Fake sweet crafts from Daiso

 I have spent the last month and a half in the company of my son. Last year whenever I was stuck with him for this amount of time it began in March, exactly when the weather started to feel nice and going out to the park was a welcome activity.

This time around it’s far too windy and far too cold to spend every day at the park which is really unfortunate because this means that I can’t go anywhere to move my body without also having to factor in that my son also has to be out in the cold.

For a month and a half I’ve barely even left my house. There are a few random days where it’s not windy but they’re few and far between so I've had to find ways to keep us both entertained indoors.  I am an extremely crafty person so that’s mostly what I’ve been resorting to.

Last week we took a trip to 100-yen store Daiso for my son to buy me a birthday present. He decided to make me something instead ... and then making some thing wound up in us spending way more money than if he would’ve just bought me a small trinket. However, that money is worth it because it also ate up an entire afternoon of crafting the gift together.

We went to the craft aisle of Daiso and while picking out different kind of beads for him to make me bracelet he spotted something that he wanted. Fake sweets. These things were super popular about a decade ago when I first arrived in Japan. Everyone had them, everyone bought them, and everyone made them. Luckily the supplies to make them have lingered in stores and we had everything we needed right there from Daiso - silicone for the fake whipping cream, tiny plastic fruits, and cups or cones to hold it. My son decided on the cones, chocolate and cookies for the toppings, some sprinkles and a pack of variety fruit - roughly about ¥500 for everything in total which considering if you buy one of these charms pre-made they are about ¥500 each and we can make a total of three, so it was a good deal.

Even for my six-year-old son, he easily crafted some cute desserts which we set off to the side for three days to dry off. I added some bent wire to be able to attach the "sweets" to a keychain later on.

I’m glad I let him pick out things for the sweets and not just force him to make bracelets for me because he really didn’t enjoy that activity. He helped design the bracelets but begged for me to string them and of course I had to tie them because he isn’t yet able to do that yet. I would have absolutely loved it as a kid so it depends on your child what sort of activity they want to do. 

He practiced cutting by opening the packages   

He learned to plan ahead and developed the topping beforehand. 

It was a good afternoon, better spent than the typical afternoon of YouTube and Netflix