I hate spending money on mass-produced Valentines that I know will be thrown away a few days later. It's a waste of money and resources and, until my kids start claiming that I'm ruining their lives by making them give homemade Valentines, I refuse to buy them. This year, since we're compacting, it was much easier to go homemade without having that tinge of guilt that I might be making the kids the target of DIY ridicule from their tiny peers.
It was surprisingly easy to come up with some sweet little Valentines without purchasing anything newly manufactured. We have enough ribbon and construction paper in our house to last for generations and I found some fun Valentine-themed wrapping paper at Goodwill. The kids wanted to give candy, which was a great opportunity to get rid of the eight thousand Dum Dums we still have from Halloween.
I cut hearts out of construction and wrapping paper, taped them together, then made small holes with my rivet tool for scrapbooking and tied a Dum Dum on each one. I'm personally a fan of much more muted colors, but these are fun and cheery and the kids love them.
I'm sure by next year the kids will want something horrendous like Hannah Montana or Justin "Beaver" as they call him. Or maybe we'll have to declare every February "Buy Nothing Month" so I can escape the commercialism. Do you think they'd catch on?
1 comments:
I love those! Alas I bought the dreaded store bought version. It was way quicker. Maybe next year I'll get a head start. I did make easy flower pens for the teachers, though.
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