Crafty ideas: With Cupid's big day approaching, we went in search of cute, easy ideas for the school valentine exchange -- ideas that featured a little something special as long as that something wasn't candy. (Danyelle Mathews/dandee-designs/MCT) |
Every year when Feb. 14 rolls around, I feel like the biggest Scrooge (or at least his Valentine's Day equivalent). It's only six weeks after the holiday tsunami of sweet treats, and I've usually just gotten my children back to the point where they'll accept apple slices as a snack. Another wave of candy, cookies and cupcakes sends me into fits.
But as the mom of two school-age children, I certainly won't deny them the fun of exchanging valentines with their classmates. It might have been three decades ago that I was decorating a cardboard "mailbox" for my cards, but I still remember the anticipation. And I also remember how much fun it was to get a little "something" in that box, instead of just a stack of cards featuring cartoon characters and bad puns.
So with Cupid's big day approaching, I went on a search for some cute, easy ideas for the school valentine exchange -- ideas that featured a little "something," as long as that something wasn't candy. As usual, the wide world of craft and family blogs turned up a huge number of ideas. Here are my favorites:
Danyelle Mathews, who blogs at dandee-designs.com, helped her daughter make sweet friendship bracelets for her classmates. They needed to make 25, so they kept the design simple with a colorful braid, but if you have time (or a small class), your child could make more complicated bracelets. Here's a good tutorial site: purlbee.com. Make a little card or tag to attach to the bracelets -- Mathews used the phrase "Our class would KNOT be the same without you" -- and have your child sign his or her name.
Mathews has five kids, so she's assisted with lots of valentine production. Last year, her daughter presented her friends with felt bookmarks in the shape of a key, attached to a card that said, "You hold the key to my heart." Mathews and her daughter cut key shapes from felt and sandwiched a paper clip between two felt shapes. But you could also tie a piece of colorful ribbon to a large paper clip for a simple but sweet gift. (These would make great valentines for teachers as well.)
Over at Design Mom (designmom.com), mother of six Gabrielle Blair is no stranger to valentines either. I'm absolutely stealing one of her ideas for my first-grader's valentines this year. She and her son created Mad Lib valentines -- a great treat for kids who are mastering their parts of speech, and a boy-friendly gift to boot. They bought pads of Mad Libs, and then carefully cut the pages out of the pad with an Xacto knife. To dress them up, they carefully rolled them into little scrolls, and decorated with a scrap of patterned paper and some craft floss. The finishing touch: A little tag with a phrase like "You have mad skillz." Blair even shares the tags on her site, for the pun-impaired.
Another of Blair's ideas that would be fabulous for the preschool set: Dollar store animal figures! In my house, little toys like this would be appreciated a lot longer than a piece of candy. Plus, another great boy treat. And again, Blair has shared tags with fun phrases like "I'm wild about you Valentine."
At The Write Start (thewritestart.typepad.com), mom and author Jennifer Hallissy shares an idea that could easily be adapted for different ages and interests. She cut heart-shaped tags out of elementary-school handwriting paper and used small pencils as an "arrow" through the heart. Look for inexpensive pencils at craft or drug stores, or visit a site like explicitlyyourspencils.com to order custom pencils with a phrase like "Happy Valentine's Day from Molly!" Explicitly Yours carries both full-sized and golf-sized pencils.
If you've got a preschool Cupid, try this idea from Ellen Luckett Baker, who blogs at The Long Thread (thelongthread.com): Make heart-shaped crayons from scraps of old crayons. (You need a silicone mold with heart-shaped openings, though you could use another shape as well.) Baker offers small cards to attach to the crayons for the perfect Valentine's Day treat.
McClatchy-Tribune Information Services
Distributed by MCT Information Services
But as the mom of two school-age children, I certainly won't deny them the fun of exchanging valentines with their classmates. It might have been three decades ago that I was decorating a cardboard "mailbox" for my cards, but I still remember the anticipation. And I also remember how much fun it was to get a little "something" in that box, instead of just a stack of cards featuring cartoon characters and bad puns.
So with Cupid's big day approaching, I went on a search for some cute, easy ideas for the school valentine exchange -- ideas that featured a little "something," as long as that something wasn't candy. As usual, the wide world of craft and family blogs turned up a huge number of ideas. Here are my favorites:
Danyelle Mathews, who blogs at dandee-designs.com, helped her daughter make sweet friendship bracelets for her classmates. They needed to make 25, so they kept the design simple with a colorful braid, but if you have time (or a small class), your child could make more complicated bracelets. Here's a good tutorial site: purlbee.com. Make a little card or tag to attach to the bracelets -- Mathews used the phrase "Our class would KNOT be the same without you" -- and have your child sign his or her name.
Mathews has five kids, so she's assisted with lots of valentine production. Last year, her daughter presented her friends with felt bookmarks in the shape of a key, attached to a card that said, "You hold the key to my heart." Mathews and her daughter cut key shapes from felt and sandwiched a paper clip between two felt shapes. But you could also tie a piece of colorful ribbon to a large paper clip for a simple but sweet gift. (These would make great valentines for teachers as well.)
Over at Design Mom (designmom.com), mother of six Gabrielle Blair is no stranger to valentines either. I'm absolutely stealing one of her ideas for my first-grader's valentines this year. She and her son created Mad Lib valentines -- a great treat for kids who are mastering their parts of speech, and a boy-friendly gift to boot. They bought pads of Mad Libs, and then carefully cut the pages out of the pad with an Xacto knife. To dress them up, they carefully rolled them into little scrolls, and decorated with a scrap of patterned paper and some craft floss. The finishing touch: A little tag with a phrase like "You have mad skillz." Blair even shares the tags on her site, for the pun-impaired.
Another of Blair's ideas that would be fabulous for the preschool set: Dollar store animal figures! In my house, little toys like this would be appreciated a lot longer than a piece of candy. Plus, another great boy treat. And again, Blair has shared tags with fun phrases like "I'm wild about you Valentine."
At The Write Start (thewritestart.typepad.com), mom and author Jennifer Hallissy shares an idea that could easily be adapted for different ages and interests. She cut heart-shaped tags out of elementary-school handwriting paper and used small pencils as an "arrow" through the heart. Look for inexpensive pencils at craft or drug stores, or visit a site like explicitlyyourspencils.com to order custom pencils with a phrase like "Happy Valentine's Day from Molly!" Explicitly Yours carries both full-sized and golf-sized pencils.
If you've got a preschool Cupid, try this idea from Ellen Luckett Baker, who blogs at The Long Thread (thelongthread.com): Make heart-shaped crayons from scraps of old crayons. (You need a silicone mold with heart-shaped openings, though you could use another shape as well.) Baker offers small cards to attach to the crayons for the perfect Valentine's Day treat.
McClatchy-Tribune Information Services
Distributed by MCT Information Services
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