It’s that graduation time of year again.
Time to think about making some candy lei if you don’t have access to fresh flower lei, or budget friendly flower lei.
This year I’m making something different– candy lei based upon the graduating school’s logo, and/or mascot, and the school colors. Grab some clear cellophane, curly ribbon, a couple of candy bars, a handful of buttermints, and you’re good to go.
If you can find a candy bar that matches the school mascot, that would be perfect.
Have you ever had a Lion candy bar? They’re delicious–crispy wafer cookie layered with caramel and crispy rice, covered in milk chocolate. They’re made in the U.K., but you can find these online, or at World Market.
And they match CK McClatchy’s roaring mascot, Leo, so perfectly!
You can view another one of my posts here that goes into more detail on how to wrap and tie candy lei, but here are the supplies that I used here:
*Clear cellophane wrap: 56″ long x 4-1/2″ wide
*2 regular sized candy bars
*8 wrapped buttermints– graduation printed wrappers are nice. I found mine at the dollar store, though you can find them at online candy stores.
*30 pieces of (15″ – 18″) curling ribbon– sometimes I cheat and use premade curly ribbon bows (see first photo) cut in half, then curl the cut end after tying on. Get this at the dollar store too.
*Clear cellophane adhesive tape (“scotch tape”)- tape the cellophane edges together with two small pieces of tape along the back of the candy bars to make sure they don’t fall out. Clear tape is better so it’s harder to see that there’s tape there. The small candies should be fine without tape.
*Small (approx. 3″ x 4″ or so) printed school logo or mascot laminated, and additional ribbon for tying on. Search google images for school logos or mascots, then print and laminate.
If you can’t find an appropriate mascot themed candy bar, here are some good choices. Pair with ribbons in school colors.
Gold theme: candy bars wrapped to look like bars of gold, gold foil wrapped candy like Ferrero Rocher or Almond Roca (Gold is always good.)
Money/Success theme: 100 Grand, Paycheck, Skor
Celebratory: Starburst
Happiness/Joy: Almond Joy
School colors: Mini M&Ms in mini colored tubes
The process: Space candy above the cellophane in this order: 2 buttermints, 1 candy bar, 2 buttermints, then with words facing the other direction: 2 buttermints, 1 candy bar, 2 buttermints.
You want half the lei with the words on the candy wrappers facing one direction, and the other half of the lei with the words facing the other direction. Then when you put up the ends and tie them, the candy will all be facing the same direction.
Remember to wrap candies top side down so the words show in the front of the lei.
Turn lei over front side up. Bring the two ends up together, cross them over each other and tie off. Tighten all the ribbons, adding two more pieces of curled ribbon at each junction.
Cut a little extra space above the top left corner of your logo so you can punch out a hole to insert a ribbon to tie the logo onto the lei, right above the right side candy bar.
If you substitute pieces of candy for the candy bars, about 3 candies= 1 candy bar.
Depending on the size of the candies, you may have to decrease the number of mints to make everything fit.
No, no , no…avoid these!
Oh, and here are some candies I don’t recommend using any form of:
Rocky Road: Um, your education/journey has been a rocky road?
Butterfinger: Especially with pictures of mascots and thoughts of sports…sports that include handling balls…”Butterfinger” probably does not evoke a positive image
Baby Ruth, Cry Baby: They’re not babies anymore, they’re graduating now! On to adulthood and responsibilities!
Milk Duds, Air Heads, Nerds etc: self explanatory
Have fun making some of these.
Congratulations to all the 2015 graduates!
