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!
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.
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.
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:
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.
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!”
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.
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…
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!
Love the hey girls!
So awesome that you Hey Girl’d John! And those little baggies are adorable! :)
OMG–GOOD SCISSORS!! My mom had a pair that I was NEVER allowed to touch when I was younger. Fast forward to my 30-year old self, I got a sewing machine last year and with it was a nice, new pair of scissors with a note addressed to my 2 1/2 year old that read: “These are mommy’s good scissors, please don’t use them.” I was dying! Glad we aren’t the only family with “good scissors”.
Hahahahah!
xo
s
ahhh! wishing this was up before i hit target up this morning!! so want to copy this….chances i’ll get it done before the pre-school party tomorrow..slim to none. but i’ll try. oh. i will try.
:)
Aw, good luck Amy!
xo
s
I made a lame homemade valentine with a piece of cardstock and red with white polka dottted washi tape.
But, I sent it with stellar PB cookies!
I love the Valentine poem :)
Those sound so cute!
xo
s
What a practical valentine. I am sure the parents will appreciate not getting another piece of candy or more of those junky toys. Good thinking!
I was making some last minute valentines for my son (who’s in 4th grade) last night. And yes, I totally Hey Girl-ified my man. You can check it out at the bottom of this post here:
http://controllingcraziness.blogspot.com/2013/02/finish.html
Hahaha, I love it!
xo
s
Those treatbags give me cuteness overload! And I may have to make a hey girl for my valentine… great idea. I made me some super-easy washi tape valentines this year. I remember you mentioned that you don’t mind when people link up in the comments, so here they are: http://bit.ly/Z98RBr
Love those!
xo
s
Such a cute idea – and LOVE that font! Downloading now.
P.S. I’ve always been a sucker for the scruff too. I even asked “mah man” to leave the scruff on our wedding day! :) (sigh)
So funny and cute bags!
Perfect shade choice!
Chris only wears his glasses at work, and I’m like, “Ugh. Babe. Don’t deprive me!!” y-u-m.
Haha, I know right?
xo
s
That is all so cute! I’ve been seeing a lot of cute ideas for kids’ valentines on blogs. I take it no one just goes to the store and buys the perforated ones in a box anymore? I don’t have kids so I’m way out of the loop.
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.
xo
s
What cute bags! And the scissors hey girl definitely happens at my house. LOL!
For my little Valentine boys (birthdays are feb 12 and
13) I whiped up little treat bags. The boys helped
Me melt chocolate chips in microwave, we dipped
Marshmallows in the chocolate and added sprinkles.
We let those harden, placed them in little cellophane
Bags, added little grahm crackers and created a sticker
On Avery labels that said: “everyday I like you s’more”
Cute, huh? :)
Really cute!!
xo
s
Hey girl! Holla! Thanks so much for jumping in to the hey girl craziness. I know if John’s anything like my husband, it must’ve totally made John’s whole Valentine’s day, and you can cross any gift-giving off your to-do list THIS year. (Muahaha)
P.S.: After reading through all the *HI-larious* memes people linked up, I’m totally making a Husbands of DIY calendar. Not really. But seriously.
Hahah, that would rock. I vote next year we get them to dress up as firemen, policemen, construction guys, and other calendar-worthy things and then Hey Girl the heck outta them. Ha!
xo
s
Husbands of DIY calendar….DYING…where can I order mine?
Oh yes! I can see it now. Diy husband in police uniform wielding handcuffs: “hey girl. You’re right, that giant leather recliner IS a style crime.”
Hahahahaahahhahahahahhahah!
xo
s
I totally “Hey Girl”-ed my man too! I was dying laughing creating them. He was less than pleased (but secretly loved the attention).
http://annebronkema.wordpress.com/2013/02/07/hey-girl-in-which-my-husband-soundly-trumps-ryan-gosling/
I should note that one was even YHL inspired (the haircut one)…even though I watched your tutorial to cut John’s hair, my hubs is surprisingly protective of his haircuts and won’t let me near his hairs with a scissors!
Hahah!
xo
s
Those are hilarious!
xo
s
What is it about scruffy that is so darn attractive? My guy has perfect vision, so I don’t get the bonus of glasses (who has that at age 28?? or am i the only blind one rocking glasses since age 9 in this group?). But scruffy with a baseball cap? Sign me up! Cutest Valentines, too- adorable, Clara’s classmates will love them!
I was just getting ready to make my hub his favorite granola bars for Valentine’s Day when he walked in the door.
Hopefully I’ll get them done tonight if I can convince him to go for a trail run later today. It’ll be a lovely surprise, as he doesn’t know that I bought extra Nestle holiday mint chocolate chip bags (his favorite) that I’ve hidden and have been saving for this moment.
That’s so cute!
xo
s
ZOMG that poem is the best thing I have seen all week. Too clever.
Why, oh WHY did you wait until today to make these?! So freaking adorable and I totally could have stolen the idea for my sons preschool class if I hadn’t already went with the Swedish Fish in a plastic bag with a fish bowl in it that says “I’m glad we’re in the same school.” Both are cute I guess, but I totally love your idea!!
