Five-year-olds have a bulb-planting party. They make Christmas gifts

Sunset, Dec, 1989

Five-year-olds have a bulb-planting party. They make Christmas gifts Homemade gifts are always fun to receive, especially when they come from children. And if the present is a plant that grows quickly and blooms faithfully, it's all the more fun for both giver and receiver.

The Davids family of Manhattan Beach, California, makes such gifts every Christmas. During the first week of December, the children and a few friends gather for a bulb-planting party. Dad provides paper white narcissus bulbs (the least likely to rot) and small gravel from the nursery; the children pick out 16-ounce plastic cups decorated for the holidays.

Each child fills a cup halfway with gravel, sets a bulb inside, then adds more gravel to fill. Water is added (just enough to touch the bottom of the bulb), and the cups are placed in a sunny window.

As long as the cup has water, the bulbs grow quickly. The Davids take bulb cups as gifts whenever they visit friends or family. Bulbs usually flower about three weeks from planting.