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DIY Valentines For School

We made some easy Valentine’s Day goody bags for our daughter’s classmates. The first thing we did was troll the aisles of Target (we hit up The Dollar Spot, and Valentine’s Candy section, and the kid’s party aisle, just to check out everything that was left). In The Dollar Spot in the front of the store, we found these cute little clear bags in a set of 20 for $1. Sold!

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Then we walked over to the party aisle, where they sell lots of kid-items in bulk, like stickers and markers and even glow sticks. After mulling over all of our options, we settled on some little boxes of washable markers, which were $2 for 4 (so we could get 16 for $8) but Clara seemed “meh” on them, so we didn’t commit to them fully. Then in the V-day section among all of the candy hearts and lolly pops and chocolates we saw it: a cute little red and white striped box full of crayon sets – and the entire box of 24 crayon sets was marked down to just $3.

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So since that box of crayons plus our little baggies were only $4 in total, we decided to poke around a little more just to see if there was something else we could toss into the bag along with the crayons. Boom, these little spiral notebooks were being sold in sets of 8 for $1.50 each.

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So for $3 more, each little bag could contain a striped box of crayons and a spiral notebook for kid doodles (I actually keep a small notebook with crayons in my purse to keep Clara busy while we’re in a restaurant or waiting at the doctor’s office). We asked Clara what she thought of the notebook and crayon idea, and her “I want to draw in the notebook with the crayons now” answer made us feel like it was a good choice. So $7 later we returned home with our bounty and opened it all up:

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Then we just stuck one pack of crayons and a little notebook into each bag, like so. Clara was such an awesome and fast helper, all the photos were blurry. Ha! But she was very good about only putting one box of crayons and one notebook in each one.

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We already had square labels (which we decided to use to seal the bag and indicate who the bags were from) so we got those out and had fun whipping up a quick little design that we could print directly onto the labels. At this point it was around 9:30 (and Clara was in bed) so we racked our brains to come up with something Valentine-ish that has to do with crayons and notebooks for the labels. After a bunch of duds like: “Hope your Valentine’s Day is cray” or “You draw me to you. Happy V-day!” (terrible!) we finally came up with “Crayons are red and yellow and blue, preschool is fun because of you!”

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It only took one sheet of the square labels that we already had to knock them out, and then we just peeled them off and stuck each one on the back of a bag to hold it closed.

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So for anyone who’d like to adapt that little label of ours for some last minute V-day making (which can be customized with your child’s name, etc) you’ll just need to grab this font from Font Squirrel (it’s free) and then download our label here and use Photoshop to edit it. Ours is sized to fit Avery 288 labels, and you can download a printing template for them right here from the Avery website. Of course you can also just hand-write stickers or print your own designs if you don’t have Photoshop or the same labels that we used.

Oh and here’s how they looked all assembled. Cute, huh? Clara can’t wait to hand deliver them to all of her friends. And she made sure there was one that she got to keep too. Haha. What can I say, the girl likes crayons…

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If you’re looking for some more kid-friendly Valentine’s projects, here’s a free Valentine’s Bingo Printable you could toss into your goody bag. Or this Love Bug Craft is super cute too!

Comments

  3. Sarah @parallelfoodiverse says

    OMG–GOOD SCISSORS!! My mom had a pair that I was NEVER allowed to touch when I was younger. Fast forward to my 30-year old self, I got a sewing machine last year and with it was a nice, new pair of scissors with a note addressed to my 2 1/2 year old that read: “These are mommy’s good scissors, please don’t use them.” I was dying! Glad we aren’t the only family with “good scissors”.

    Reply

  5. Laura says

    I made a lame homemade valentine with a piece of cardstock and red with white polka dottted washi tape.

    But, I sent it with stellar PB cookies!

    I love the Valentine poem :)

    Reply

  8. Britt says

    Such a cute idea – and LOVE that font! Downloading now.

    P.S. I’ve always been a sucker for the scruff too. I even asked “mah man” to leave the scruff on our wedding day! :) (sigh)

    Reply

  12. Erin says

    That is all so cute! I’ve been seeing a lot of cute ideas for kids’ valentines on blogs. I take it no one just goes to the store and buys the perforated ones in a box anymore? I don’t have kids so I’m way out of the loop.

