Remember when I said I was posting Mexican food today? Yeah, just in case you couldn’t tell from the title, this isn’t Mexican food. It’s Friday. I’m tired. It’s been a long week filled with those “Aw, crap, I’m a grown-up now” moments (believe me, when I was 18 and told my parents I couldn’t wait to move out, applying for a new sewer tap was not #1 on my list of things I envisioned myself doing). I am highly motivated by sugar, cuteness, and easy food-related crafts and de-motivated by marinating pork loins and cutting up whole pineapples. I’m a promise-breaker, what can I say?
In case you didn’t know, unless I’m struck by magic craft lightning, I glean pretty much all of my crafty ideas from other people. That’s okay as long as I fully acknowledge that fact, right? I saw these little St. Patrick’s Day rainbows here at Maple Memories and decided to make some of my own. My kids thing they’re pretty dang awesome, even if (okay, especially that) they contain about 10 days worth of sugar in one little package.
You’ll need Rolos, Rainbow Twizzlers, crafty cellophane treat bags, and green ribbon.
I also made some “clouds” out of cotton candy,
but because I live in a freaking unventilated shower stall, unspeakable things started happening to my cotton candy. They were cute while they lasted. They didn’t last for very long.
The awesome thing about the Rainbow Twizzlers 
(and Twizzlers is not paying me with money or Twizzlers for saying this) is that they are actually in equal amounts of rainbow colors–like you really do get your red, orange, yellow, green, indigo, and violet
(which was a tough pill to swallow for a girl who grew up thinking the rainbow colors were red and yellow and pink and green, purple and orange and blue). And, because you have equal numbers, you can make a whole bunch of your own little complete rainbows.
So…these are super tricky. Totally my kind of craftiness. Now…you can use cotton candy here if you want, either as a little cloud at the bottom of the rainbow, or as a backdrop for your rainbow. Then take a handful or Rolos and pop them into a cellophane treat bag. With the bag laying flat, fold the purple piece of licorice into a rainbow shape and slip it into the bag. Repeat with the blue, green, yellow, orange, red pieces of licorice, making your rainbow.
Tie the bag with a piece of green ribbon…
and voila! Happy St. Patrick’s Day! In 15 days!
If you want to make these extra cute, check out some of these rainbow printables that you could cut out and tie onto the bags (some of them may need to be re-sized):
Simple as That
It Is What It Is
The Swell Life
Happy March! Happy spring (I know it’s technically not spring, but March is spring in my book)! Have a great weekend!
Questions & Reviews
Love the idea! I did a post featuring St. Patrick’s Day Treasure Hunt Clue printables that I developed myself.
For the treasure, I encouraged readers to visit this post, and used a small thumbnail image of yours.
I hope that’s okay. If you want me to remove the image and link, just let me know! (I figured it would be all right since I didn’t post your directions and encouraged my readers to visit you!).
The post you’re featured on is located here: http://www.thehousewifemodern.com/blog/free-printables-saint-patricks-day-treasure-hunt
Thanks,
Jennie
Perfect! My 3 year old and I put these together, total hit! She’s so proud she helped! I made extras for friends and family… Thank you!
Hi Kate,
Such a Great Idea! You are very Talented, I am So Happy I came Across this, Now my Little Munchkin in my Sunday School Class will be so suprised and happy.
Thanks So Much
Kate, These are adorable. I wanted to let you know that I’m featuring them today in my Celebration Sundays – St. Patrick’s Day Party Ideas. Hope you will come visit. Thanks, Nichi – The Mandatory Mooch
http://www.mandatorymooch.blogspot.com
Please if St.Patrick’s Day must be abbreviated at least use the masculine abbreviation and refer to it as St. Paddy’s Day.
I love this idea! I’m going to use it for a Personal Progress mutual activity!
Love this idea. I plan to use these to give to my 5th grade students on the first day of school. I’ll add the saying…..”Always go for the GOLD!” to encourage putting forth their BEST effort in all they do & since it’s Olympic time it should have more meaning! Thanks for sharing.
