Giant Lollipop Christmas Decorations

My family and I made about 2 dozen of these during their visit on the 4th of July. They are really, really pretty simple. We saw many other people make them and tried to follow their processes and could not come out with the same result, so we started modifying it. This is what we came up with.

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2-Pool Noodles (same color), doesn't matter what specific length, as some producers differ, we got ours from the Dollar Tree

Duct Tape (color choice up to you for the candy stripe)

Packaging Tape

Hot Glue (and glue gun)

3-4 Foot Piece of 3/4 inch inner diameter PVC Pipe

Plastic Gift Basket Bags (picked ours up cheap at the Dollar Tree)

Ribbon (nice wide size, about 3 feet long)

1 Inch Hole Saw Bit (with Drill/Driver)

Battery Powered LED String Lights (optional)

Drop some glue on the end of one pool noodle, be sure not to hit the noodle with the glue gun, as the heat will melt the foam. Push both ends of the noodles together and hold until the glue is dried. This isn't a strong connection, so hold the joint carefully as you move to the next step (this sometimes takes two people)

Wrap the joint with packaging tape, at least one full time around, I recommend at least 1.5 times around.

Just that simple, pick which duct tape you want to use and stripe the whole length of the unit. If you wanted to stop here, you can even leave it at that and have a stick candy cane that can be put in the yard with just a piece of rebar (cheap at Home Depot, about $4 for 10 feet)

As you can see pictured, we did quite a few, so we decided to "Candy Crush" my wife. Tightly roll the stripped noodles. This takes some skill. You need to hold the noodle tight when you get to the end of rolling it, then use the packaging tape to hold it all into place. A lot of other projects say to use hot glue as you roll, but I will tell you, it won't stay, it's not strong enough, especially as the hot glue melts the foam.

We drilled the hole using a 1 inch hole saw bit, but you can use a razor blade or knife, just try to make it as close to the diameter of the pipe as possible. I would make sure you get through at least one full width of noodle, but recommend going into the second layer if possible. If you want, add a little hot glue before inserting the pipe.

If you desire, you can weave a set of battery powered string LED lights into the candy. We did this for a few of them. Just tape the battery/switch unit somewhere below where the ribbon will go.

Pull over one of the large gift basket bags and tie with the ribbon. The size of the bag may depend on the size of the pool noodles and overall size of your candy/lollipop.

To do this, I kept a piece of the PVC pipe and I used it by hammering it into the ground, pulling it out, then I had the perfect hole to put my lollipop stick in. It's easy and temporary.