50 Sucks

Today is my mom's 50th birthday!  Happy birthday mom!  Along with fixing the Children's Book eReader Cover I made (revised post coming soon) and getting her a real gift, I HAD to do something Over-The-Hill as an extra little gift.  Since her coworkers at the time threw her an Over the Hill black birthday party for her 30th (ouch!), I didn't want to be too mean about it, so I stuck with something a little more cheesy and fun.  I made a gift basket of 50 suckers that says "50 sucks" (50 sucks = 50 suckers... get it?? I've had to explain it way too many times... maybe it's way too cheesy for most "normal" people to get it).

One thing you should know about me is that I'm kind of a procrastinator, especially when it comes to birthday gifts and cards.  It's not that I don't care, or don't remember birthdays, it's that I always seem to lose track of time and not realize that the week has gone by so fast.

This project was planned MONTHS ago... so you would think that I would have had it done at least a week ago, right?  Nope, I finished it today during lunch.. after buying the suckers at Fred Meyer on my way to work this morning.  I had been thinking of this project for a long time, but I kept forgetting to buy the suckers so I never bothered putting the rest of it together since it's easier to do it all at once.

I also have to apologize for my super horrible pictures that are even worse than normal.  In my rush to get this done and trying to not be late for work or miss my entire lunch break, I didn't grab a real camera to take any photos.  I just used my really awful old phone that I need to upgrade.  So, I apologize for the horrible photos, but this project is pretty simple.

Materials needed:
Basket, box, or bucket
Cardstock
Bamboo Skewer (one)
Styrofoam to fit your basket/box/bucket
Tissue paper trimmed to size
50 suckers (I suggest using different types to give more variety and pick something tasty!)

I found a sparkly green gift box during the after Christmas sales (see!  I really did plan this out!) so it was really inexpensive and I liked all the glitter.  I purchased some styrofoam similar to this at the craft store:

I used a block 15/16" thick x 5-7/8" x 11-7/8".  I would suggest using something a little thicker if you can find it, but the material was great and really easy to push the sucker sticks in to!  The width was pretty close to matching the box, but I had to trim it down.  I used my trusty Xacto knife and made a HUGE mess cutting this down to size.  Make sure you measure twice, cut once, and have your entire work space lined with newspaper that you can throw away.  This stuff gets everywhere!  Since the box was tapered, I didn't need to stuff the bottom of the box full of foam but depending on your box you might need to stuff the bottom.

I designed up a "50 sucks" sign using Photoshop and gave it a nice thick black border.  I printed the sign on hot pink cardstock and cut it out with my Xacto knife.  

I thought this project needed even more glitter, so I used some glitter craft paint to the "50 sucks" sign!

The styrofoam block doesn't look pretty, so I trimmed down some hot pink tissue paper and lined the top of the styrofoam, leaving a little bit poking out the sides to give the suckers a border and more of a separation between the box and the suckers.

After lining the styrofoam with tissue paper, I began poking in the suckers (after counting twice to make sure I had exactly 50!).  One thing I had noticed when poking in the suckers is that if I didn't use a steady hand, I would puncture the styrofoam and the sucker would go too far down.  I would suggest trying to find styrofoam a little thicker or just stuffing under the styrofoam so the sucker can't go down any further.  I had to be careful to make sure they didn't all puncture the styrofoam and it actually created a nice effect with the different heights.

After putting the suckers in, I attached the "50 sucks" to a bamboo skewer by using regular gift wrap tape and taping the skewer to the back side.  I forgot to take a picture of the back.  It doesn't look too pretty, so you could be creative and sandwich the skewer in between two pieces of paper if people will be seeing this from the back.

So what do you think (aside from the awful picture quality)?  My mom loved it, so that's all that really matters, but I would love to see if you have made your own!  I think this would be great for any birthday, but is especially fun for milestone birthdays and an easy gift to give for someone you don't know too well. 

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