with both my girls in school this year, it's double the fun, double the parties, and double the cost. 10 kids in each class, two teachers for each girl, plus a director, and a music teacher - even little things like valentines can start to add up.
and if your husband is cheap frugal like mine, then he does not see the need in going overboard on the "extras" (aka valentines). but, if you're anything like me, then a holiday is just not a holiday without adding in the little extra touches of love.
i know the day will come when libbi prefers a box of tinkerbell valentines and *shudder* tattoos, but for now - she's content to go with whatever i pick out. and so for the time being, i will take full advantage of the freedom i have. :)
i thought i'd share some of the things my girls are taking to school and giving to family members for valentine's day this year. i know it's kind of last minute, but there's still plenty of time to put these together if you're looking for some ideas. they are all quick and easy (and relatively inexpensive). some of them even have free printables that you can print out at home and half the work is already done for you! while these valentine gifts may be low on cost and even time, they are still full of love... and that's all that matters. :)
laney took all of her little friends a little debbie heart cupcake (keep in mind, i said these ideas would be "easy" but i never said anything about "nutritious";-)). i made a printable card for laney using My Memories Suite software. (you can purchase and download it HERE. - look on my sidebar for a discount code, too!) her valentine's feature a bible verse and a sweet little message.her name is already on it, so i don't have to worry about writing it over and over and over. i punched a hole in them, tied them to the middle of the little debbie cakes, and boom. valentine's. the little debbie cakes cost $1.50/box. i already had the tulle at home, and i made the valentine cards, so the total cost of laney's valentines = $3.00.
libbi took her friends goody bags. the goody bags have little debbie heart brownies,
heart shaped fruit snacks, a ring pop, and a heart shaped crayon inside of them. i got the goody bags in the dollar section at target. the little debbies were $1.50/box, the heart shaped gummies were around $3.00 and so were the ring pops. i made libbi's valentines using My Memories Suite software, too. i already had the ribbon at home. the total cost of her goody bags/valentines was around $10.00.
we made the heart shaped crayons together. this was a pinterest activity that i saw while browsing one day, but ended up finding a recipe on martha stewart's website that worked for us. we had crayons at home and libbi helped me peel the paper off all of them and break them up into pieces. after we peeled the crayons and broke them, we put them into a heart shaped cookie sheet to melt. i already had this cookie sheet from a few years ago (it came from williams sonoma but i don't think they carry it anymore...i did see heart shaped silicone pans in the dollar section at target last week, though.)
the recipe called for the oven to be heated to 150, but mine would only go as low as 170 and that worked just fine for us. we "baked" the crayons for 20 minutes and carefully took them out of the oven (the wax will spill!) once they cooled, they hardened and were the perfect shaped heart crayon! (if they don't come out easily, you can stick the cookie sheet in the freezer for about 5 minutes and they should pop right out). we made a few extras and the girls have enjoyed coloring with these.
libbi and laney brought the same things to all of their teachers. i had these pink containers already in my craft closet (thank you target dollar section once again!) and i bought some hershey's hugs and kisses to fill them with. i used my trusty ole silhouette to cut some "hugs and kisses" out of vinyl and stuck them to the containers. once again, i used My Memories Suite software to make a card to go with the gifts. i took these pictures of the girls last week and added them to the cards. so easy!
our family members also got the same card mailed to them (sorry family, no hershey kisses or hugs for you in the mail!)
for the director and music teacher at the girls' school, i found this cute (FREE!) printable on pinterest. the soaps were on sale at walmart for $0.87 and i already had the ribbon -so a grand total of less than $2.00! how's that for a cute and inexpensive gift?! click HERE for the link to the printable. now let's just hope the girls' teachers don't get 10 other little bottles of soap from other pinterest obsessed mommas - ha! but even if they do, teachers can always use soap, right? :)
after i made all of our gifts, i saw this cute printable from my friend sarah. since our gifts were already done, i didn't need it this year, but i wanted to share it with y'all anyway.
i definitely filed it away for next year. she made these adorable (FREE!) printables and you can find them on her blog HERE. (FYI: they have packs of bubbles in the valentine section at target or at the dollar store!)
another easy valentine treat that i put in libbi's lunch is a sprinkle heart sandwich. just put the peanut butter/jelly on one slice of bread, use a cookie cutter to cut a heart out of the top piece, and fill the middle with sprinkles.
i also found these chocolates at target....don't get me wrong, i love chocolate just as much as anyone, but something about these just seems a little "off"...
i think i'm going to skip these for this year ;-)
finally, we can't forget our most important valentine...daddy! :)
jeffrey loves to golf but he doesn't get to near as much as he'd like (or as much as he deserves to!) i made a card using, yep - you guessed it - My Memories Suite software. we added in a bag of tees, and the girls "decorated" a sleeve of golfballs (i'm sure his golfballs will have the most unique marks out on the course. there should be no mistaking which ones belong to him).
i added in a coupon for a "guilt free" round of golf. wonder how long it will take him to cash that one in?? i'm sure jeffrey will think it is super cheesy...but in my book, the higher the cheese factor, the better! :) and honestly, if he didn't think it was cheesy, i wouldn't consider it a success.
hopefully some of these ideas have been helpful, feel free to email me if you have any questions!
happy valentine's day, friends!
