Do you prefer to cook or bake? It may have something to do with my humongous sweet tooth (or should I say “teeth”), but I would definitely choose baking over cooking any day of the week! I’m pretty sure my kids would too, and it’s so much fun to get them involved in the kitchen. It’s even more fun to host a baking or cookie-decorating party with friends, and Easter is the perfect excuse!

Growing up, we made sugar cookies twice a year…once for Christmas, and then again for Easter, and we are carrying that tradition on with our kids. This year we may ask some friends to join in the fun, and I figured there’s no better way, than to hand out some handmade “whisk” invitations! These are so easy to “whip” up (pun intended), and friends will be delighted to receive such a unique little invite.

• Jumbo disposable straws (often called milkshake, smoothie, or sundae straws)
• White electrical tape
• Pipe cleaners
• Cardstock
• Printer, alphabet stamps, or marker
• Circle punch or cutting machine
• Small hole punch
• Baker’s twine
• Scissors
• Metal ruler
• Box cutter or craft knife
• Cutting mat (not pictured)

Step 1
Stick an 8 ½ – 9 inch strip of electrical tape to your cutting mat as straight as possible. Use a metal ruler and pen to mark half the width of the tape on both ends. Line the ruler up on the two dots, and use your craft knife to cut the tape in half.

Step 2
Cut your jumbo straw down to 5 ½ inches. Peel up a piece of the cut electrical tape, and stick one end of it to the top of the straw at a 45 degree angle, and twist it all the way around the straw until you reach the bottom. Cut the tape off as close to the end of the straw as possible, and fold any excess into the inside of the straw if necessary. You can skip this step if you have some paper sundae straws on hand, since they already have stripes…but they are harder to come by, and plain straws need a little jazzing up!

Step 3
Place one pipe cleaner on top of another, centered and perpendicular to each other, and fold one over the other. Place a third pipe cleaner over the center of your cross, and fold it over the other two. Spread out the “spokes” so they are evenly spaced. Now gather the ends of the spokes together, folding them in one by one. Holding them all together at the tips, push the top down where they are all folded together, and pull the pieces out in the center a bit until it begins to have a whisk-like appearance. Now twist all of the ends together tightly, and make any necessary adjustments to maintain that whisk-look.

Step 4
Insert the twisted end of the pipe cleaners into one end of the straw, and leave about 3-3 ½ inches of the pipe cleaners sticking out (the head of the whisk). You may have to reshape your whisk once again.

Step 5
Create a small invitation to attach to the whisk with baker’s twine, using cardstock and a printer, paper cutter, alphabet stamps, or the media of your choice. We printed our invitation onto cardstock, cut it out with a large circle punch, and used a small hole punch and baker’s twine to attach it to the whisk.

Happy making and baking! :)