Men aren't the only ones wearing condoms these days

You don't have to be a man to wear a condom now.

According to mother and daughter Sherry Holman and Melissa Delo there isn't even an age limit to wear one.

"We wear one everywhere we go," Holman said. "We've had parents buy some for their kids and old women have even worn them."

Holman and Delo are a mother-daughter team who operate out of their homes in Howell that make condoms into decorative pins to wear on clothes, which can be quite the attention-grabber when the two walk into a room.

"If you look close enough, you can see what they are, but we dress them up quite a bit," Holman said about their business called Condom Cuties.

From pirates to reindeer, the two can create any nonlubricated condom into a character by request.

A new use for condoms

Roughly 20 years ago, Holman was in desperate need of a gag gift for a co-worker She saw some condoms lying around the house and thought, "What could I do with these?" hoping her co-worker had the same sense of humor she has.

"I decided to turn them into earrings," she said.

She glued holly berries and attached ear wires and her gag gift was complete.

Her co-worker wore them out on the town, to meetings and even to work.

"I told her, 'You can't wear those! They're condoms,' " Holman said. "She said, 'Yes I can, no one knows what they are.' "

A few days later, Holman received several phone calls and emails asking for a pair of their own.

"Earring orders became too much because I had to make two for one order, so I decided to make pins instead," she said.

Holman's daughter enjoys crafting, so she helped design some of the characters.

Condom Cuties was born.

"She does the designing and crafting and I do the gluing," Holman said.

The two decided to make their hobby public for the first time at the DIY Ferndale Craft show in downtown Ferndale.

"The response was incredible," Delo said. "Little kids would walk by and want one and old women thought they were adorable. We've done that street fair ever since."

Not knowing how so many people found out about their hobby, the two began to receive requests from all over the world.

"People from Australia and Europe have sent us requests," Delo said. "We don't really market all that much so we assume its word of mouth."

The process

Holman buys roughly 600 boxes of condoms at one time.

"I used to buy a whole cart full at the store, but I got lots of weird looks like I was some horny old lady," Holman laughed. "That's when I thought it was time to order them online."

They have around 30 to 50 of their most popular cuties on stock constantly.

"Our most popular are the pirate and the Mexican," Holman said.

They can only use nonlubricated condoms for the glue to stick.

"We could do so much more if we could use the lubricant ones, such as the glow-in-the-dark ones," Delo laughed. "Oh well."

It takes several hours for them to design, create, cut out the design and glue accessory on the condoms, which are $5.99 per pin.

The cuties are popular for bachelorette and bachelor parties, gag gifts for co-workers and Secret Santa gifts.

But why make pins out of condoms? The answer was simple for Holman.

"It's OK to talk about condoms," Holman explained. "There is nothing wrong with condoms and talking about them and what they are. Plus, it's just a goofy gift to give someone."

Holman and Delo get most of their ideas from special requests.

"A majority of our orders are special requests. ... We've even made the Grinch before," Holman said. "We're just a mother and daughter who turned their hobby into a business that we love."

Interested in buying some now? Contact them through their website at www.condomcuties.com.

Contact Livingston Daily education reporter Abby Welsh at 517-552-2848 or at awelsh@gannett.com. Follow her on Twitter @abby_welshLD.