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      Some folks definitely still do that! There seems to be an even split between those cards, something with candy attached, or small little goodies like stickers/temporary tatoos/crayons/etc.

      xo
      s

  14. Emmary says

    For my little Valentine boys (birthdays are feb 12 and
    13) I whiped up little treat bags. The boys helped
    Me melt chocolate chips in microwave, we dipped
    Marshmallows in the chocolate and added sprinkles.
    We let those harden, placed them in little cellophane
    Bags, added little grahm crackers and created a sticker
    On Avery labels that said: “everyday I like you s’more”
    Cute, huh? :)

    Reply

  15. Kelly @ View Along the Way says

    Hey girl! Holla! Thanks so much for jumping in to the hey girl craziness. I know if John’s anything like my husband, it must’ve totally made John’s whole Valentine’s day, and you can cross any gift-giving off your to-do list THIS year. (Muahaha)

    P.S.: After reading through all the *HI-larious* memes people linked up, I’m totally making a Husbands of DIY calendar. Not really. But seriously.

    Reply

  17. KiTX says

    What is it about scruffy that is so darn attractive? My guy has perfect vision, so I don’t get the bonus of glasses (who has that at age 28?? or am i the only blind one rocking glasses since age 9 in this group?). But scruffy with a baseball cap? Sign me up! Cutest Valentines, too- adorable, Clara’s classmates will love them!

    Reply

  18. Wendy @ New Moms Talk says

    I was just getting ready to make my hub his favorite granola bars for Valentine’s Day when he walked in the door.

    Hopefully I’ll get them done tonight if I can convince him to go for a trail run later today. It’ll be a lovely surprise, as he doesn’t know that I bought extra Nestle holiday mint chocolate chip bags (his favorite) that I’ve hidden and have been saving for this moment.

    Reply

  20. Tara says

    Why, oh WHY did you wait until today to make these?! So freaking adorable and I totally could have stolen the idea for my sons preschool class if I hadn’t already went with the Swedish Fish in a plastic bag with a fish bowl in it that says “I’m glad we’re in the same school.” Both are cute I guess, but I totally love your idea!!

    Reply

  21. Kelly says

    A couple of things:
    -Cute valentines! But no candy or chocolate included? :(
    -Is not John really not allowed to use the “good” scissors? :)
    -I think we need a photo of John with glasses from the front! :D

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      We didn’t do candy or chocolate since we didn’t know if that was allowed at Clara’s school (turns out some kids did lolly pops but mostly everyone didn’t do anything edible). As for the good scissors, it’s just a joke because he ruins them by using them to cut things like zip ties and plastic packaging. Then I go to use them to cut paper or fabric and they don’t cut. And I look at him and growl. Hah!

      xo
      s

  22. Casey says

    Cute and cute! My son has 16 kids in his preschool class too. I cut blue cardstock to fit in clear cello bags from Target with a scalloped wave at the top, wrote some sort of fishy-message (“I’m glad you’re in my school!”), and he decorated them with heart stickers. Then they went into the bags with a few Swedish fish. I got a HUGE kick out of them. :)

    Also… same opinion here regarding a scruffy husband and glasses. My favorite for sure. A year or two ago my husband started rocking full-time scruff by only shaving with clippers. LOVE.IT.

    Reply

  23. Jaime says

    Glad to see I wasn’t the only parent doing the last minute dash to get Valentine’s Day goodies for my daughter’s class!!

    Reply

  24. Penni says

    Oh my God! My best friend and i JUST had a lengthy “good” scissor discussion today on the phone and how we have to hide them and forbid people from usin them (the same way our Moms did). I spit out my drink when I read that one. That was awesome. Of course, my husband could’t find scissors if I paid him…we were talking about our kids. Too funny.

    Reply

  25. Ally says

    I, too, laughed at the “good scissors” reference :)

    In our household, a certain someone *cough DARRYL cough* used mine to crack open some Slush Puppies! I nearly exploded went I to use the “good scissors”, and found them covered in red & blue sticky goo! :)

    Clara’s “Valentines” will LOVE these….soo sweet, and sugar-free, too! :)

    xox

    Reply

  26. Peggy McKee says

    When my kids were young, we had a class list and put each child’s name on his/her valentine/treat. Did you have a reason for not doing this?

