Before we leave Valentine’s Day in the dust and start hopping down the bunny trail, I wanted to show you the fun Valentines I came up with for my kids (and me) to hand out this year. This was the first time in many years, that their faces weren’t plastered all over their valentines, but I think they were well-recieved, none the less. My children were a little worried that their friends wouldn’t like that theirs were non-candy valentines, but I think creativity can compensate for lack of sugar.
First up, my 5-year-old had a preschool Valentines party (Would you like me to post more about that later? I might wait until next year.) I found these cute cootie catchers/fortune tellers on Design Mom. All we had to do was print and fold. Since we were only making three it was a piece of cake. I’m not sure the little ones knew what to do with them, though. My oldest loves these, so she might use them next year, or maybe we will design our own more custom ones, if I am feeling brave and she is feeling like folding paper. We also inserted a fortune cookie (purchased at Dollar Tree, like the ones in my teacher Valentine’s gift basket and the Valentine’s Snack Basket.)
I designed and printed out these little bag toppers to put it all together. They read: I’m so FORTUNATE that you are my friend! (I may post the printable later–but I don’t think anyone needs them right away).
I used the same topper for some of my friends from church. To add a little pizzazz to the fortune cookies (and avoid the need to bake anything), I dipped them in melted chocolate and added some Valentine’s sprinkles. (I should mention that my friend Becky, and my 5-year-old did most of the dipping).
I’ve been posting the Valentines along the way on my Instagram account, and I’m pretty sure these army guy Valentines that my son took for his friends, won the popularity contest there.
They were completely inspired by the ones I found by Jacolyn Murphy. She used more varieties of song titles and lines in her designs (mostly great 80’s tunes). We just had “I would FIGHT for you!” and “I can’t FIGHT this feeling anymore!” I designed pink camo hearts with the sentiment and we printed them out on cardstock, cut them out, and glued the army guys right onto the heart. I think I found the army guys in a package at the Dollar Store, so this has to be one of the least expensive things we could possibly have given for Valentine’s Day.
I loved this word find idea, since my friend, Erika, posted about it last year. The top says “I’ve been SEARCHING for a friend like you!” and the Valentine is an actual word search made up of the names of the kids in my daughter’s class. There are websites that will generate word searches for you, but I actually kind of enjoy coming up with my own. It is like putting together a puzzle. And with the spaces remaining after I placed all of the names, I filled in letters to spell a special Valentine’s message. It was something like: “Happy Valentine’s Day to all of my fun friends!” I kept playing with it until I came up with something that was the right amount of letters.
Before handing out the Word Search Valentines, my daughter found and highlighted the name of the student who would receive that valentine. She also had fun using my washi tape to attach Valentine-themed pencils to each one, to add value and assist in their word-searching.
But that wasn’t all! I wanted to give a small valentine to each of my music students (I am a Let’s Play Music and Sound Beginnings teacher). So I designed a little 8th note with this message: “A little love note from Ms. Kendra.” Get it?? Love note! (Sometimes I think I am so clever!) See…it’s little because it is only an 8th note, and it is love because I attached a heart shaped sucker or chocolate to each one. (Of course, if I have to explain the whole thing, it may not be so clever after all).
The kids loved them, but they generally ripped off the eighth note stem and went straight for the candy. *sigh*
If you still need more ideas, I have an entire Pinterest board of creative Valentines. With so many great ideas out there, you can save yourself the trip to the store!
What did your kids hand out this year? Sugar or non? Pinterest or store-bought?
With my four kids we made over 120 loveplanes using sticks of gum, lifesavers, and smarties.
You are so clever! Those soldiers and the word-find idea are just great. 🙂
do you suggest a web site for creating the word search?
http://www.discoveryeducation.com/free-puzzlemaker/?CFID=10799831&CFTOKEN=56286416
But you may need to retype it to get formatting that will print well for your card.
What program did you use to create the word search with your daughter’s classmates? I’m not as creative as I like to think I am but would love to do these for both my children’s classes. Please email me if you can! Thanks
I actually figured it out with graph paper and pencil. My friend Erika used this site:
http://www.discoveryeducation.com/free-puzzlemaker/?CFID=10799831&CFTOKEN=56286416
But you may need to retype it to get formatting that will print well for your card.
Hi Kendra, your valentine word search is absolutely adorable. I went to discovery education, as you mentioned above, but the word search is they provided was pretty generic. I would love to be able to plug my info into the adorable valentine themed template you used above. Do you have an edible template or website you can send to me? I would greatly appreciate any help! Thanks so much.