Today’s first was another creative project, making magic eggs to give to the grandchildren in the family. My mom graciously invited my sister and me to her house to make a mess there! I gathered the materials and mom provided the space, scissors, clothespins, hangers and an old tablecloth. Linda found the idea online and suggested it as a first, and even after a long day at work, agreed to join in and have fun.
This is a novel idea, and a great little gift for kids. The egg, made out of string, holds a piece of candy inside. The instructions looked easy enough. Put a piece of candy inside a water balloon, inflate it to the size of an egg and tie it off. Mix together glue and water, in equal parts, and dredge long pieces of crochet string through the mixture. Wrap the damp strings around the balloon, covering the surface well enough that the piece of candy can’t fall through. When the string has dried and hardened, break the balloon inside and remove it, leaving the candy inside the string egg. I figured we could make enough eggs so that each child had one, in about an hour.
Well that was a funny thought! While we were waiting for Linda to get there, Mom and I prepared the table by covering it with an old plastic tablecloth. We laid out the supplies and I made up two bowls of glue-water mixture. Then the fun started. It doesn’t look difficult to get pieces of candy inside a teeny, tiny balloon. IT IS! We laughed and laughed as we struggled to get even one foil wrapped chocolate egg inside a balloon. Perseverance paid off though with success. After that it was simple enough to inflate each balloon to roughly the size of an egg and tie them off. Well, ONE of us could tie off balloons. One of us, I won’t say who, couldn’t quite get those balloons knotted. We got a system going and by the time Linda arrived, we were ready to dip colored string into the glue mixture and wrap it around the balloons.
We did really well with wrapping! The next mishap came when I attempted to hang the first two finished balloons outside to dry. Using clothespins and a hanging metal frame for a flower pot seemed like a great idea. I felt a sense of satisfaction as I secured my first balloon, and mom’s, to the metal frame and stepped back to admire our work. I was therefore looking right at the balloons as they came unclipped and fell to the concrete patio. Mom’s balloon popped immediately and mine slowly deflated. I felt bad I ruined the first two! It was back to the table to start again. I vowed to hang only my balloons after that! Mom came up with the idea of using metal clothes hangers to secure the balloons and that worked great!
In spite of a couple of challenges, we really did have fun, chatting and making a mess, and watching our string eggs accumulate. We will let them dry thoroughly overnight and then deflate the balloons and remove them. At least, I hope that’s what happens! I’ll post an update. If they don’t quite work, we at least had a great time trying and made an awesome memory. And if they work as they should, that’s wonderful! The kids in the family can enjoy them and figure out how to get the chocolate candy out!
What I hope our eggs look like tomorrow!