The Twelve Days of Craft-mas: Day Seven

on the seventh day of craft-mas, i made this for my tree…

wrapped peanuts on a string!

This is by far the silliest of the crafts I’ve done in the past week, but it is historically accurate. I found instructions for this one in the 1901 December edition of The Delineator (1). I see it as a step down from the gilded walnut.

Difficulty: Easy

Time: 10 minutes

Fig 1. Necessary tools

What you will need

• Scissors

• Tissue paper in your choice of colours

• Twine or string

• Whole peanuts (unsalted is best)

Instructions

Cut sheets of tissue paper big enough to wrap your peanuts with lots of extra on the sides

Roll the peanut in the tissue paper, making sure it stays in the middle

Cut two short pieces of string

Twist the ends of the wrapped peanut and tie the string tightly around each end so that it stays in

Slide your scissors into the tube and cut towards the peanut multiple times to make fringe

Repeat on the opposite side

Repeat the process until you have your desired amount of peanuts

Tie a string around the middle of a peanut to make the bottom of the peanut ornament

Tie the same string around the other peanuts, leaving an even gap between each one

Now you have a string of peanuts for your tree - something you never knew your tree was missing!

Fig. 2. My string of wrapped peanuts on my Christmas tree!

What I enjoyed

This craft was another really easy one that can definitely be done with kids, and it’s super fast. It’s also a great way to use small pieces of tissue paper that are left over. Plus, it looks very silly which I love.

What i found difficult

The only difficult part of this was finding plain-shelled peanuts, surprisingly. I ended up finding them at Bulk Barn with only a couple of them left at the bottom of the bin, so I guess its a good thing I got there when I did. Seems like everyone is making wrapped peanuts on a string this year!

Did you happen to have some extra peanuts you could wrap up? Send us a picture on Facebook or Instagram @dalnavertmuseum !

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Sources

1. Anonymous, “Christmas Tree Decorations, Good to Eat and Good to Look Upon” The Delineator, December 1901.