Easter Decorating with PEEPS

Easter peeps are by far my favorite Easter candy. I wait all year for those colorful little critters to grace the store shelves. But it is not because I like to eat them. There are plenty of candies, Easter or otherwise, that I enjoy much more. So how can they be my favorite? It is because they are fun!

Nothing says Spring like brighlty colored, sugar coated, soft and squishy chicks and bunnies! I dare you too look at one without smiling!

Unless you are a really big fan of marshmallow, you might not like eating peeps all that much. Then what are they good for? For having fun of course!

Peeps make great decorations for cakes and centerpieces. You can do this yourself, or it can be fun for the whole family.

In addition to dying eggs this Easter, why don't you make some peeps creations!

Peeps make perfect decorations for cakes and cupcakes. It's simple. Bake a cake or cupcakes, frost, put peeps on top. Done!

Sure you could go that route, but I am not going to let you off the hook that easy. Use some imagination! Color the frosting blue to make a pond for your chickies. Yes, chickies can swim. I checked. You might want to keep the bunnies on dry land. Why not green frosting? Or better yet, shredded coconut colored with green food dye. It looks just like grass.

You can even circle the base of your cake with a rainbow of bunnies holding hands. During Easter time, there is a huge variety of candy available to add to your creation. Why not make an Easter scene on your cake? You don't have to be a master cake decorator to do this. Have fun with it. Try different things. If you don't like what you see, you can take things off and try something else.

Have the kids help! They will love using their imagination and using the brightly colored candies and icings. Check out the cake decorating section of your supermarket for sprinkles, frosting, food dyes, and other fun items. Some of this can be a little pricey. Do not break the bank!

Before you go buying that colored frosting that comes in the tube, try a little do it yourself trick. Buy white frosting and mix it with food dye. Spoon some into the corner of a plastic freezer bag. Now twist the bag just above the frosting. Clip off a tiny bit of the end of that corner. You can now squeeze the frosting out like a professional! The bigger the hole you clip, the larger the stream of frosting. This is much less expensive and tastes a lot better!

Not the baking type? You can still have your peeps and play with them too!

Use peeps and candy to make a fun centerpiece. Instead of a cake you can use a large platter, or cover a piece of cardboard with aluminum foil. You can frost this just like a cake to give your peeps something to stand on. Or use a bed of Easter grass.

You can make a simple cute garden scene, or you can really go wild. Small toys make great additions. Use what you have if your kids are willing to lend a hand. Or you can pick up some inexpensive items at a party store or dollar store. Use some jelly beans and you can create an Easter egg hunt scene. Get some small cars and have a peeps drag race!

What about the peeps Olympics? Draw a track with frosting and set up your runners. Toothpicks make excellent javelins. An M&M shot-put? Why not? For the podiums, use cupcakes cut to the right sizes. Still trying to avoid baking. Fine. Stack up some oreos! See how simple it can be? Whatever you can think of you can create with a little imagination.

Being a humanitarian and a bit of an eco-nut I hate wasting food. So I will eat my creations after easter. Well, as long as they haven't been overrun by dust, too many children's sticky hands, or hair from my overly curious cat!

The teacher in me also can't help but try to turn this into a learning experience. If you are sharing this fun with your kids, why not take some time to talk to them about what Easter means, to you and to them, and why bunnies and chickens are part of the celebration.

Most of all, have fun. You are playing with marshmallows!