When I was little, a friend of the family made me a Lifesaver man. I never got to eat it. My mother saved it and year after year we put him up on the tree. I had that Lifesaver man until I went to college. Since then I have made them from time to time. The one I was given had a little felt hat and collar. The collar made it look kind of clownish which I didn’t like, but without it it just looks like a Lifesaver roll with yarn. So I was looking over my sad little collarless men and thought, well a little scarf would be cute. So I cut the band from an old sweater saved for stockings. Super cute. Then I decided I should try a little hat. I was always making fleece hats for the babies so I just went with the little square. Modern Lifesaver men are born. Check it out!
You run the yarn all the way through the hat, head, and Lifesaver middles. Nothing is glued together. It can all be easily disassembled to eat. My original man had a Styrofoam head. Fortunately I forgot to by Styrofoam balls at the store and I found some dollar tree plastic ornaments that were about the right size that I had on hand. Way cuter and more festive. They are pretty easy to figure out. The hat is just a square of sweater material hot glued on three sides and turned inside out with the edges folded up. The scarf is just strips of sweater. I like to use the band. If you fish the hanging yarn through the front middle your hat will sit correctly on his head off his face. Hand the ornament upside down so the top of the bauble will serve as a neck. You will have to poke a little hole in the top of his head if you use plastic ornaments. It is also helpful to pre “drill” the lifesaver package so you don’t pull up the foil when you string the middle. The legs and arms are one piece and go between the two strings that thread through everything.
