May Day Paper Bag Flower Basket

Here's a super simple and fun May Day Flower Basket to make with your kids! I was inspired by Pinterest but took off on my own as we created ours at home.  Here's what you'll need:

brown paper lunch bags
chenille stems
colored cardstock or other paper
floral foam block
scissors, stapler, markers, etc

Keep your brown paper lunch bags folded up and have your child (or you) cut off several inches (about 6ish) from the top.  Have your child decorate the remaining bag any way you want! Glitter glue, stickers, paint... or plain ol' markers like we did. I was so impressed when my daughter, Molly (5), drew beautiful flowers all over hers! We used Crayola washable markers (of course!) so my son, Ben (2), could participate too!

Use the top portion of the paper bag you removed to cut a 1 inch strip to be your handle. Snip it so it's not a full circle and trim it so it's not so long.  In other words, cut a 1"x9" rectangle! Staple this to the sides of the bag to create your handle. Place a floral foam block inside the bag. I found mine at Walmart a while ago and just kept them on hand... you know - in case I wanted to make something like this spur of the moment! I used my trusty old steak knife (that I use to cut cardboard boxes with...) to trim it down to size.

Meanwhile, cut out several 3" flowers from the colored card stock.  I actually have an electric cutter (Cricut) so cutting out flowers was super quick and easy! Ours already had a hole in the middle of each flower, but you can use a hole punch to make yours.  Poke a chenille stem through that hole a couple inches; fold it over; and twist it on itself to create your flower stem! If you have green ones, those would be great... but if you have sparkly, colorful ones on hand like we did, then go with it! Finally, poke your "flowers" into the foam block and display your special May Day Flower Basket!