friendship pins

Maddie's 3rd grade had a Country Fair a few weeks ago.  We got a letter from the teacher telling us about this event, and that the kids needed to create crafts from home. NO problem!  I remember some of the stuff the girls came home with in the past two years from their fair: homemade slime (well, that's the only thing I can remember them coming home with).  I signed her up and said "we'll make washer necklaces!"

Then, I completely forgot about it.  

Two days before her Country Fair, Maddie said "Mom!  I need to take a sample in on Wednesday (which was one day before the Fair) and show the teacher!"   ::gulp::  I forgot.

So that night, I ran around trying to find my washers that I had bought a LONG time ago, and couldn't find them.  So I grabbed three washer necklaces I made a year ago -- they were fancy.  I thought I was done.

Then.... I went to dropp off Maddie at her friend Tressa's house.  Tressa's mom Mandi said "whew!  We JUST got done w/ our project!"  I inquired about the whole "what did you do?  How many did you make?"  Well, we only made three, and we're supposed to make.... a lot.  Apparently.  I didn't get THAT memo! 

So, Katie and I brainstormed on what we had on hand that we could make (Maddie went rollerskating w/ Tressa that night).  I remembered we had a TON of beads.  Hmmm... what could we do w/ beads?  That kids might want to buy?

I had it!  Let's bring back FRIENDSHIP PINS!!  Yeah!  So, Katie and I spent over an hour making all kinds of pins out of the beads we had.  The next day, I bought more safety pins, and we spent even MORE time making friendship pins. 

Mike took Maddie to get two more boxes of safety pins and she worked all night on making more.  She wanted me to wake her up at 5:30 in the morning to finish making them.  She was going to charge .25 for 3 of them, and she was SURE it was going to sell like hotcakes!  They were AWESOME!   I mean, they were hot stuff when I was a kid!

at 5:30 a.m. .... yawn!!!

The final result!!

So, the day came of the Country Fair.  I came home, and saw Maddie sitting on my bed, with her container that she used to store her friendship pins.  I said "so, how many did you sell?"  She said "30", with a very sad face.  She made almost 200.  My heart broke for her.  She said one lady came to her out of pity and gave her a $5 bill.... and only took a few of the pins.  She said "she felt sorry for me".

She said other kids didn't earn any money at all -- and she said "I felt even more bad for them than for me!"

While the ending result was a sad one (they were making money for charity)... she (and I) had a wonderful time making these pins.  She even said she saw other girls at school who made their own and were wearing them on their shoelaces and shoes!!  I got to relive my elementary school days, so that was a plus for me!  I guess all her friends will be getting friendship pins for their birthdays now!  Bring back those friendship pins!!