Pinterest Fail.

So mistake #1 was thinking that I was capable of replicating even the simplest of Pinterest FOOD ideas.  Give me a CRAFT project and I'm all over it.  Let's just say I'm NOT known for my cooking.

Today was Max's Sharing Day at preschool.  One of the many fun things he got to do was provide today's snack for his class!

I'm all about quick and easy (and not very creative when it comes to food) and Max is fairly picky, so this deceptively easy and cute idea I saw on Pinterest seemed like the perfect idea.

Have you seen them?  The grape caterpillars all over Pinterest?  I do not dare post the image by itself on our blog because it would inevitably get pinned and my, oh my, would people would be disappointed when they arrived HERE!  Just type "grape caterpillars" into the Pinterest search box and behold the cuteness.

You skewer a line of green grapes, adding 2 mini chocolate chips with a dab of white frosting to make them stick for the eyes.  Easy right?

Mistake #2 - Do you see a red grape caterpillar anywhere in the links above?  No.  But Max at least thinks he doesn't like green grapes, bu loves red ones, so we decided to use red to make our caterpillars.  Turns out they're just not as cute as bright green caterpillars.

I was doing SOME thinking about this and no way was I going to give preschoolers sharp skewers or anything else sharp, so I figured that coffee stirrers would be the perfect thing: not sharp, a good length for 4-5 grapes and skinny enough to work.

Mistake #3 - What I didn't anticipate with the straws: they make grape 'poops.'   The fleshy inside part of the grape goes up into the skinny straw - 5 times - and now you've got these wormy-looking, wet and wiggly poop-like thingies inside the straw, sticking out the end a bit.  If you pull it out? ......EW.  I envisioned psychologically scarred children who were turned off grapes for life, or at least a LOT of inappropriate potty talk at the snack table.

see the gross little grape poo up in front?

Mistake #4:  my choice of frosting.  I bought a tube of white gel icing, thinking that its small applicator was the perfect size.  Turns out gel frosting doesn't ever set up. Instead, it stays uhh.... GEL-like.  Imagine that.

Mistake #5:  Deciding to use mini m&m's (Max's favorite candy) instead of chocolate chips.  Sounds more colorful right?!  Oh, it IS, and it makes the white gel frosting turn all colorful too!

I attempted to prop my caterpillars against each other on a cookie tray so they wouldn't roll, precariously balancing the m&ms on the top, fixing them periodically as the m&ms and runny, color- streaked frosting slid down the grapes.  I put them in the fridge hoping the frosting would set up over night.

Fast forward to 2 am.  I've been tossing and turning for 3 hours, my brain occupied by 100 other unrelated thoughts.  Got up, got some milk, checked on my caterpillars.  Frosting still had not set up and they just looked pitiful.   So it was time to cut my losses.  OFF WITH THEIR HEADS!

a gruesome sight: caterpillar heads, plus some other stuff I pulled out of the ends of straws.

Luckily I had extra grapes, so I replaced their heads with plain grapes, put each in a snack baggy and called it a night.  Well, 2 hours later I called it a night when I finally drifted off at 4am.

I really thought about just throwing them all away.  I also thought I was going to feel the need to explain these plain looking grape caterpillars to the preschool teachers in the morning.  But it turns out when you've only had 3 hours of sleep you're not really all that concerned about what kind of impression your grapes make any more!

**You can find and follow our Things With Wings Pinterest boards at http://pinterest.com/thingswithwings where we will be NOT be pinning cute food ideas, but we WILL be pinning lots of fun artsy craftsy homey ideas!