Happy Valentine's Day!

Me: What kind of valentine cards do you want to give out to your class this year?

Monkey:  I don’t want to give out any.

Me: What?  You have to.

Monkey:  All the cards have love on them.  I don’t want to give them out to the boys.

Me: How about we get girl and boy valentines?  Look, here are baseball theme ones.

Monkey: (Looks at the back of the box).  Nope

Me: Why?

Monkey: (Reading the box)  Valentines, let’s take a walk in the ballpark together.  See!  It’s like I am asking him out on a date.

End scene.

I thought we could get one more year out of boxed Valentine cards, but I quickly found out that I was wrong.  I didn’t want the holiday to go by without it recognizing, so I started to brainstorm for ideas.  Where did I turn?  Why, Pinterest of course!  I found this Star Wars idea, but the Monkey was not having it.  I went back to the drawing board, and found this cute idea – Pixie Stix magic wands.  Winner!

This is a super easy idea, and can be adapted for any holiday (more on that later).  I bought a box of Pixie Stix at Sam’s Club (50 sticks for $12).  The ribbon was left over from Christmas.  I wanted to use hearts as the topper, but the Monkey said no way.  We found these cute Princess crown and Prince shields at the Dollar Tree (pack of 10 for $1).

Putting them together is a piece of cake, and can be done in four steps. 

1. Step One:  Tape the topper to the label on the candy tube (this will cover it up). 
2. Step Two:  Cut the ribbon into 12” lengths, and tie on the tube. 
3. Step Three: Use your scissors to curl the ribbon to make things extra pretty. 
4. Step Four: Admire your handiwork.

The Monkey loved the end result, and was super excited to give them out to her classmates.  I am sure that the class is going to LOVE them, and I am confident that their parents are going to HATE me.  Today is her classroom party, and I made cupcakes.  Totally not going to lie – these are from a box, and the frosting came from a can.  

Like I said, you can adapt these to any holiday.  Here are some ideas that you can build on:

St. Patrick’s Day à Shamrocks and green ribbon

Easter à Bunnies/Eggs and pink ribbon

Birthday à Balloons and any color ribbon

However you celebrate, have a Happy Valentine's Day.

Until next time....