macaroni necklaces

Mouse turns three in ten days, so this Sunday we are having a brunchy celebration with a few of her little friends. As requested, there will be chocolate cupcakes with “brown frosting and rainbow sprinkles,” which, according to Mouse, should be referred to as “fairy cakes” from this point forward. Mouse could string and string and string and string things for hours, which is what made me think of having the children make colorful macaroni necklaces. Plus, there aren’t enough accessories in the world to please my wee one – sunglasses, umbrellas, sunscreen, headbands, scarves, mittens, more mittens. She likes to pile it all on, and we tend to celebrate her “way with textures and colors.”

A little tutorial.

You will need:
macaroni in interesting shapes
food dye
rubbing alcohol
bowls
paper towels
baking sheets
plastic bags (optional)
yarn
beads
tape

How to dye the pasta:

1. In a bowl, mix a 1/2 cup (approximately) of rubbing alcohol with some food dye. Stir.
2. Dump a bunch of macaroni into the bowl. stir until fully coated. If you want to make the process a bit easier, use a plastic bag instead of the bowl and shake and mush with your hands. It will help distribute the dye.
3. Cover the baking sheets with one layer of paper towel. Use a spoon to lay the dyed pasta onto the baking sheet. Let dry overnight.

Confession: We ran out of rubbing alcohol, so I used vodka (the cheapest I had) for my last batch. The macaroni seemed a bit more damp than the others, but it ended up creating fine results. It was a great stand in, but I wouldn’t use it instead of the rubbing alcohol.

In preparation for the party, I made 20 ready-for-little-three-year-old-hands strings.

1. Cut the yarn into 18″ pieces (approximate).
2. Tie a bead onto the end as an anchor. This way the macaroni won’t slip off the end.

I kind of fell in love with my beaded strings. More on that to come in another post.

3. Tape the ends of the strings, which will make it easier for little hands to thread the yarn through the macaroni beads.
4. Present the prepared string and bowls of colorful macaroni to a bunch of children and watch them create.
5. Make your own.

Here I am wearing my new necklace.


I will will post pictures of the children’s necklace creations here next week.

xo e