This is a winner idea for favors for a birthday party for my six year old! I shared this on my blog, with a back link to your site, of course! Thanks for sharing!!!
Saw your idea on Pinterest. So darn cute! My kids and I made a Walmart run last Thursday night to put these together as a surprise for their classmates the next day. We added a cute tag too… that said, “I’m so LUCKY to have a friend like you!”. I linked back to you on my blog. Thanks for such an adorable idea and hoping the luck of the Irish is yours 🙂
I made these for our St. Patty’s Day party for kids favors and everyone loved them. I love your idea’s and love visiting to see what’s new.
Thank you
Great idea! Found my licorice at Winn-Dixie and using mini Twix bars instead of Rolos, because one of my little ones has spacers and chewy caramels will not work. I’m hoping the Twizzlers will not do too much damage, I’m going to tell him to use his front teeth lol. Thanks for the idea!
I’m in California and also having a heck of a time finding the licorice. But in case anyone out there is still looking, we have confirmed by phone that Rite-Aid has them (at least the one I called does!) We struck out at Target, Wal-mart, Winco, Smart and Final, CVS, and Save Mart. Grrrr ….
Hi, Kate! Mind if I link back to this in a post on teachmama.com? I used your rainbow as inspiration for my own. . . actually, I tried yours but didn’t have the bags and needed to adjust. But I tried! And I love yours!
Thanks so much!
🙂
amy
Hi there,
where would I find the individual wrapped rolo’s? I bought a 4 pack and they are all wrapped in one peace of tinfoil. If I cant find the rolos I will go with the peanut butter rolls, but I also like the “peanut free” idea Thank you !!
*Sarah
I worked on these last night and they are super fun to assemble. Don’t eat any otherwise you end up 1 band short of a full rainbow! You get 5 rainbows to a pack so plan accordingly. I tried to cut the Twizzlers in 1/2 to get more treats but they don’t bend as well when cut shorter and the treat bags seemed too large at that point. I added a piece of blue construction paper (sky) for a backing of sorts in the bag because the twizzlers are so floppy and that helped immensely and adds to the overall pretty factor. Have Fun!
I love your page. You had so many cute ideas, I didn’t know which one to do first. I needed at cute snack idea for our T-ball team for Saturday and your rainbow licorice treat was perfect. Thank you.
Laurie
Very cute 🙂 Just found this blog and love it!
Haven’t looked at Walmart…but I can’t find the Twizzlers anywhere. I bought them last year. Any other suggestions?
I’d just keep checking your local grocery stores unless you want to order them in bulk from Amazon. 🙂
I just finished 25 of these to mail to my daughter in college. I found that you get 5 rainbows from each pkg og Twizzlers. I found them in the regular candy aisle at Walmart. My Walmart didn’t have Rollos so I used mini Reeses PB cups. They turned out so cute. I also found Wilton Clear Party Bags at Walmart – 25 for $2.00 and bright green ribbon. I know my daughter & her friends are going to love this box when they get it on Friday. I also sent 3 large bags of green popcorn (using lime Jello). Love your ideas!
I ordered both the rainbow twizzlers and the gold coins on Amazon. Can’t wait to make!!
CUTE idea for the holiday! Thanks for sharing. I’ve been in love with this website for over 4 years. I’m so happy for ya’lls success. I’m looking forward to seeing you ladies at the TOFW in Dallas!
Thank you!! These are so cute, simple, and fun. Totally making these for my kiddos and know they will love them.
LOVE LOVE LOVE !!! My daughter and I “assembled” these last night to give out at school today.(They are on Spring Break during Paddy’d Day) we had a GREAT time and they turned out PERFECT. Thanks for the bonding time !!!!
I have to say these are wonderful. I made them for my Sunday School class (they are teenagers) and they were a hit. This was my first week teaching and I had to have a bribe token. (It worked! Everyone loved them)
Thank you, this is perfect for my sons birthday party goody bags!
I frequently send care packages to college students (my daughter and her high school friends) all over the country. These will make wonderful additions to care packages! Thanks for all you do!
I already got my rainbow twizzlers (at a great price too!) Can’t wait to make these for my son’s class!