We’ve been de-cluttering around here, and we found LOTS of broken/old crayons (they were everywhere!) I thought it would be fun to make “crazy crayons” a la Martha Stewart with a Valentine’s Day twist! Emily helped make them and she can’t wait to give them to friends!
Gather old/broken crayons that you have on-hand. Do you have ANY idea how many of these were in our household??? Peel off all the paper. Tip — Mark used his pocketknife to carefully cut across the labels so they were MUCH easier for Emily to unwrap.
Break up the crayons into small pieces and place them in a muffin tin! For Valentine’s Day, we used a heart-shaped muffin tin!! We filled the molds about half way. We found that they look really neat if you place two different colors in each heart!
Bake in a 275 degree oven for 10 minutes, and let cool for just a few minutes before placing them in the fridge. When they are completely cooled, they will pop right out of the molds — and you’ll have a neat reveal!!
Emily “Oohed and Ahhed” for them as they popped out of the molds! I love how colorful they are and that each one is totally unique!
To make them perfect for gift-giving, we thought it would be nice to design some bag toppers you can download and print out! There’s space on the back for the kids to write “To:” and “From:”. Staple them to 3″ wide zip top bags — found here (pack of 100/$7.49) (affiliate link), and you have a quick, easy, one-of-a-kind, and very frugal party favor!!
Have fun!!
We did this for Valentine’s cards once years ago, but I couldn’t figure out the best way to attach them to a card. I tied them (vertical and horizontal) to a blank index card, but it was a little time-consuming. I like the bag idea a lot better! I’ll try to remember to come back later and buy some.
The bags work really well — and they’re really cheap too! I use them for all sorts of little gifts/favors. 🙂
So cute. We like to make crazy crayons too!
It just never gets old! 🙂
Great idea. We made little ones shaped like donuts for birthday party favors. We tied a ribbon through the center hole with a note tag attached to the ribbon.
I love this idea for Valentine’s Day though…They get enough sweets 🙂
Thanks for always continuing to inspire!
Oooo… those sound really neat! Emily isn’t allowed to bring in any edible treats to school because of allergies. This is a great non-food alternative. Have fun!
Nice! Were you able to get all the wax off your pan later?
I bought the mold with the intention of using it for crafting only. The crayons pop right out of the pan and don’t leave any wax, however one crayon stained one of the molds a little red. I soaked it in dish soap overnight and it was still a little stained. You can find inexpensive silicone molds (which would work perfectly for this!) at Target for around $2.50 each. Hope this helps!
We’ve made crayons like this in muffin tins, but I love the idea to use shaped tins and give them for Valentines instead of candy! My kindergartner will love helping to make these for her class. :)Thank you for the inspiration! I was just sitting here wondering what to do for our classes. 🙂
Wonderful! This is lots of fun for the kiddos to do — enjoy!! 🙂
oo I love these!! I just bought a silicone ice cup tray (heart shaped) wonder if I could make them with that?
That would work really well!! Have fun! xoxo
These are awesome, so colorful!
We are totally going to make it 🙂
Yay!! That makes me so happy!! Enjoy! 🙂
I did this last year for Valentines day too! I did mine on the stove top with reused cans and ice cube trays. I also saw somewhere that in the summer they did this on a very hot day by just setting the pan outside in the sun all day.
http://kellyheet.blogspot.com/2010/02/homemade-crayons.html
Very cool!!! Love how you reused the cans — great idea!
We also did this last year. Somewhere online I found a printable card that said “Have a colorful Valentine’s Day.” We used snack sized ziplock bags and taped them on with double sided tape.
How cute!!! 🙂
Can’t believe how easy that is. What a fun idea!
Thanks, Debby! I don’t know why we haven’t done this before — the girls thought they were so cool!
I love this idea! I teach 1st grade and am going to make these for my students. I know my 4 year old will love helping me! Thanks for this idea!
How perfect!! I’m so happy you’ll be doing this!!! Have fun! xoxo
You inspired me to melt down all our little crayon pieces! They’re cooling in the fridge right now. 🙂 Only had a round muffin tin, but the kids will enjoy them anyway.:-)
Wow, you are quick!!! 🙂 That makes me SO happy! Emily asked if we could make round ones too, so that will probably be next. Fun!!
You are not only frugal, you are also so ahead of the game in Valentine’s Day prep. These presents look awesome.
Thanks so much, Natalie! I wanted to make sure we had enough broken crayons. They’re so much fun to make!
Makes me wish I had more broken crayons around. So pretty!
We save ours in a big jar just to make new ones now. 🙂
LOVE these! My son got one on Valentine’s Day from THE cutest girl in 1st grade. I decided then and there that he should marry her!
LOL That is SO cute!!!
Salaam and peace! I did something similar when I was about 8 yrs old (Oh my gosh, that was 30 years ago!!!!) Our cool, hippy aunt helped us; we peeled, broke, and placed them all in a saucepan, poured them into GLASS coke bottles and placed a wick into each one and shut the opposite end of the wick into a cabinet door to hold in place til they hardened.
