Bunny Village Workshop

Decided to hostess a seasonal crafting workshop before each holiday. It will be for the girls and grandkids only. Daddies can stay home to cut the grass or take out the trash and be surprised later when they see what we made at grandma's! Everybody seems pretty happy with this plan, although, to be fair, the daddies were told that if they realllly wanted to come over this time and glue pretty pink M&Ms to a little bunny house all they had to do was speak up! My invitation was met with deafening silence! (Kind of what I expected!)

So, last Wednesday we gathered to make a charming little Bunny Village that will be on display when "every-bunny" comes home for Easter Sunday. Before dinner we will have a "show and tell" so the artists can point out which house is their own and, if in a generous mood, share some secret decorating tips. I think the twins will "eat this up!"

I adapted this idea from both the long ago and very recent past. When the girls were in late elementary school we had a Christmas season tradition. I constructed simple graham cracker houses, bought a ton of cute candy, made a batch of Royal icing and had each of the girls invite a friend to a gingerbread house decorating party. Last December, Mary Jo hosted an afternoon Christmas party for a handful of neighborhood children - all about three or four years old. She used the same idea with the same great success. That made me realize that if kids are old enough to decorate cookies they are also old enough to enjoy this project. With that age though, it helps when parents are an involved part of the party - "helicoptering" strongly encouraged!

My Christmas Cookie Baking Party offered a healthy lunch first. Then it would be "okay" when the kiddies ate sprinkles by the handful for dessert. This time jelly beans by the pound were on the table, so again we opened with something wholesome to eat.

For the ladies, I tried a recipe from a favorite blog - "Hungry Happenings." I have admired this creation for a long time. It was perfect for my occasion and, like all Beth's recipes, is simple to make from clear, step-by-step photographed directions. A wide range of cute, seasonal food treats, many perfect for grandmothers who want to impress the kids, can be found right here: http://www.hungryhappenings.com/

Anyway, the carrot shaped bread cones are stuffed with egg salad. Next year, for the grandkids, I am going to make Beth's Taco Meat Teddy Bear except I will turn it into a bunny.




I added a skewer of fruit chunks to the carrots, topped off with a pink "Peep".
And this week, my grocery store had GIANT organic parsley. Perfect!

I served the kids' lunches "Hoppy Meal" style. Each handmade bag contained a little egg salad slider, fruit and string cheese. See the chubby little carrots? - eight ounce bottles of spring water wrapped in tissue! But never mind the food! The best part of any "Hoppy Meal" is the toy inside. This time it was a cute little set of mini-markers and an Easter notepad. These kept the kiddies busy while moms and aunties finished their own lunches.

Once the table was cleared, out came a selection of little houses, bowls of pastel icing and the best part - lots and lots and lots of little candies to decorate with - and of course, to nibble away at!

Once upon a time little Goldilocks inspected a large gingerbread house

 but said, "No! Not this one! It is way too big for little me!"

Then she took a closer look at a medium-sized gingerbread house

but declared, "No! This one is way too medium for little me!"

Finally, she found a very, very, teeny tiny, wee little mini-mouse of a house

and exclaimed, "Yay! This one is JUST RIGHT for cute little me!"

And that is the story of how Goldilocks Brielle found the perfect little bunny house to decorate for herself!

She was joined by her cousins:

And Mommy and Aunt "DeeDee" (pictured) 

Aunt Mary Jo was here too, of course!

Every-bunny was busy - not a single "peep" while we worked or, in the case of Bree - "nibbled"!

Outside it was a pretty dreary day, but inside? Oh my! Nothing but sunshine!

  




Time for finishing touches. Hop right to it!

And if you have frosting on your lips, well, you've probably been eating it too!

Nick's house features a fenced garden where tasty, colorful jelly beans are grown! 

It wasn't long before every individual bunny house was complete and ready to be admired.

Here's a gallery of the finished works of art:





Mary Jo made this one.
Love the jelly bean "stone" roof!

Baby bunnies will live in this teeny tiny little place that "Goldilocks" fashioned just for them!

Aunt "DeeDee" decorated with little chick and bunny shaped candy and large jelly bean accents.

 Below, four of the homes ready for occupancy!

No one but grandma and the new resident bunnies has seen everything assembled into this perfect little village. Every-bunny else will see it for the first time next Sunday at Easter dinner. But for now, the bunnies seem very happy - and that is all that matters!

I think I will repeat this project again in a few years. When the kids are older I will have them make tiny houses, one for each guest at Easter dinner. When it's time for dessert, they can present them on small plates, nestled in a bed of edible Easter grass. We'll probably upgrade too, from "Peeps" to some very nice chocolate bunnies. I suppose we could also use the tiny houses as place cards - lots of possibilities. Except, I should probably warn you to proceed with caution on your construction plans, lest you, too, are unexpectedly visited by the fearsome Bunny Village Building Inspector!

 

P.S. I think there's something wrong with my computer! Spell Check keeps telling me that "every-bunny" is not a word! What's the matter with those Peeps?