Homemade Piggy Crayons

In preparation for Livy's 3rd birthday, which will arrive in just 6 short weeks (aaahhhh!), I made another "to do" list with specifics, outlining exactly what I need to work on...since it was getting a bit fuzzy:)

Task 1: Make Piggy Crayons.

Yes, we're doing a fun farm theme for Peanut's birthday this year & I can't wait!  I recently confided in Sweet Stamper that I could happily plan a farm party every year!  There's so many ideas & fun things to do with decor, activities, games....sigh.  And as much as I want to do almost all of them, I'm having to temper my creativity with practicality- we're in the midst of a move.  Need I say more?  Oh, and my little M's are wild.  That about sums it up!

So, back to the crayons.  I made a decision to forego the typical treasure laden goody bags this year due to cost, time, and lifestyle convictions and opted for something more "old fashioned"- a simple handmade favor, thanking guests for attending.  There's a growing trend towards simplicity in party favors and I was instantly drawn to it, leaving more time for cake decorating, game construction, decor etc...yippee!

I hatched a plan to make piggy crayons (think Pinterest helped inspire this project...), picked up a candy mold from Amazon and some crayons at Hobby Lobby with my 'handy dandy' coupon and set to work finding a good tutorial....that helps when you don't actually know what you're doing:)

I looked at several tutorials and then just decided to jump in as there was a lot of variance in technique.

First, Livy helped me sort the crayons into colors and then I took a knife (exacto works well too) and sliced along the wrapper- this allows the wrappers to come right off, vs digging & scraping for millions of hours:)

 

Next I took a clean sour cream container, placed the crayons (broken into pieces) inside and microwaved until melted.

TIP: I used a 'handy dandy' chop stick to stir the crayons- "green" & free!

My first batch wasn't hot enough which I discovered as I began to pour lumpy wax into my molds- I was petrified that the wax would explode in the microwave and thus erred on the conservative side...

The next batch was heated more thoroughly, allowing a cleaner entry into the molds and a nicer appearance once cool:)

Practice makes perfect and on & on until I had piggies in multiple colors.  I didn't clean out the container after each color as I was fine with some shade contrast & streaks- I've come a long way.

TIP: Due to my little M's getting antsy, I rushed in taking several rounds of crayons from the mold and discovered they lost some of their luster.  The pigs allowed to cool more completely in the mold look a bit nicer but oh well.  They're done!

Livy tried out one of the initial 'duds' and was thrilled!  She did request some chocolate piggies too though...how did she know that was next on my list?!!!

Project Costs:
Candy Mold: $5.99
Crayons: $1.58 ($5.40 for 192- I only used 56 to make 35 pigs)
Total: $7.57

I plan to include 3 pigs in each favor bag & I'm making 10 favors=  $0.14 per favor, minus the cost of the mold.  I'll be using the same pig mold to make the chocolate pigs, maximizing my investment:)

Thanks for stopping by & stay tuned for more party details & homemade projects,
Tiffany