Themed children's parties: baskets

Today's post addresses another item from the picture above (which is a scan of an old print, so please pardon the quality). In the centre, at the back you can see a collection of little baskets. This is how I made them.

Cut the tops off

Ingredients

Ice cream cornets - the wafer kind, not the sugar kind.
Some kind of 'laces' - liquorice shoelaces are ideal, but they might not exist where you are. Those dreadfully sour lace things would probably suffice.
Thin, flat round biscuits like Marie biscuits.
Icing sugar.
Green food colouring.
Sweeties to put into your finished baskets.

Method

1. Carefully cut the tops off the ice cream cones, so that you are left with the bit that bulges outward to hold the ice cream.
2. Mix the icing sugar with a very little water to make a paste, and then add a few drops of green food colouring.
3. Spread this paste over one side of each biscuit and (gently) press the cone tops into the paste, wider side up. Now you have the base of your basket sitting on a patch of grass.
4. Cut the 'laces' into lengths of approsimately 12cm.



Small pockets

5. All around the edge of the cone are small pockets. Fill two diametrically opposite pockets with the icing paste and press one end of a lace into the paste on each cone.This gives you your handle, but don't try picking the basket up with it until the icing has dried completely (and even then it's more for effect).
6. Pop a few sweeties (jelly babies, dolly mistures, etc) into each basket, et voila!