Homemade Valentines from the Heart
by Theresa Carpine2/12/2008 2:32:13 PM
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When I was in elementary school, it always felt like a special treat to go to the grocery store and pick out a box of valentines to pass out during our class party. I got to pick which popular cartoon character would be featured on my valentines that year, with choices ranging from Winnie the Pooh to the Little Mermaid to Batman. And although it was a school rule that we had to pass out a valentine for everyone in the class, these sets usually came with a few oversized cards which could be given to my very best friends.
Homemade valentines can have an extra special touch.
Looking back, though, the situation wasn’t always ideal. It was a huge faux pas to discover that you and another classmate had distributed the same set of cards. And it was never socially acceptable to give a valentine with “love” written anywhere on it to a boy, unless you wanted to invite the merciless teasing of your classmates.
As a grown-up, now I wonder if I could have been a little more creative with my valentines. Homemade valentines have an individuality to them that can reflect your personality, and they’ll show your friends that you thought about them specifically as you made their card. And making cards as a family is a great option for time together, especially in the wind-down time of night (after dinner and before bed).
What messages would your kids send with drawings and stickers?
To make valentines at home, all you really need is red, pink and white construction paper, markers or crayons, glue, glitter or glitter pens, and your imagination. A fun activity can be writing poems for the valentines, and it can also be a spelling or language exercise for older kids. How many words that you think of that rhyme with “heart”? It’s also fun to combine drawings and stickers as symbols for words to make a special Valentine’s Day message or tell a story.
And this past weekend, I learned about an alternative craft idea to the standard valentine card. As I watched the Huskies upset UCLA with my friends Doug and Laurie, we helped their ten-year-old daughter Zoe make special valentines for her class.
A unique and easy-to-make Valentine craft.
To make this craft, you need is a rubber band, two mint Life Savers, a roll of Smarties, and a stick of gum. Fold the rubber band in half and thread it through the holes in the Life Savers. Stick the Smarties in between the Life Savers and then slide the stick of gum through the rubber band loops so they’ll be perpendicular to the Smarties. If the rubber band is tight enough to hold everything together, you’ve got a nifty little Valentine Plane. You can then personalize them by attaching a banner on the tail with a message for your friends.
Making these Valentine Planes has become a fun family tradition since Doug’s mom taught him to make these valentines, and her mother taught her, and her mother taught her. And another cool part of this project is that you can do a little math at the store while you’re buying your supplies (if you need to make 20 planes and there are six sticks of gum in a pack, how many packs do you need to buy?).
No matter what age you are, having one day a year to say “I love you” really isn’t enough. But making valentines is still a great opportunity to spend some time together as a family and demonstrate thoughtful giving to your children.
Share your homemade craft ideas with Neighborhood-Kids.com!