Our Peep Battle Royale

This Easter, we decided to do something a little different. After reading Janet Ford's article on staging a Peep swordfight, we decided to give Peep combat a try.

If you don't know what Peep's are, they are cute little marshmellow chickens and bunnies covered in sugar. In college, classmates had contests to see who could stuff the most in their mouth. In Malcolm in the Middle, Francis tried to eat 100 Peeps (in the show, they were called "Quacks.") They also have a neat trick of expanding in the microwave.

So armed with this knowledge, we went to Target, where we picked up several boxes of different colored Peeps.  (We needed a few for an audience, and for THE audience.)  Target was packed with parents getting last minute Easter candy.  The jelly beans were gone.  Every last bag!

Taking them back home, we prepared for the battle.  A green and yellow peep were each armed with toothpicks.  Facing each other, they entered the arena.

The microwave was started. Children shrieked.  The peeps expanded.  They grew and grew, and then they dropped their swords!  That battle was unsuccessful.

So we tried again.  Again, green versus yellow.  This time we placed them closer together, and inserted the toothpicks firmly. 

The microwave started.  The peeps expanded.  The air filled with the smell of burning sugar.  Children bounced up and down.  My husband bounced up and down.  Swords waved in the air.  The turntable in the microwave kept going round and round.  Yet there was no finale!  Our peeps never poked each other!

So now, we must try this with the bunny shaped peeps.  Maybe they will be better at holding their swords!

The one thing everyone told me when I told them about this activity was, "It sounds like a mess!"  Really, it wasn't.  The peeps don't pop when they're punctured; they just deflate.  The worst part is the plate afterwards, and even the caramelized sugar came off after a little soaking.  If you really want to avoid that part, you can just use a paper plate.