Peeps

My co-worker, Roger, returned from his sabbatical last Tuesday.  Every 7 years we get to take 8 weeks off in a row with pay – they call this a sabbatical.  It is customary to decorate a co-worker’s cube upon their return.  I’m under the impression that the more annoying the clean up upon your return from sabbatical, the more your friends are trying to show their love.  For instance for my friend Amy’s cube we turned her cube into “Little Cuba” complete with a huge wooden raft with crates of cigars and 300 lbs of sand.  Let me be the first to admit that sand was a bad idea.

So back to Roger’s sabbatical decorating.  For years we have been depositing stale Peeps in Roger’s cube in the months following Easter.  It started first when instead of throwing out 6 boxes of rock hard Peeps 5 months after Easter I decided to hide them one by one in Roger’s cube.  I don’t actually remember why I started doing this, he definitely doesn’t like Peeps.  Frankly that may have been why.  Whatever the reason, other co-workers caught on and by the end of a couple years he was known as “the Peep Guy” and had mysteriously accumulated a stack of peeps about 5 feet high.  Roger tells a particularly funny story that a new hire came by his cube once, saw the stack of Peeps and asked if he could have one.  Roger said yes (didn’t warn them they had been there for years), and allegedly the person ate one without complaint.  This still baffles me because by this point there had been a lull in Peeps deliveries for many many months.

Anyway, my dream was to fill his entire cube with Peeps while he was on sabbatical but I did not have the foresight or the money to make this happen.  I contacted Just Born but they don’t keep stale or defective Peeps around to sell as seconds (probably a good thing).  Instead we settled on turning his entire cube into a giant box of Peeps.  But because that wasn’t easy enough to clean up (recall the 300 lbs of sand in Amy’s cube) we also planned to fill the entire thing with balloons.

This entire project took lots of man-power!  I think we filled a total of 800 balloons and we used 200 square feet of yellow wrapping paper to cover his entire cube. Everyone on our team (at least 25 people) helped out which was great team-building!  The finishing touch was to add four giant plush Peeps bunnies that I made and finished up during a recruiting trip at my alma mater (talk about strange looks when entering the hotel).  Enjoy the pictures below, and if you’re interested in making a Peeps bunny check out my tutorial at the end.  Each bunny took roughly an hour.

We covered the entire cubicle in yellow wrapping paper so he did not know what awaited him inside.

Peeps bunnies packaged in Roger’s doorway

The bunnies are watching for Roger to walk in.

Here’s the surprise inside – 800 balloons in a 8’x8′ cubicle

Roger spent much of the morning moving balloons . At least it wasn’t heavy lifting.

Here’s the cube after he made some significant progress clearing out.

DIY Giant Peeps Bunny

Materials

• 1 yard of 72″ wide yellow felt (I think it would also be great or even better in polar fleece)
• 3″x3″ square of brown felt
• 1 lb of stuffing
• yellow & brown thread
• My pattern here

1. Cut out 2 bunnies using my pattern above.  Be sure to add 1/2″ seam allowance. Cut 2 5″ x 4 foot strips.  Cut eyes and nose from brown felt (no seam allowance needed).
   

   Cut out peeps bunny with 1/2″ seam allowance.

2. Sew the 5″x4′ strips together at one end to form a nearly 8’x5″ strip.

3. Pin good side of one bunny to good side of 8′ strip, placing the seam of the strip in between the bunny’s ears.  Pin to where the ends of the strip overlap at the bottom of the bunny.

4. Repeat step 3 with the second side of the bunny.

5. Stitch around the whole bunny starting with the opening at the bottom.  Repeat with the second side of the bunny.

Stitch where the bunny was pinned.

6. Clip into seams at the bunny’s neck and ears.

Clip Seams.

7. Turn right side out.

8. Fill the bunny with stuffing as desired, making sure to stuff evenly.

Stuff through the bottom opening.

9. Hand stitch the bottom of the bunny closed.

Hand sew the bottom closed.

10. Hand stitch the eyes and nose onto the bunny.

Hand sew the eyes and nose on (preferably while your co-worker drives you home from Ithaca).

Voila!

The bunnies lounging on the couch.