Last Call: What Work Of Art Will You Make Out Of Peeps This Year?

Spring is coming, my friends! I know this because even though all I can see outside my window is several feet of frozen snow, Peeps have—after a long COVID-induced hiatus—come on the market again. Specifically, Peeps has started selling an Easter Cookie Coop Kit, which provides enough sugar cookies and icing for you to build a cozy little home for your little yellow marshmallow pals. Then again, the temperature in Chicago is above freezing today, and I saw a guy in shorts, an early sign of spring here in the Midwest. This, combined with the Peeps news, gives me hope.

There are some people, myself included, who believe Peeps are better for arts and crafts projects than for eating. I worked in a newspaper office once where someone tossed a Peep up onto the ceiling. Five years later, when the paper moved out, it was still there, still bright yellow and shiny with sugar. It did not inspire much confidence.

Still, I am excited about the Peeps Cookie Coop Kit. It made me sad that The Takeout staff is still working from our separate homes. What a team-building exercise that would have been! I lack the artistry of most of the people who enter the Washington Post's annual Peeps diorama contest, but I'll bet if I had a kit, I could do something fun. I suppose it would be controversial to build a Peeps depiction of some classic early spring scenes from my own culture, like, say, the exodus from Egypt (particularly as it's portrayed in the movie The Ten Commandments), because Peeps contain gelatin and that's not kosher. But maybe I can make a Peep running around in shorts with its shirt off, which is how Real Men dress in Chicago in March.

How about you? What are your great Peeps plans for this pre-Easter season?