the peeps are in!

It's that time of year again. The snow is melted, bulbs are poking up out of the ground, Easter is around the corner...

The peeps are in! We Americans are champions at cheesifying our holidays, so in remembrance of the death and resurrection of our Lord, we celebrate with garishly colored, blobby marshmallow treats!

Appetizing right? That's not the point though. Peeps have many uses.

If you're lucky enough to live in the Washington DC area, you qualify to enter the Washington Post Peeps Diorama Contest. It's been going on since 2007 and gets better every year. The rules are simply to use Peeps as characters in a diorama of a famous occurrence or scene. It can be a historic, current or future event, or it can be a nod to pop culture. I hear 30 other papers have contests now, so maybe you can enter one in your town...

 "Night Peeps" by Melissa Harvey

Last year's winner. A take on Edward Hopper's painting "Nighthawks". Just brilliant!

"Double Peep Strike" by Bradley Gordon, LeElaine Cormer, & Justin Donnely

Finalist  from last year. I sort of thought this one should have won on topicality alone. This flight 1549 image dominated the media.

 "Oh My Peeps, there's an 'H' in There!" by Gwen Jones

Another 2009 finalist. The other major media obsession of 2009: the "Octomom".

"Chinatown's Lucky Dragon Dancers Perform Goodbye Year of the Rat, Hello Year of the Peeples" by Betty Thompson

Another finalist. So realistic, right down to the sauce on the poultry. Can't wait to see what people come up with this year...

 

Retail store display is getting in on the action too. 70's style guru, Cathy of California, created this ingenious window display at the Yolk store on Silverlake Boulevard in LA. Fab use of Peeps!

What the... an actual Peeps store??? Yes indeed, just outside Washington DC in National Harbor, MD.

from cakespy.com

And of course there are culinary uses.

from fancyflours.com

Peepalicious!