Lollipop Topiaries

My niece decides she wants a Candy Land themed birthday party.  My sister tells her it is no problem, and it basically wasn't a problem for my sister, because I did a lot of the work.  Not all of the work, just the party favors, and creating a life size version of the Candy Land game, including the life size game board, 3 foot tall lollipops and candy canes.  I'd say it was a lot of work, but I loved every second of it.

The party favors were lollipop topiaries.  Each stood about 2 feet tall and had over 100 DumDum lollipops. These pictures show you part of my topiary making journey.

I bought 3 foot dowels, and my Uncle sut them into 12 inch pieces. I then pained them green for the stems of the topiaries.  I inserted the dowels into 4 inch styrofoam balls.  I put a little hot glue on the dowels to keep them in place.

This is the dowels in all the styrofoam balls.  I placed them upside down in their terracotta pots to keep them organized.

 I purchased the DumDums in bulk online.  The sticks were too long, so they all needed to be cut.

The lollipops had to them be inserted into the styrofoam balls.  I found it easiest to do it in a circular pattern.

This is what it looked like when i got the first one covered.

I tried to do three a day.  My fingers hurt from pushing the lollipops into the styrofoam.

Got another three done.

I may even have goten 4 done on some days.  Not sure if anyone noticed, but a lot of the pictures have my coffee cup in them.  I drink a lot of coffee.

Making progress.

Getting more done every day.  The balls you see here will be turned into the base of the topiaries inserted into the pots.

 I needed to but those balls in half to fit in the pots.

Cutting the balls was messy work.

 I cut circles out of green felt to cover the styrofoam in the pots, to look like grass.

 This is what they looked like when all the pieces were put together.