Paper Flower Lei

 
My niece had a slip n’slide birthday party a couple of weeks ago and I came up with a few ideas for her. I always like to have a craft for the kids to do, even at a swim type party because it gives those who want a break something fun to do. I got creative with Kool-Aid powder packets by turning them into flowers for the lei! We happen to go through a lot of Kool-Aid at our house and I’ve always thought I should do something with them. I have a thing for anything that comes in a rainbow of colors. But, that said, you could really easily do this with patterned paper. 

Okay, let’s get to it!

Supplies Needed:

– Kool-Aid powder packets (you can select any colors you like, there is a whole rainbow to choose from!)
– Cardstock paper in coordinating colors
– Embroidery Floss
– Plastic Beads
– Optional: Plastic straws, yarn needles

Step 1

Cut the bottom off each Kool-Aid packet and empty the powder into a zip top plastic bag (this way you can use it later – 1 tsp = 1 packet), cut off the back and rinse any remaining powder off allowing to dry on a paper towel. 

Step 2

Cut the paper flowers. I used my Silhouette machine to cut them, but there are a lot of free paper flower templates online you can use or craft punches. I selected a coordinating cardstock for each Kool-Aid flavor.

Step 3

I created a pattern by threading 4 beads, a cardstock paper flower and a Kool-Aid packet flower. I repeated this for each color three times. This is where the optional items come in. If you choose to, you can use 1″ pieces of plastic straws as the spacers between the flowers. If you do that, you can use the yarn needle to thread the lei. 

Step 4

Curl the edges of each paper flower using a straw or pencil. I curled the cardstock paper flowers back and the Kool-Aid packet flowers forward to add dimension to the paper flower lei. Because of the foil backing on the Kool-Aid packets, they hold the curl really well!

Once the edges are curled you are all set. Just tie off the end and don your totally cute, totally summer ready paper flower lei. One great side effect of using the Kool-Aid packets is that it smells really good!