The Coral Gables Times

Thursday, December 6, 1962, page 50 (of 66)

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The woman you remember... wears Caron

GUM-DROP TREES

HERE ARE some delicious Christmas decorations to add to your regular stock, and they're easy and fun to make right at home. Take an afternoon off from the rush, clear the kitchen table, and let a gumdrop tree grow before your eyes! You can work alone if you want to, or you can get the whole family in on the project. With a little management, you'll have enough gumdrops to make your decoration and satisfy hungry helpers. The trees can cost less than $3 to make, and they're hardy, if you can control your appetite, so they can be used for several seasons. For the working base, you get a cone of Styrofoam or similar polystyrene foam, anywhere from nine to 12 inches tall (available from $1 up, depending on size, at your florist or five-and-ten.) The stand can be a block of wood or a small vase or a jam pot filled with pebbles. There's bound to be something around the house that will do. You will need two yards of brightly colored material for covering each cone. Red and green velvets are especially festive, but if you've already got some good scraps put away in your sewing drawer, use them. Now for the gumdrops: Allow a couple of pounds per tree. You can choose either large or small ones, but it's best not to mix the sizes when you're beginning. And an added hint: gumdrops that have been out in the air and got hard are easier to work with than the fresh, slightly sticky ones. Make sure that the colors of the candy harmonize with the material you've chosen for the covering. Now, cut your cloth into strips about three inches wide and six to eight inches long. Drape the strips of cloth on the cone, using regular straight pins to fasten the material in easy folds. This gives an opulent feeling when the cloth peeps out from among the gumdrops. Be sure to leave enough room for a dozen or so gumdrops between each strip of the cloth. You can get the children to help you with the next step: Spear each bright gumdrop with a toothpick and push it into the cone between the sections of cloth. Put the candy close together so the cone underneath doesn't show through. And for an added touch of holiday spirit, you can scatter small Christmas balls among the gumdrops or sprigs of pine or golden leaves—or anything else that happens to strike your fancy. The gumdrop wreath is made the same way, except that you start with a circular foam base. It's best, also, to "wire" the wreath for extra support. A coat hanger will do the job. Bend the hanger into a circular shape to fit the back of the wreath and fasten it in several places by wrapping picture wire around the base. From then on, you can follow the same directions as for the tree. And you'll probably want to add a big red or green velvet bow to your finished wreath. Gumdrop trees can go anywhere in the house. Use pairs of medium-sized ones for your table or mantelpiece, along with sweet-smelling evergreen branches or shiny holly. Or hang a wreath on the door, glowing with fruit and gilded nuts and frosty pink and green and yellow gumdrops. A big, big gumdrop tree can be the center of your living-room window arrangement, or a wreath can decorate a tray of sand tarts or Lebkuchen. Or use several small trees in the "garden" under your Christmas tree, beside the electric-train tracks. A gumdrop wreath, with tall candles around it, will make an unusual centerpiece for your holiday table. For a party, use a large wreath as the base around the punch bowl. Whatever you decide to make, gumdrop trees and wreaths will be appealing decorations—such sweet and pleasant fruits "as nowhere else are seen." Here are decorations you can make yourself. And if you make a mistake, you can eat it! 20 Suburbia Today, December 1962