Still working on the Money Lei tutorial so I thought I'd at least post my Candy Lei tutorial first. There are SOOOOO many possibilities for making this much cuter than what I have posted here...do a search on Pinterest and you'll see what I mean. However, this lei was made for my 12 year old son who will rip into it about 10 minutes after I give it to him so I held back on adding any frou-frou embellishments.
Step 1: Cut your roll of cellophane the length you want your lei to be: I cut this one at about 55 inches long.
A few tips: If you're using bulky pieces like I did here, I recommend you lay your candy out before cutting your cellophane to gauge how long you need your cellophane to be. Also take into consideration who you're making the lei for: obviously this length would be too much for little people but you may want something longer for an adult.
Most cellophane is fairly wide so I fold it over lengthwise and split it in half so I can get two leis out of one piece.
Step 2: (shown above) Lay out your candy down the length of the cellophane, leaving a small space in between each piece so you'll have room to tie your ribbon. I've seen leis made with individual pieces of candy as well as bulky packs like what is depicted above but the concept is still the same.
Step 3: Fold over each side of the cellophane until you've got one long tube around the candy. It doesn't have to be really tight to the candy so don't worry if the cellophane looks loose (see below).
Here's what it looks like when both sides are folded over.
Step 4: Begin tying in between the candy, starting at the center of the lei and working toward one side, then starting back at the center and work toward the end of the opposite unfinished side. That way if your candy shifts and you need to remove a candy at the end to make room to tape the lei shut, you can do that more easily than if you randomly start tying. I like to make my ribbon about 18 inches long or longer so that I can have curled ends. I used curling ribbon here in my son's school colors but you can use baker's twine, gardening twine, ribbon, raffia...the cuteness level and cost of resources is completely up to you.
Here's what it looks like before I tape the ends together.
Step 5: Overlap your ends and wrap a piece of heavy duty clear tape around it to hold the lei in place. The candy lei can end up heavy and I've never had to worry about them falling apart whenever I've used this tape.
Step 6: Tie a bow around the taped end. I usually like to add lots of curling ribbon here to mask the taped end. I also like to add a cute tag here to dangle with the ribbon.
And here are my kiddos at the end of my son's band concert, with my son proudly displaying his lei. (I know I'm prejudiced but aren't my kids adorable?!) I always give my daughter flowers at the end of each of her concerts so the candy lei is our tradition with Jordan. I hope you enjoyed the tutorial!
