Last Thursday, we had our very first May Day celebration. I wasn’t sure how’d it turn out with the whole concept being new for everyone, but we ended up having a lot of fun and after a week of crummy weather it was sunny, warm and breezy. Perfect for a party.
A week before the party day, we sent out invitations to our friends and started planning our May Day festivities.
The day before the party the boys helped me prep some of the food by washing and cutting the fruit and making sandwiches. We made Strawberry Sandwiches with strawberries and strawberry cream cheese and Cucumber Sandwiches with chives and onions cream cheese, turkey slices, and cucumbers. We kept the food simple with sandwiches, a fruit bowl, salad, store bought cookies, water, and pink lemonade. Our friends brought along a few other tasty treats.
My parents live on about 15 acres, so whenever we have outside parties they happen there. The kids have plenty of room to run and play. To pass the time we took a short hike in the front yard to find our May pole.
We had a little table with a basket of May day flower clips for the girls and laurel crowns for the boys, which they all happily wore. One of the older girls helped me make paper cone baskets (we used this tutorial), which we used to fill with flowers on our hike.
I wasn’t sure if the May day pole would work out. I made it with two circular pieces of styrofoam sandwiching the ribbons between the two pieces with hot glue. Then I picked some flowers from my parents garden to cover the styrofoam and then placed it on our pole. We tried a simple over/under pattern, but with the variety of ages that didn’t work out so well. Once the littler kids lost interest, a few of the older children were determined to figure it out. They ended up just walking around the pole until the ribbons covered most of the branch.
After eating and dancing around the May pole we took a hike in the woods. We took our May day baskets to gather wildflowers, though most of the boys ended up collecting sticks, dirt, and rocks.
Last, we picked our May Day queen. Each girl had their name in the basket and the oldest boy randomly picked a name. The girls were all very excited.
After all our friends went home, we left May Day baskets on the doors of our gracious hosts and our great-grandparents.
All in all, it was a fun day with beautiful weather and even more beautiful children! I’m thinking about making it a tradition.
Did you celebrate May Day—now or growing up?
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