One of the great traditions of Hawaii is their many ceremonies to give leis as a symbol of Aloha – love, friendship, celebration, greeting, and honor.
Here are a couple fun and simple ways you can share your Aloha this summer with your friends and loved ones.
Beginner: Simple Candy Lei
What You Need:
- Tube of Tulle (Alt: Clear cellophane, or holographic filling tissue)
- Scissors
- Curl-able Ribbon
- Assorted candy
- Optional decorative items
Step 1:
Take a bit of tulle the length that you want around your neck and lay it flat.
There should be enough room to wrap your finger into it. This gap will be how the candy will sit in the tulle.
Step 2:
Insert your chosen candy. Make sure to wrap it like how it would around your finger. This helps secure the candy in place so that they do not fall out. Be sure to leave a gapped space at both ends of the lei.
Step 3:
Once all the candy is in, take your chosen ribbon and tie off both ends of the lei.
Step 4:
With the same/or other ribbon, start tying off the tulle in between each candy.
Now it is all tied in a secured for the candies. But we aren’t done yet!
Step 5:
Take another cut of ribbon and tie the ends together.
Step 6:
Ask an adult to help you with this part... take your scissors and curl up the ribbon!
Optional... you can also add flowers or other bits and bobs to give it some flair.
Advance: Hand Knitted Yarn Lei
What You Need:
- Spool of yarn
- Your fabulous hands
- Scissors
- Optional decorative items
Step 1:
Pull out some length from your spool of yarn. Starting from your pinky side, take the end of your yarn and go over-under-over-under and leave some of your end resting over the palm of your hand.
Step 2:
Taking that same leftover strand resting on your palm, go under-over-under starting from your pointer finger. Maker sure that in the end, your strand is under the yarn connected to the spool. Still keep the short end not attached to the spool some good length.
Step 3:
Grab the yarn strand attached to the spool and wrap it from under your hand, resting it between your pointer and thumb.
Step 4:
Lift the rested strand over the loops made on your fingers.
Step 5:
Starting with the pointer finger, grab the strand wrapped around your finger and pull it up and over the strand attached to the yarn, pulling your finger through it.
Step 6:
Repeat what you did in Step 5 with your pointer finger, applying it to your other fingers. Once you have finished through to your pinky, give the strand a little tug. The shorter strand still stays down and out of the way. Then start from Step 3 again.
Step 7:
After repeating Steps 3 through 5 several times, you can turn your hand around to see that you have a little tangled wig forming on your knuckles. That’s good! Your smaller strand is attached at the bottom of this wig like a tail. Like a baby to dangling earrings, pull on it.
Step 8:
After pulling on the end, you should end up with this nicely hand knitted link. Keep knitting with your fingers and pulling on this strand to get a sense of how long you want the lei to be. Once you have reached the length you desire, you can weave the strand attached to the spool into the link and snip it off the spool of yarn.
Step 9:
You can now take both ends of your lei and tie it into a nice bow to connect both sides.
Step 10:
TA-DA! Finished! You can leave it the way it is or grab some fun things to decorate the lei!
We'd love to see the leis you create! Tag us on Instagram or Facebook with a photo!