be mine

Today we had a big time at our playgroup Valentine's party. The kiddos at yummy treats, decorated hearts, played on the playground, put their names on mailboxes, and of course exchanged Valentines! It was super cute & fun for the kids yet also easy & low-key. My kind of party! Morgan was the mastermind behind this party, and she really is the guru of planning things that are fun & memorable yet not over-the-top or extreme.  

Here are the Valentines that we did this year. The boys took them to their friends at school yesterday since they don't go to school on Tuesdays.

 (Plastic dinosaur. Thanks to my friend Courtney for the idea)

(Teddy Grahams. Thanks Pinterest for the idea)

Am I going to win the most original or craftiest Mom award for these? Nope. But they're cute enough, they're a bit more fun than the boxed cartoon cards, and most importantly to me, Noah was able to completely help in the process of putting these together for his friends. We talked about why we give Valentines to our friends and why we are so grateful for friends in our life. Noah put all the dinosaurs in the little sacks, wrote his friends' names on the back of all the cards, helped me punch holes in the cards, and cut all the ribbons. And he was SO proud of his Valentines and SO excited to hand them out!

When I was perusing the favors section at Party City looking for plastic dinosaurs, I saw plenty of other little goodies that would make cute Valentines. All these things are super cheap but kids would love them. You just need little plastic sacks, cardstock, and ribbon to make fun Valentines! You could make the cards much cuter than I did (my printer is out of colored ink) and tie them with really fun ribbon (all I had on hand was good ole curling ribbon, so we went with it). Here are some silly ideas of things you could use for Valentines. A couple of these ideas came from Pinterest and the rest are just random ideas I had. Most of these items are from Party City, and a couple from Michael's. But you could find things at the Dollar Store, Target $1 section, Wal Mart, Mardel, etc. 

I "wheelie" like you

or You're a "wheelie" great friend:

You're out of this world!

Have a ball this Valentine's Day!

You're a masterpiece!

You blow me away!

Happy Valentine's Day, Lovebug!

 I "mustache" you: Will you be my Valentine?

 (can I interject here and say I really don't get why mustaches are so popular right now? I agree that all the "mustache" plays on words are funny, but I still don't understand where it came from)

I only have eyes for you!

or You are my sunshine

I dig you!

That last one was my favorite for some reason, and I really wanted to do those for Noah's. But at $1 per shovel, it was just too much for us between his class at school and his playgroup friends too. I just think they'd be too cute with the cards tied to the handle!

Happy (early) Valentine's Day!

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