouquet. It turned out so cute that I wanted to share it with all of you in case you'd like to make one as well!

I remember my mom making these when I was little, so I can't take credit for the idea. The supplies you'll need:

• 12" wooden skewers
• a container
• a lump of floral foam or other Styrofoam
• shredded paper or Easter grass to hide the foam
• a package of cookies that have a hole in the middle
• a package of large gumdrops
• a package of spearmint leaves (optional)
• knife, cutting board, clean wet washcloth, wire cutters

 A note about the cookies used in this project: when my mom used to make these, she always used a brand of butter cookies that were shaped like a flower and had a hole in the middle. I don't think they're available anymore because I haven't been able to find them for years. I did see a sugar-free version at my commissary, but I was afraid they'd taste odd or contain artificial sweeteners. I used Keebler Fudge Stripe cookies, but you can use anything with a hole in the middle. You could even make your own,as long as they're firm enough to hold up on the skewers.

The first thing to do is to prepare your container: cut the floral foam or Styrofoam to fit in the bottom of the container. You can use just about anything you can get your hands on for a container--I used a little cardboard basket from Target's Easter clearance last year. You could use a clean flowerpot, or a vase, or a mug, or a bucket--anything! Target's $1 Spot always seems to have cute little containers for every season.

Assembling these flowers is so easy that your kids can help with most of the steps! First, cut a gumdrop horizontally across, making two parts.

It's important to use the large gumdrops for this project, because normal-sized candies are too small. I found my large gumdrops at Rite-Aid.

Next, slide the bottom half of the gumdrop down your skewer about an inch. The sticky cut side will face up. You're making a little ledge for your cookie to sit upon.

Then simply slide on a cookie and the top part of the gumdrop! You can slide the two pieces of gumdrop together to hold the cookie firmly in place. You can even place the bottom slice of gumdrop on the skewer at an angle, so that the cookie flower will be slightly tilted. This adds some variation to the bouquet, like real flowers!

Now, my mom didn't use the spearmint leaves and I never have either, but they were hanging right next to the gumdrops in Rite-Aid so I grabbed a package to give them a try. I found it was best to poke a starter hole in them using an extra skewer. I slid it onto the skewer from the bottom before I added the cookie to the top. If the spearmint leaf leaves sticky green stuff on the skewer, you can use the clean washcloth to wipe it off. I only put a leaf on about half the flower skewers and tried to vary the height of each one.

As you complete each flower, stick it into the foam in your container. I tried to make them tall in the middle and shorter around the sides, turning the container frequently to make sure it was equal all around. You can use a pair of wire cutters to shorten the skewers for the flowers on the sides.

Once you have all of the flowers arranged, tuck the shredded paper or Easter grass down around the base of the skewers to hide the foam. I do this step last because sometimes it's hard to get the skewers in through the shredded paper.

Because this bouquet was for a birthday, I added a cute little "Celebrate" banner tag onto the end of an empty skewer.

The finished bouquet was so bright and happy (and delicious)! It attracted quite the crowd as I carried it into school on Monday morning, and Maren reported later that her teacher simply loved it. This is a great project for Teacher Appreciation day, a birthday, an anniversary (what about taking a bouquet of these flowers to your husband? He might appreciate them more than real flowers!) or any occasion where you need a cute, easy gift!