Today is the day I admit that I waited way too long to make my own floral lei. I made a money lei last year for my son’s eighth grade promotion, but have somehow gone nearly 40 years without ever making a floral lei. And it was so easy! Now, this is not to disparage floral artists. They work hard and are so talented. However, if you want to learn how to make a super simple lei with grocery store flowers, this is the blog post for you! You won’t believe how quickly I made this easy rainbow floral lei for my daughter’s fifth grade graduation walk, and my TK daughter’s end of the year celebration.
how to make a rainbow floral lei
A few weeks ago I stumbled across the @makeitmeganofficial Instagram account on my Explore page. Talk about an artist! Megan makes the most incredible lei and Tongan kahoa. She isn’t currently taking orders, but she is incredibly generous with sharing her lei making knowledge with all of us! She has so many great videos on her social and YouTube that are really easy to follow. And I love that she really encourages people to create with the flowers they have easy access to. That’s how this rainbow floral lei came to be.
Our kids’ school color is green and I really wanted green carnations or mums to make a solid colored lei. However, when I went to Costco they only had a few sprays of those flowers in mixed bouquets, so I had to pivot. I spotted the garden bouquets of the dyed rainbow mums and thought a rainbow floral lei would be so beautiful and fun. Turns out–I was right!
materials needed:
- – long needle (I used a 5 inch “doll hand needle”)
- – cotton thread
- – florals of choice (I used mums)
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steps to make a rainbow floral lei:
- 1. Snip the flower heads off at the base, leaving no stem.
- 2. String cotton thread on your needle and pierce the flower through the center. For adults and older kids you will need around 40 inches, younger children could be around 36 inches.
- 3. Continue stringing the flower heads on the string. If creating a rainbow floral lei, you will probably need about 7-8 heads of each color–depending on closely together you’re pushing the flowers and how long your lei is.
- 4. Knot off at the end and push together to hide the string and that’s it!
Would your kid love this rainbow floral lei?
