May Day Preparations

The May-pole is up,

Now give me the cup;

I'll drink to the garlands around it;

But first unto those

Whose hands did compose

The glory of flowers that crown'd it.

~ Robert Herrick, The Maypole, 1660

Here is a collection of what we did during the week in preparation to celebrate May Day. First, we made a few May Day cards with butterflies that "spring" up when you open the card...

We made May Day breads...

And had fun making snails and butterflies for the girls - of course they had to play with them extensively before digging in to eat them :)

We also wanted to make flower wands to dance around the yard and "wake up" the flowers. We used wooden dowel rods and left over ribbons and silk flowers.

Here are our ankle bracelets with jingle bells and silk flowers to tie onto the girls ankles to help wake up Mother Earth...

The girls had to try them on and couldn't resist dancing around the yard yesterday.

Today, we are making head wreaths out of felt and beads. I hope to post pictures later of the finished products, along with our make-shift pole :)

Until then, happy planning and enjoy the celebrations!

'But I must gather knots of flowers,

And buds and garlands gay,

For I'm to be Queen o' the May, mother,

I'm to be Queen o' the May.'

~ Alfred Lord Tennyson