I thought I was being very clever when I set them to dry on a rack (to avoid chocolate puddles on the backs of the Peeps) - unfortunately the part that touched the metal also stuck to the metal. I had to gently loosen them to save as much chocolate as possible and then I had to do repair work to fill in the holes. So much for being clever.
Once the chocolate was set I dusted them with gold dusting powder. I used a very soft new paint brush. I had extra chocolate and plenty of gold dust so some pretzels got the royal treatment as well. And really, who doesn't love a chocolate dipped pretzel - that salty sweet combination is a home run.
And finally the packaging. I put two in a bag with a little bit of green paper Easter grass and sealed them off with a big Beatrix Potter Peter Rabbit sticker. I have so many stickers I bought for scrapbooking and then I saved them because they are "too cute to use". Well I finally started using them - and they are cute but they look so much better on a completed project than in my sticker binder.
This year I didn't make Easter baskets - I made Easter packets. It was one of those "make it work" moments. I needed something cute for my Easter treats and I didn't want to buy and send baskets - just too much and people have so many baskets already, what would they do with them? I didn't have enough cello wrap to make basket-less baskets like I did last year. But I did have my great big roll of craft paper I bought over the holidays. (This roll of craft paper has been amazing, it's wrapped everything from Hanukkah and Christmas presents and now Easter treats. Plus I feel so 'green' using craft paper as it is easily recycled.) I thought I could wrap up the treats in the paper, sew the ends closed, add some ribbon and it would look really cute. And again I had all the supplies already.
I didn't use any tape or glue to seal the packets, just folding and sewing. I trimmed the edges with decorative scissors and added a cute sticker (yay for using more scrapbook supplies). The packets were so cute. I was really pleased with how they turned out (Michael can verify this, as I kept making him look at each one and tell me how cute it was once I finished putting it together) and they were a hit with the recipients as well.
I suspect there will be more packet gifts in my future. Not only are they easy to make and adorable they are very flexible making them oh so easy to fit in to shipping boxes.
