I spent hours the day before Valentine's Day in a furious work induced whirlwind. I had to help the boys make 25 valentines each. I didn't do it to be frugal because frankly a box of store bought paper valentines is pretty darn cheap and even though I had almost everything I used for my projects already at home, it still probably cost more for each valentine.
I did it because it's important for me to teach the boys about the idea of giving from the heart and making each gift a personal expression of your feelings for the recipients. Or something like that. By the end I couldn't even think straight anymore and I was ready to just call the whole thing off.
Since my three oldest would be taking part in the exchange, we came up with three ideas. The first were heart shaped perler bead magnets. My thinking there was that a magnet would get used for more than the 30 seconds it takes a kid to shuffle through his valentine box. Plus, perler beads are really fun to play with. Even my younger son was able to make a couple of them without any help from me, but the ironing. My advice would be to stick with this craft.
The next thing I did was make lollipop flowers. I first saw the idea in someone's blog, but I wasn't able to find it again. Eventually I tracked the project down on Martha's site and I was able to carry out my vision. I had initially pictured making each child a little bouquet of 3 or 4 flowers all tied together with pretty ribbon, but after I realized that it would take 100 paper hearts just to make one for each kid, I had no problem with admitting that it wasn't going to happen. I did nearly all of that project on my own.
The last idea I had was based on junk I had laying around the house. I took a few sheets of those pages you use on an overhead projector that are completely clear and cut them into vaguely same sized rectangles. In reality, they weren't even close. The light was kinda crappy in my room and it was late and by then I just wanted to go to sleep. Then I used a hand held dymo label maker to type out the phrase, "Clearly, I like you." I can't even begin to express how awful this was by the end. My hands were so sore I wasn't sure I'd be able to do the last few.
I adhered the labels along the right hand side of the valentine. Once I had them all phrased, I went to the last part of the process. I cut little hearts out of pink, white, and red felt and then used turquoise thread and my sewing machine to stitch a flower to each card. It was all about messy and random which was a great time saver. This project was 100% me. I don't have any pictures of this to share, I didn't think to take any and I really wish I had now.
So the kids took their valentines to our homeschool playgroup. They all did their exchanges and we brought them home to see what they got from everyone else. There was a little disappointment to find out that everyone else had just bought theirs from the store. I was afraid that they might feel cheated since theirs didn't come from the store too, but it was totally the opposite. They were upset that nobody else made any neat crafts to share with them.
Mission accomplished? Probably not. I don't want them to have *ANY* expectations for gifts. I'm glad that they didn't feel pressured to buy rather than make, but at the same time, I don't like the idea of them judging either. It's a fine line. And I've noticed that kids are really judgemental. They have this unique ability to see everything as either black or white. We are a non smoking house and when we happen to pass someone walking down the road with a cigarette in their hand, my kids are ready to screech to a halt and give them a lecture on the evils of tobacco.
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