What are your thoughts on homemade Valentines? Do your kids make them? And do they want to, or is it more a this-will-be-a-fun-thing-to-do-together mom idea?
When I think of the hassle of getting the supplies and then actually clearing a space on my table to work on this with my kiddos? It’s not a pretty picture.
I guess I love the idea in an abstract way, but not in a realistic way. My kids would enjoy doing 3 – 4 of them and then would be done.
Isn’t it enough to get them to sit down and write out all those names?
Valentine’s Day used to be pretty simple. You child would bring a shoe box to school, decorate it there, and bring in the cards on the 14th.
There might be a simple class party with some cupcakes while the kids passed out their store-bought Valentines.
Are store-bought Valentines a thing of the past?
One year, my kids needed to bring their cards in a few days before Valentine’s Day.
For some reason, this was more stressful than it needed to be.
We really need all the time we can get. Typically, my kids write them out on the 11th or 12th.
Yes, that’s not really teaching my kids about time management, but it’s worked for us.
I finally ran out on February 10th to buy the Valentines. They passed out Star Wars cards the year before and wanted to again.
I usually opt for Target for these types of things as it is my all-around favorite store but I didn’t want to get sucked into the Target Vortex so I made a mad dash to Walmart.
Walmart didn’t have them. Instead of running to other stores I decided I needed to pick something.
So, while looking at the quantity per box and the price (need 23 and 24 per class so I’m not buying a box with 20 and buying three boxes) I choose Skittles.
The Skittles’ box included 25 cards plus one for the teacher (bonus!), and they were only $3 a box instead of others that were $5. They may have been a bit plain and lackluster, but they were just fine.
Both boys were fine with the Skittles’ cards and were already calculating how many extra Skittles packs they could eat.
My younger son asked if Skittles were gluten-free because of someone with allergies in his class (points for thoughtfulness).
Class lists of names
I love how the teachers always work hard to include everyone in the class.
They have always said, “If you choose to bring in Valentines, be sure to have one for everyone.” Love it!
My older son didn’t bring home a list of kids’ names in his class.
I’m not sure if that’s because he was sick and missed the note home or because teachers don’t pass out class lists in the older grades. Luckily (hopefully) he remembered all of his classmates’ names.
The kids wrote out all of their Valentine’s Day cards that very night without argument or complaint! Success!
Homemade Valentines cards
I really was feeling very accomplished and forgot my guilt over not trying harder to get the Star Wars cards until I logged onto Facebook that evening before going to bed.
(Why do I do this at night only to not be able to fall asleep obsessing about this nonsense?)
I saw a friend from Maine post a picture of her children’s homemade Valentine’s.
It wasn’t a braggy post. It said:
All I gotta say is next year I’m buying Valentines!
Hello sanity! I loved it. She tried and acknowledged it wasn’t worth the effort. She’s going back to the tried and true way of buying them at the store and calling it good. She was humble and admitted the effort was too much and not worth it.
In the picture, there were craft supplies everywhere: scissors, ribbon and construction paper. It seemed they cut out some red paper and placed stickers on it and used some ink stamps to mark: You Rock, Valentine.
They used Pop Rocks. It was cute but not completely over-the-top.
And even that seemed to be too much for this mom. Bravo sanity!
Making Valentine’s must be a royal pain because after making five or six Valentines, it’s just not fun anymore. It’s more like a factory assembly line. The kids might think it’s fun in the beginning, but it gets old fast.
Overall, my impression of her Facebook post was that they worked hard on the cards. She didn’t post to show off. The cards were time consuming, and she seemed happy they were done.
Is buying Valentines taking the easy way out?
The next time I logged onto Facebook, I saw this woman’s post had 50 Likes and 9 Comments. I read the first Comment which was:
Winnie is passing out prepackaged Strawberry Shortcake stickers. Yep, I’m one of those moms.
Ummmmm, sorry, but when did “one of THOSE moms” become someone who buys pre-packaged Valentine’s cards?
THOSE MOMS are the ones MAKING THOSE damn homemade cards, raising the bar for all of us.
The overachieving moms are Those Moms.
Why do we/they need to over-complicate this?
Shocked at homemade Valentines
Like most, my kids’ first experience with exchanging Valentine’s was in preschool.
I remember being STUNNED at the amount of HOMEMADE VALENTINE’S CARDS my BOTH my kids received.
I clearly remember thinking: Why would you bother making homemade Valentine’s when they are so cheap and easily accessible at the store?
A good 1/3 of the cards were handmade and homemade.
Truly, it never crossed my mind to have my kids make (READ: ME MAKE) Valentine’s cards. I could not get my mind around this idea.
I eagerly awaited the next year to see how many handmade valentines they received.
Maybe last year was a fluke? But again, it was a good 1/3 of them. This has happened every year.
Even today, years later, I’m still in shock over it. We literally count them each year (good fractions practice for the kids).
I never had the desire, much less thought to make them, ever, and like this year, am lucky to even get to the store to pick up a few boxes.
Homemade Valentines on Pinterest
And goodness knows, even though I’m not a frequent Pinterest-user (Who needs to feel even more overwhelmed and incompetent? I do not.) it would NEVER cross my mind to look up ideas to make them.
Kudos to you if you love making homemade valentines.
Does not making valentines make me a less-er mom?
I think not. Aren’t we busy enough?