Valentine's Day 2016

I love making creative and fun Valentine's for my boys to give out to their friends at school.  Each year they pick out the item (I like to go non-candy items if we can) they want to give out and we find a talented blogger who has made a free printable for us to use to go with it.

This year son #1 choose little Valentine rubber ducks and son #2 chose Valentine gliders.  Both items came from Oriental Trading.  Both ideas for the printables came from The Crafting Chicks.  The airplane/glider printable is HERE.  And the duck printable is HERE. 

I had some difficulty getting their printable files to download - and I was in a hurry to get them done - so I created some simple paper strips with the words on them myself.  Cut them in to long strips - tie or staple them on, and boom, Valentines are done.

For boxes to take to school, son #1 chose to re-use his Football box from last year.  It was a classic and I was very happy not to have to make another new one for him this year.

Son #2 saw a Hot Air Balloon box as I was perusing the internet - so we grabbed a $3 basket from Target and a mylar balloon - tied them together, and there you go.  He loved it.  This idea came from Tatertots and Jello - HERE. 

Valentines 2014

January seems to fly by so quickly and Valentines will be here before I can blink.  So I try hard to work ahead and get the boy's Valentines ready to go before the end of January.  I've had these done and ready to go for about a week and a half now.  The best part is that they come from other crafter's blogs -  great people who are so willing to share their great ideas.  

And actually, neither of these are new ideas for us.  We've used them in the past.  But they are so great - and the boys are at a new campus this year so the vast majority of the kids in their classes haven't received these from them before.

Son #1 chose to do bouncy balls again this year.  These come from Paging Supermom.  She has some great ideas.  I've already printed out some Valentine's worksheets for the boys to work on this week and next.  These are so easy - print out the labels, sign your name, put the balls in a plastic bag, and staple everything closed.  Simple and cute - can't beat it!

 Son #2 picked these great bug jar Valentines.  I truly LOVE these!  They are from Dandy Designs and they were a huge hit with son #1's class last year.  Print the jars on brown card stock, have son #2 sign his name, and pop the bugs on with removable glue dots.  

I love hunting down cute boy Valentine's ideas on the inter webs.  So many great people out there are willing to share their hard work and great ideas.  And they make my life easier.  Is it crazy to say that we already have ideas and maybe even a few supplies picked out and packed away for next year?  

Or maybe I don't!  

Prepping for Valentine's Day

So I know my family and friends are going to see this and just shake their heads! 

 

I really do have a lot going on over the next few weeks and I wanted to get a head start on the boy's Valentines for school.  We did some web surfing to get some great ideas for cool boy Valentines and they each chose something they loved.  I spent some time yesterday getting all the supplies together and we finished them up tonight. 

 

So - YES - we're all done and ready for Valentine's Day!  And you know what - I'm not embarrassed!

 

Here's the information on what we did:

 

Son #1 choose these adorable "LOVE BUG" valentines.  Dandee Designs created these and so graciously shared them on her blog.  I absolutely love these - and I am not a big bug fan!  Tan card stock, a printer, glue dots, and some cute Toob insects are all you need.  They were super fast and a huge hit with the boys.

Son #2 wanted to give away Pop Rocks.  Actually, truth be told, he probably was most interested in having some Pop Rocks for himself.  Regardless, he choose these "YOU ROCK" valentines.  The Fickle Pickle created these and we printed them out.  Then we glued them to some fancy card stock (mat sized) and stapled on the Pop Rocks.  Hint - you can buy a package of 3 Pop Rocks at the Dollar Store.  

I love the blog world and I love people who are so creative and are so willing to share ideas and free printables.  My life has been made so much easier!  And now we're ready for Valentine's Day!  And that feels great!

By My Valentine

Oh how I love blogland! There are so many great ideas out there and so many wonderful people willing to share.

I found these great bouncy ball valentines over at Supermom and printed up a bunch for my boys. They signed their names on all of them. I've been stalking every Hobby Lobby I passed for the last few weeks and ended up with plenty of super balls . They worked up to be about $0.20 each. Plus they're just so darn cute, I can't stand it. My boys are SUPER excited to pass these out at school this week.

Heart Attack: I saw this idea HERE at 71 toes a week or so ago. We decided to give it a try and it has been such a great thing in our house. We each did four or five hearts the first night and then one heart every day until Valentines. We all love to see the hearts all over the kitchen and the boys love to read them and remember all the different ways and reasons that we love each other. It's a nice way to focus on the positives!Happy Valentines!