Safe Valentine's Day Bouquet

While at one of my recent never-ending trips to the food store, I saw this candy-oriented bouquet in the floral department. I mean, how cute? Flowers are nice but this is such a great option for a child, a candy lover, a spouse. But what it's not an option for is someone with food allergies. As NutriDaughter frowned, she looked at me and said "Too bad it's not something safe for us." And in true, Nutrimom-crazed allergy brain mode, one thought popped into me head- CHALLENGE ACCEPTED! Thanks Barney Stinson ;)

So what does one use for such a project? Well, considering the recent upsetting news about dairy in products, the rising concern of cross-contamination and the fact that I am an official Enjoy Life Foods blogger, there was no other obvious choice of what I should use. With a trip to the local Dollar Tree and yet another food store shopping event, I arrived home with the necessary supplies. And although I was grateful to have received two product vouchers, I have a tendency to splurge when it comes to Enjoy Life Foods products. What can I say? I love their products, my family loves them and, well, I get a tad over zealous.

Wondering what the basics are to make these bouquets? Here is a quick rundown:

• Enjoy Life Foods Chocolate Bars, Mega Chunks & Chocolate Chips
• Enjoy Life Foods Double Chocolate Crunch Granola
• Enjoy Life Foods Decadent Bars & Chewy Bars
• Enjoy Life Foods Crunchy cookies
• Wooden skewers
• Flower Vase 
• Bows (preferably with long, curly ribbon attached)
• Tape (FYI- do NOT go cheap with the tape and save yourself a lot of aggravation, use Scotch brand, trust me)
• Basket Bags and/or wrapping paper

Begin, Mess Up, Swear, Do Over Yes, this is what will happen. As easy as they appear, I was throwing things all over the place, tape stuck to my hair and eating up my Mega Chunks through the process. (Hey, chocolate makes you feel better, they did studies!) To keep it as simple as possible, tape the bars under the wrapper flaps, making sure you secure them with tape both along the inner flap and the outer flap. If you attach them too low, they will flop and fall all over the place (like, the floor, the counter and then may be thrown across the room in a wild fit of mom anger). I will also warn that during this process, your children will drive you insane because they will be lurking, waiting for the chance to realize you are all done an they can eat the leftovers that are open.

I found through trial and error that the easiest method was to use the basket bags. Wrapping paper works but the basket bags seem to stand up the best and didn't tear. Simply fill the bottom of the vase with chocolates, granola (hey, maybe even some Seed & Fruit Mix or heck why not even broken pieces of the Crunchy Cookies?) and insert the basket bag. For a larger vase, I suggest placing a small plastic cup inside the basket bag to add better leverage. Then tuck the additional bag and straighten the edges that are sticking out of the vase. One thing that I also suggest is to arrange these within a day or two of presentation to keep the foods in the bottom of the vase fresh. Add a bow and ribbon- voila! You have yourself an allergy-friendly bouquet.

   

Wishing all of you a safe & happy Valentine's Day! Please make sure you view my GFree for V post as well as my guest post on Glutino's website for even more tasty recipes. And remember- ALWAYS think outside of the box!