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      Our teachers actually asked us not to put kids’ names on them since they’re all about each kid handing them out themselves, and Clara can only handle dropping one into each bag (she can’t read so she couldn’t distribute labeled ones like that). It’s really cute to see them all handing them out to each other :)

      xo
      s

  27. John says

    Give John a nice sketch book for future projects, it could make a chapter in a new book someday. I have one for landscape design and one for architecture. Nothing like a new sketch book!

    Reply

  28. Chelsea @ two twenty one says

    If I was a toddler in Clara’s preschool class her Valentines would be my favorite.

    I love the Hey Girl memes! Brad loves it when I yell at him for using the good scissors too. It’s probably why he uses them so often. And thanks for the Hey Girl challenge shout out! We’ve been amazed by the turnout.

    Reply

  29. bridget b. says

    cute V-day gifts! i just love the dollar spot. we hosted a play date for my 2 year old this past weekend and i found all of the goodies for the favors and craft projects there.

    Reply

  31. Kristin says

    Question- Do you do anything special for the teachers? I never know what to do for my son and his preschool. Parenting is so stressful!

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      We didn’t know what to do this year, so we dropped three extra valentines in the bag for them (but they didn’t have teacher bags for accepting things so they ended up coming back home with us). Wish we had thought to hand them something personally!

      xo
      s

  32. Gabriella @ Our Life In Action says

    Those are super cute!

    I am doing my little JBear’s valentines up tonight for his pre-school class. I found (via pintrest of course) cute little fish bowl print offs that say “I’m glad we’re in the same school”. I’m going to put those with a little bag of multi-coloured goldfish crackers. I’ll post about it tomorrow so you can see how they turned out.

    Reply

  33. Erin says

    I “heart” those little Cello bags at Target! I always DIY treat bags for our son’s parties at school, and at $1 for a bag of 20, you really get a bang for that buck!

    Reply

  34. Deanna says

    Ha! I love posts like this that show off the fun way your minds work. Awesome poem and even awesomer (not a word, but I like it anyways) “hey girl” meme pics. I needed a little 3:27pm laugh.

    Reply

  40. Kelsie W says

    My valentine is getting an awesome DIY card with a picture of Bates and Anna from Downton Abbey, caption: My heart BATES for you! So clever :)(Saw it on Etsy.) He’s gonna melt.
    Oh and he gets new dress socks too!

    Reply

  41. liz says

    Love the Crayon idea! So much we’re doing crayon roll ups for my daughter’s preschool class complete with ‘you color my world’ tags. So fun, and a great option when some kids have allergies. I’m sad I missed seeing you guys in Atlanta last week! My littlest baby had his first fever and I just couldn’t leave him. From other people’s pictures it looked really fun! So bummed!

    Reply

  42. Alice H says

    my 3 year old son loves donuts so we are picking up a dozen Krispy Kreme donuts and I will individually wrap them and stick on a label that says: “Donut what I’d do without a friend like you!”

    Reply

  45. Brenda says

    Hahaha, I LOVE the Hey Girl memes. And I love Clara’s little bags. Crayons are way more fun than just a card Valentine.

    Reply

  46. Nicole Lindquist says

    so funny! i bought the exact same crayons and some other notebooks for my daughter’s valentine’s day party tomorrow. my husband said it was too boring without candy, so i had to buy some fruit rollups, which jacked up the cost per piece (haha). i’d already bought candy, but thought i ate too much of it to have 36 pieces left. turns out i didn’t and therefore didn’t need the fruit rollups! geez, i just can’t get it right…here’s my blog post on my last year’s valentine’s day #momfail http://www.lifeasalindquist.blogspot.com/2012/02/my-valentines-day-debacle.html

    Reply

  47. Sarah says

    I saw these crayon related phrases on Pinterest, for future crayon related Valentine’s– “For Crayon Out Loud, Happy Valentine’s Day”… could also say, “You COLOR my world!” Cute, huh? Love the candy-free and super adorable bags.

    Reply

  48. Chelsea says

    How cute! Sure beats the out-of-the-box Snoopy Valentine’s my mom would let me scribble over. I was just going to ask if people still even do that but see Erin beat me to it and you answered her. Very neat!

    Reply

  49. Tracy says

    Love, love, LOVE it! Simple, sweet, and personal! Although I haven’t the energy to make it to Target (for the 49th time this week), I will be stealing this idea for next year.

    Reply

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