Peeps Garland Tips and Tricks

We just had our first neighborhood egg hunt yesterday and it went very well in spite of being ridiculously cold.  (Nothing like hunting for eggs in the snow.  Oh Spring, you foul temptress, changeable vixen... why dost thou tempt us with splendiferous sunshine only to snatch it away when outdoor events have been planned and evites sent?  Why?  WHY?)  I'll be posting more details later, but for now, here's my Peep garland, which was the inspiration for the whole event.  (Does anyone else throw parties purely to give them a reason to make something they saw on Pinterest?)

I ended up needing 2 boxes of yellow bunny peeps for this.  The first step is to open them up and separate them.  The separation points are quite unsightly, so if I do this again, I will have yellow sanding sugar on hand to patch them up.

After separating them, leave them open for a few days and let them go a little stale before trying to work with them.  It helps the needle to go through if they are a little stiff. 
So after a few days in the open, thread a large needle with at least 2 strands of embroidery floss.  I used yellow in the same color.  Now that I think about it, it might be fun to try it with fishing line so they look like they are floating in the air - maybe next year!  Push the needle through both ears and  pull the thread until about 12 inches from the end.  This is your allowance for hanging to garland. 

 Make a double knot with the tail end and another double knot just past the 2nd ear.  This will help to keep the string in place until the innards adhere to the thread and immobilize it.  More on that later.  Repeat this process, spacing the next bunny a few inches away from the first. 

Do this until all the bunnies are threaded.  Leave another 12 inch tail to allow for suspending that end.  Now, let the whole thing sit undisturbed for at least a week.  This will allow the peeps to harden even more and it will allow the interior marshmallow stickiness to adhere to the thread so that when you hang the garland, the peeps stay in place.

Things that I learned...
These things drop A LOT of sugar.  I mean A LOT!  If you can work on this outside, do.  If you can't, try to work over a tray or something. 
This is not the craft for you if you can't deal with sticky fingers.  You will be a gooey mess.
This is harder than it looks, especially the knotting part.  The first few are OK, but as your hands get stickier and the string gets stickier from multiple passes through the bunny innards, the string starts to get tanglier and your hands get clumsier and it can get frustrating.  You may want to do several shorter strands and just tie them together.

But even with that said, the end product was totally worth it.  It was fun, bright, cheap, and a great focal point for my food table, especially when paired with some quick felt and yarn pennants that I made as well.