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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

  2. Melissa @ Loving Here says

    This post was awesome. What great parents you are to have Clara in on the valentine making. I’ve seen some elaborate ones online that make me just feel sad for the kids that don’t get to help. Love those “Hey Girls!”

    Reply

  3. Lindsey says

    I whipped up some homemade Valentine’s for my buds the other night for the first time in years- it was so fun (shared on el blogo of course)! Now I have to rework the project to make a super special one for my honey- better get on that! Love your Hey Girls… hahaha!

    Reply

  4. Kim S. says

    The Valentines are very cute! My kids are old teenagers now, but I remember each of my three kids learning how to write their names buy signing those pre-school Valentines.

    One tip for future years, cursive fonts are hard for young children to read. (Not that many pre-schoolers can read but they might know a few words with some help.)

    Reply

  5. Laurie says

    I love that you love John in his glasses! I feel the same way about my husband when he wears his. SWOON! I get weak in the knees. And when he has a little scruff on his face, wearing his Levi’s….well it’s ALL good. Sigh. It is no wonder we have four kids! Awesome treat bags, so cute.

    Reply

  6. Meghan says

    I did something similar! I got my daughters daycare friends boxes of crayons and a colouring book and put a note on the crayon box saying “You ‘Colour’ my world with happiness” Slightly corny… but for a 2 year old they love it! haahaa

    Reply

  7. Krithiga says

    Thanks for the V-Day heads up. I have a preschooler and first grader and need to think of ideas fast! Will probably copy your idea verbatim for my preschooler. I hope that is ok ?

    Reply

  8. Erika says

    I hit up the $1 bin for some cute valentine magnetic notepads for co-workers. Although, had I seen them, I would have been buying those little notebooks and crayons – too cute!

    Great pic of John – I’m a big fan of scruff too :)

    Reply

  10. Shirley says

    So pinning this for next year! Love the cute poem. I thought we did good with 11 bags for under $10 (we had a lot of extra goodies), but clearly we could do better! Love the $ store. Nearest $ store is 1/2 hour away, so I have to settle for walmart.

    Reply

  11. Shanna Haycraft says

    I just made my son’s Valentines yesterday! He is passing out Cracker Jack boxes I found at our local grocery store for $.40 a piece – so ours ended up being about $7.20 for all 18. Then I just designed a card that would cover the ‘nutrition info’ side and left the classic Cracker Jack advertising on the other side. Our Vday messages were, “My day has a little more POP with you” and “Its Always Fun Being CORNY With You”.

    You can see it here:
    https://www.facebook.com/photo.phpfbid=10200794168725575&l=da208517f3

    I love the crayon idea – I wish I thought of that!

    Reply

  13. Anele @ Success Along the Weigh says

    Not to sound weird but gotta concur on the scruff and glasses on any man. The Hey Girls are TOOO funny!

    Because I am cheap errr…frugal after flipping over cards at Target, I proclaimed homemade cards only this year. I will be interested to see what he came up with. All I know is they’re both too big to fit into a normal envelope so they’re in big ugly yellow business envelopes. How romantical.

    Reply

  14. Bliss says

    Ah ha ha ha, it was as good for me – he can totally pass for a movie star lov’n up his doggie sporting the Hollywood pose and I’ll take scruffy-whiskered and bespectacled any day.

    Thanks for joining in, I never had so much fun at a link party.

    Bliss

    Reply

  17. Jaya says

    “Hope your Valentine’s Day is cray”…I just burst out laughing. You guys crack me up! Hope you two have a great V-day :)

    Reply

  18. Emma says

    Those Valentines are so cute! In my day – my mom just bought us a box of little cards with cheap envelopes. They had cartoon characters or something – remember those? I love the idea of sprucing up the Valentines Day cards. I hope Clara has a great time exchanging them tomorrow – that should be a lot of fun :)

    Reply

  19. Aimee says

    I got ‘the list’ the other day at daycare and drove around for a week brainstorming in the car. I ended up creating small notecards that said ” You are as Cute as a Button! Happy Valentines Day” and on it a drafted a button and sewed a quick button stitch with red yarn. Pretty happy with the results but i didn’t get snacks or treats to go along with it. I would have loved to sew on a real button but “choking hazard”… maybe someone can steal it for the older kids crowd.

    Reply

  22. Sabrina says

    I totally yell at my hubby for yelling the good scissors too lol It’s our snack day tomorrow at school and am making little heart shaped fruit “pizza’s”, individual popcorn that says “My heart pops for you” and heart shaped cheese. Valentines Day is so cute with the littles.

    Reply

  23. Victoria A says

    I used those same bags! They were such a steal. I’m pretty sure the hardest part of the whole valentine project for me was choosing what kind to make, I got sucked into the abyss of cutesy craftsy valentine ideas online and ultimately came up with a hybrid. Whilst daddy was napping, I dressed up the little misses in some red/white clothes, sat her on a black sheet covered chair, and snapped a few photos of her sticking her hand out. I photoshopped “happy valentines day, love (name)” on there, added a background blur, and had them printed at Costco for cheap. I found, also at target, some heart shaped strawberry cream lollipops 10/$1. With an exact-o knife, cut slits above and below her hand in the picture and stuck the pop stick through, so It looks like she is handing it to the recipient! I put some leftover piñata candy in the little bags, and taped them to the back. They came out so cute, and I spent more time deciding what to do than actually making them.

    Reply

  24. Tania says

    Adorable — and so great to see a treat for kids that isn’t sugar laden. You’ve inspired me to try to come up with something cute last minute for my daughter’s daycare teachers! And yes, totally with you on the glasses and scruff — the hubs only rocks that look once in a blue moon but I love it.