Really cute idea but we put all our colors together and they melded into a weird greenish-grey camo candle. lol
Lovely idea and thanks for the reminder!
That is so funny!!! Your aunt sounds like a lot of fun! 🙂
wow love this idea 🙂
Thanks, Rebecca! 🙂
Saw this today on The 10 Show and thought they were great.
Now I wish I had little ones at home.
Awww… thanks, Laurie!! They are fun for grown-ups too! 🙂
I’ve been eyeing crayon-making for a little while now, but don’t have any pans I can dedicate just to that cause. I have a cute star-shaped ice-cube tray but wonder whether we’d be able to get all the wax off completely and actually continue using it for ice. Any comment about that?
Great question — I bought the tray with the intention of only using it for crafts, and Target has cheap silicone trays in their dollar section that would work perfectly for this. The crayons pop right out of the molds, however one of our red crayons stained the bottom of one of the molds. I soaked it overnight and it was still there. Hope this helps!
We have the silicone baking cups. I wonder if they will work well with crayons. Love the idea!
They would work well — have fun!!
Great idea for Valentine’s instead of candy! I love the way you color coordinated them 🙂
Thanks, Amanda! xoxo
We’ve been making these for every holiday or soccer goodie bag for a little over a year! My kids love making them and other kids just love getting them. So much fun 🙂
http://christinaaileen.blogspot.com/2009/11/rainbow-crayons.html
I’ve picked up a lot of different shaped ice cube or muffin pans cheap at the Target $ spot and super cheap on clearance and/or sales at Target/Michaels just for our crayons.
How cool!!! I love the snowflakes!!
Brillant as always! I love the idea! 🙂 We have never given them as gifts before… but we have done shaped crayons as party favors. I love the idea of a valentine.
Hope you are doing well and having a great weekend!
Blessings,
Val
They make awesome party favors, and they are so much fun to make! I don’t know why we never made them before — now we’re hooked. LOL 🙂
I’ve been trying to think of a Valentine’s day treat for my daughter to give her class. I’m not a big Valentine’s day fan, as I think that you should show your love all year long, not just when the card companies tell you too. I also don’t like the consumerism and junk food that go along with it. This deals with all my issues. It’s not food and it’s not bought, but it still allows my daughter to give something Valentine’s day-ish. Thanks so much!
We must be kindred spirits, Carly! I’m so happy you and your daughter will be making these — how fun!!
I found really cute cookie pans on clearance at Target for $2.50 in spaceship and princess themes. We made them over the weekend and my 2 year old LOVED it (and I loved the price of the trays)!
That is SO cool!! I’m never going to look at a muffin pan the same way ever again. LOL
Valerie,
We did these today.. Still snowing in RI and we had the best time as a family. We can not wait till Valentine’s Day to give them out..
Thanks Again
Robyn Wallace
That makes me SO happy, Robyn!! Thanks so much for the update and have a Happy Valentine’s Day! xoxo 🙂
I made these last night and they are so cute. I can’t wait to see my children’s faces on valentines day. Thank you again for another awesome idea.
Yay!! How fantastic! They are kind of addicting to make, aren’t they? 🙂
Too cute!
i <3 crayons!
My dd, 7 and ds, 5 are going to make this tomorrow using some ABC molds we have. They'll be a perfect party gift for dd friend.
Thanks
Oooooo… I bet they will be lovely!!! Have fun!! xoxo 🙂
What a FAB idea! I love it! Thanks for sharing~ Definitely will be doing these with my daughter for vday and also for her bday to place around the tables as favors!
Awesome tutorial….I wanted you to know I’m featuring you and this tutorial on an upcomming blog for my Blog Travels section on my site!
http://www.imsewcheap.blogspot.com
The kids and I finished or travel to your Easy Crazy Crayon Party Favors page! We have completed your tutorial and our results are posted here:
http://imsewcheap.blogspot.com/2011/02/visit-to-frugal-family-fun-blog.html
Thanks again! We had a blast!
hmmm…not sure how to make a trackback to your blog. Is it because I use blogspot?
http://bluefield5.blogspot.com/2011/02/flops.html
BTW, I still love you, Valerie, even though it didn’t exactly work 🙂
Just made 32 of these for 2 classrooms’ worth of Valentines! Thanks for the great idea! We used the silicone baking cups and they worked great! I wish I’d stuck to just 2 colors per cup, like you did, because I think yours look better, but ours are fun, too!
Thanks!
I just wanted to let you know that I made these crayons as Valentine’s gifts this year. I made a post on them and link my post up to you. 🙂 Thanks for the awesome ideas!!
http://minutestomemories-shari.blogspot.com/2011/02/happy-valentines-day-this-year-hannah.html
We had so much fun making this for my daughter’s 5th birthday party! We made them as favors, along with the noodle necklace packs!! My girls love helping with anything and everything so I love crafts that deliver a cheap, quick and ‘cute’ happy ending!!! A++ from our family!!
I love this! I have a little one that is always breaking crayons so this would be perfect! Thank you for the great idea. I linked to your blog as well. I just started a crafty blog today. Please check it out:)
http://mynewfavoritethingtoday.blogspot.com