DIY/ Events & Entertaining

PEEPS Art: DIY Easter Centerpiece for under $8

Peep Art - Easter Centerpiece_3

It’s nearly 60 degrees and mostly sunny in Chicago on this last Sunday of March. Earlier this afternoon, it felt so good to absorb the sun while watching the dogs play in the backyard. Almost good enough to forget what a polar vortex feels like…almost.

April starts this week and that means Easter is not too far off. As a kid, I enjoyed coloring eggs and – of course – all the candy-filled Easter baskets.

Have you noticed how artsy dyeing Easter Eggs has gotten over the years? I can appreciate the talent, and patience, it requires  to decorate an egg. But rather than mess with boiling, dyeing, drying, displaying, hiding and finding real eggs, I’m moved into the plastic egg camp. When you have 13 nieces and nephews like I do, it’s definitely easier and simpler to use plastic Easter eggs. Especially if you miss an egg under the coach for a few weeks. There’s only so much you can blame on the dogs before you realize that funny smell is your fault.

I’ve adopted this no-nonsense, take-no-prisoners approach to holiday centerpieces, too. Normally, I’d use a traditional Easter basket for creating a table centerpiece. But last week when I walked into my local Target, I found this really adorable plain picket fence basket in the $1-$3 bins section at the front of the store. That was the inspiration for this DIY Easter centerpiece that cost less than $8. And it’s (mostly) edible. Win, win.

Peep Art - Easter Centerpiece_1

I got some neon light green shredded paper grass to put inside the fence basket, a cute bunny PEZ dispenser and the new vanilla creme PEEPS chicks.

Confession time: I also bought a bag Hershey’s Easter Candy Coated Milk Chocolate Eggs. They were “under” the PEEPS for about 4 days before I ate them all. If they hadn’t been half covered up by the shredded paper grass, they wouldn’t have lasted as long as they did. They were in pastel pink, blue and green colors – and quite yummy. A minimalist at heart (and a pragmatist), I decided that less was more in this case so I was happy with how it turned out. Having all those candy-coated milk chocolate eggs just laying in the grass would have made the centerpiece “too busy.” That’s the story I’m sticking with.

Peep Art - Easter Centerpiece_2

The PEEPS will get hard as they are exposed to the air. But that’s my brother-in-law’s favorite way to eat PEEPS. When he gets a package, he’ll open it up and let the air harden them for at least a few days. It’s kind of like eating a semi-hard meringue cookie – if you can hold off for that long.

If you noticed in the last photo that there are only two PEEPS left in the basket, you might ask “what happened to the other?” Mind your own business, please! Sometimes PEEPS need privacy.

And – hypothetically – if someone were curious about what the new PEEPS vanilla creme-flavored chicks tasted like, you wouldn’t begrudge that search for knowledge. Right!?!

Share your favorite PEEPS shapes and flavor in the comments below and enter Baked Chicago’s drawing for a $50 PEEPS AND COMPANY® e-gift card. Just in time for Easter, the winner will be chosen on April 12.

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PEEPS® is a registered trademark of PEEPS AND COMPANY®

13 Comments

  • Harvey Morris
    March 30, 2014 at 2:59 pm

    I became a fan of the chocolate-covered marshmallow PEEPS chicks (both dark chocolate and milk chocolate) last Halloween. I gave them out for treats and the kids went crazy.

  • REBECCA PIERSON
    March 31, 2014 at 6:07 am

    chocolate sound great, of course.. i am guilty of buying peeps by color rather than ‘flavor’ lol so i usually go with pink & yellow at easter, but i see there is party cake flavor, and i have to try those!! anything cake..i’m all in!!

  • 1froglegs
    March 31, 2014 at 2:36 pm

    My favorite are the chocolate peepsters. These must be relatively new because this is the first year I have seen them.

  • Jennifer @Making Our Life Matt
    March 31, 2014 at 9:12 pm

    I am definitely going to check out this flavor. I would make this centerpiece, but my cat would probably attack the poor PEEPS and spread them all over the house! Great idea, though!

  • Jamie
    March 31, 2014 at 10:48 pm

    That. Is adorable. Seriously cute and fun post! I Pinned and Tweeted the pin. I’ve only tried a couple flavors of Peeps. For some reason it’s just not the same when they are for Halloween or Christmas. A Peep is an Easter thing, right?

  • t miller
    April 1, 2014 at 5:52 am

    I love peeps you have to have at least one peep for Easter. I still think the yellow chick peeps are my favorite when I was young that was the only ones there was then the pink ones came out, but I have yet to meet a peep I didn’t like.

  • Melissa
    April 1, 2014 at 12:20 pm

    That’s a really cute centerpiece! There’s so much fun stuff you ca do with Peeps!

  • Karen3G2S
    April 5, 2014 at 11:46 am

    Such a cute idea! I never knew there were speckled Peeps.

  • Anna-Leigh McClelland
    April 9, 2014 at 7:55 am

    We’re big fans of the PEEP bunnies around here. I’m curious to tr some of the new flavors…sweet lemonade…yummy!

  • Krissy Higgins
    April 9, 2014 at 11:22 am

    Cute centerpiece!
    My favorite PEEPS is the chicks in purple!

  • Shelly @ Frugal Family Home
    April 9, 2014 at 1:57 pm

    What a cute centerpiece. I always buy at least one package of Peeps each year.

  • Pricilla
    April 9, 2014 at 11:40 pm

    I like yellow peeps and you know there is something very, very funny in the statement, “sometimes peeps need privacy.”

  • Momma Told Me
    April 11, 2014 at 4:32 pm

    We use Peeps year-round in crafts and recipes- this is adorable! I love how affordable it is, and even young kids can help out!

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