    Reply

  28. Life In Yellow says

    I laughed out loud at the Scissors valentine! My husband definitely thinks I’m “cray” because I have “regular” scissors (for paper) and “ribbon only!” scissors that don’t fray the ribbon. He seriously thinks I’m off my rocker, but I SO get it! :)

    Reply

  29. Erin says

    I lost my mom’s good scissors once and I’m was knocked down on the favorite child list for a few weeks. Thank goodness a new (and better!) pair put me right back up at the top where I belong. :) Happy Valentine’s Day~

    Reply

  30. Sandy says

    Love the candy free valentine.
    I just had a thought that would drop your price in half. What if you would have not purchased the bags and just stuck the label on the back side of the crayon box and then taped the book to the crayons?

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      Oh yes, that would work too! I just fell hard for the bags, and 20 of them for $1 was pretty hard to resist! It would have just dropped the total cost by a buck to skip them :)

      xo
      s

  31. Lauren says

    I have good scissors… but my husband doesn’t know that I do. Because I hid them. Because I have a sewing machine and I cute fabric and I finally understand why my mom yelled at us a few times as kids. It’s just easier this way…

    Thank you for making me smile!

    Reply

  32. Karyl says

    I love non-candy Valentines. The kiddos and I are just finishing up ours from an idea I stole off Pinterest: brownies cut out in heart shapes put in a similar type Valentine-ish bag like yours. Looks cute and seemed like a good idea at the time, but with 4 kids x 27 kids each, I’m sick of looking at brownies and having to eat all the odd cuts :-).

    Reply

  36. Kristen says

    I used these exact same crayons and notepads for the preschoolers I teach! I also scored a bag of heart shaped lollipops for another $1.50. Thank goodness for Target! Wish I had thought up that cute poem, though. I will be saving that one for next year :)

    Reply

  37. Starr @ The Kiefer Cottage says

    Did anybody else here just buy the cardboard valentines and write everyone’s names on them? I grew up doing it, and by golly, so will my kids. So Katie is handing out Tinker Bell cards with her signature scrawled on them.

    (And I remember when I messed up my mother’s beautiful scissors. She still reminds me of it 20 years later)

    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. The only thing is that these are two year olds, so they can’t really scribble their names yet :)

      xo
      s

  38. sophie says

    our 12 year old is now ‘too cool’ for Valentines (read awkward and not sure how to do things and too literal for irony), but I sat down and collaged valentines with our 7 year old. No real rhyme or reason to them but we used:
    1. the coloured coffee filters he made in the fall that we saved just for this purpose (take coffee filter, cut open, draw on with normal markers, spritz with water and see colours blend… beautiful!)
    2. rainbow coloured feathers
    3. foam hearts
    4. felt hearts
    5. and a glue stick.

    And then on the back we glued a label that said happy valentines day and he addressed them to everyone in his class.

    It was a project that stretched across three ca. 45 minute sessions (not counting the coffee filters, which was another project last fall), and he enjoyed it.

    And he’ll be the only one with homemade cards tomorrow, so he’ll feel good about that.

    Reply

  39. Erin H. says

    I accidentally read that note as saying “Preschool is fun because of Clara.” I was momentarily shocked at your narcissism. ;)

    Reply

  41. michelle@decorandthedog says

    Mr. Gosling has some tough competition after this Hey Girl link up. Thanks for joining in.

    I can’t stop laughing at the thought of Kelly’s DIY Husband Calendar. Just when the ol’ husband thinks I have gone too far…he really has no idea.

    Reply

  42. Rachel says

    For christmas my parents brought us back souvenirs from the British Museum in these cool canvas tote bags with the British Museum logo on it. The first words out of my hubby’s mouth were “Wow. Cool tote bags. These would look great in a shadow box.” My jaw hit the floor.

    Reply

  43. Gabbi @ Retro Ranch Reno says

    I love those little gift bags…they are adorable!!

    And John’s memes are hilarious. Thanks for joining in on the fun! I used our cat because I’m not so sure my hubby would have appreciated all his work friends seeing something I put together hehe.

    Reply

  44. Cassie says

    I’m student teaching this semester so I’m slacking. While I usually handmake Valentine’s Day cards for both of my girls and my oldest’s birthday (the 17th!) invitations and thank yous, I did all store bought this year… Luckily My Little Pony had some Valentine cards!!! whoop whoop!!

    But I did find a Lofthouse Sugar Cookie copy cat recipe and made 4 dozen to send in to the girls’ parties!

    Reply

  45. Donna Jean says

    My son and I made some peanut butter cookies with Reese’s peanut butter hearts on them and took them to family today. I got little brown paper gift bags from Michael’s and had him color on them and I made a little tag to go on them that said “Roses are Red, Violets are Blue, Poems are hard, COOKIES!” I even got him to say “Happy Valentine’s Day!” when we took them to each person’s house (he’s 2 1/2 and often decides to play shy – even though he talks up a storm at home!)

    Reply

  46. Kiki says

    Loved this post! As someone who works with preschoolers, reading that cute little Valentine’s Day “poem” that you guys came up with for Clara’s valentines made my day and I just might have to steal and use it someday.

    And those Hey Girl memes? Sherry, you’re a genius. I especially love that first one. :)

    Reply

  49. Theresa says

    I know you are the experts and I don’t want to critize by any means, I promise! I’m a huge fan of your blog and love your design work, but….is there a future design plan that will tie in with that tan bedsheet? I love the color scheme but can’t get past that tan bedsheet everytime I see the room :( You can tell me to mind my business I wont be offended ;-)

    Reply

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