Aw, that’s really cute!!
xo
s
A couple of things:
-Cute valentines! But no candy or chocolate included? :(
-Is not John really not allowed to use the “good” scissors? :)
-I think we need a photo of John with glasses from the front! :D
We didn’t do candy or chocolate since we didn’t know if that was allowed at Clara’s school (turns out some kids did lolly pops but mostly everyone didn’t do anything edible). As for the good scissors, it’s just a joke because he ruins them by using them to cut things like zip ties and plastic packaging. Then I go to use them to cut paper or fabric and they don’t cut. And I look at him and growl. Hah!
xo
s
Cute and cute! My son has 16 kids in his preschool class too. I cut blue cardstock to fit in clear cello bags from Target with a scalloped wave at the top, wrote some sort of fishy-message (“I’m glad you’re in my school!”), and he decorated them with heart stickers. Then they went into the bags with a few Swedish fish. I got a HUGE kick out of them. :)
Also… same opinion here regarding a scruffy husband and glasses. My favorite for sure. A year or two ago my husband started rocking full-time scruff by only shaving with clippers. LOVE.IT.
Really cute Valentine idea!
xo
s
Glad to see I wasn’t the only parent doing the last minute dash to get Valentine’s Day goodies for my daughter’s class!!
Haha, I was right there with ya!
xo
s
Oh my God! My best friend and i JUST had a lengthy “good” scissor discussion today on the phone and how we have to hide them and forbid people from usin them (the same way our Moms did). I spit out my drink when I read that one. That was awesome. Of course, my husband could’t find scissors if I paid him…we were talking about our kids. Too funny.
Hahah!
xo
s
I, too, laughed at the “good scissors” reference :)
In our household, a certain someone *cough DARRYL cough* used mine to crack open some Slush Puppies! I nearly exploded went I to use the “good scissors”, and found them covered in red & blue sticky goo! :)
Clara’s “Valentines” will LOVE these….soo sweet, and sugar-free, too! :)
xox
When my kids were young, we had a class list and put each child’s name on his/her valentine/treat. Did you have a reason for not doing this?
Our teachers actually asked us not to put kids’ names on them since they’re all about each kid handing them out themselves, and Clara can only handle dropping one into each bag (she can’t read so she couldn’t distribute labeled ones like that). It’s really cute to see them all handing them out to each other :)
xo
s
Give John a nice sketch book for future projects, it could make a chapter in a new book someday. I have one for landscape design and one for architecture. Nothing like a new sketch book!
Love that!
xo
s
If I was a toddler in Clara’s preschool class her Valentines would be my favorite.
I love the Hey Girl memes! Brad loves it when I yell at him for using the good scissors too. It’s probably why he uses them so often. And thanks for the Hey Girl challenge shout out! We’ve been amazed by the turnout.
Of course Megan Klementik, I mean Chelsea! Haha! It’s so much fun.
xo
s
cute V-day gifts! i just love the dollar spot. we hosted a play date for my 2 year old this past weekend and i found all of the goodies for the favors and craft projects there.
Such a great and affordable idea! Love how the kiddos will get some loot without worrying about food allergies!
Question- Do you do anything special for the teachers? I never know what to do for my son and his preschool. Parenting is so stressful!
We didn’t know what to do this year, so we dropped three extra valentines in the bag for them (but they didn’t have teacher bags for accepting things so they ended up coming back home with us). Wish we had thought to hand them something personally!
xo
s
Those are super cute!
I am doing my little JBear’s valentines up tonight for his pre-school class. I found (via pintrest of course) cute little fish bowl print offs that say “I’m glad we’re in the same school”. I’m going to put those with a little bag of multi-coloured goldfish crackers. I’ll post about it tomorrow so you can see how they turned out.
Really cute!
xo
s
I “heart” those little Cello bags at Target! I always DIY treat bags for our son’s parties at school, and at $1 for a bag of 20, you really get a bang for that buck!
Ha! I love posts like this that show off the fun way your minds work. Awesome poem and even awesomer (not a word, but I like it anyways) “hey girl” meme pics. I needed a little 3:27pm laugh.
Love Clara’s Valentines! Great idea :)
My 5 year old went with dinosaurs this year.
Thanks for introducing me to a few new awesome blogs!
Made a quick Hey Girl with my Honey…
http://www.daydreamingnightowl.com/2013/02/hey-girlmargarita.html
So cute!
xo
s
What a cute preschool idea, love it! And that last picture of your man is totally sexy, you two are so cute together!
LOVE it! I really enjoyed reading everyone’s Hey Girl pictures from their link-up. I never got around to it, but mine totally would be something like “Hey girl, when can we go to HomeGoods again?”
Hahahahah!
xo
s
Ha, love it! Thought the scissors might get a “hey girl” mention. He he he…Have you seen this: http://pinterest.com/pin/176414510372914589/
Hahah, yes!
xo
s
Hey Girl. I love how you snuggle at night with your white ceramic animals.
Hahahah! How about: Hey Girl, I love how you name all of your ceramic animals. That’s not crazy at all.
xo
s
bahahaha.
Hey Girl, do you think we can go to Homegoods for some more ceramic animals? I don’t think we have enough.
This could seriously just keep going.
Hahaha, it’s true!
xo
s
I had to make one, especially in honor of my pallet, pinterest, meme loving husband (so much sarcasm).
http://alturl.com/4hcai
Haha!
xo
s
My valentine is getting an awesome DIY card with a picture of Bates and Anna from Downton Abbey, caption: My heart BATES for you! So clever :)(Saw it on Etsy.) He’s gonna melt.
Oh and he gets new dress socks too!
Hahahaha, I love that!
xo
s
Love the Crayon idea! So much we’re doing crayon roll ups for my daughter’s preschool class complete with ‘you color my world’ tags. So fun, and a great option when some kids have allergies. I’m sad I missed seeing you guys in Atlanta last week! My littlest baby had his first fever and I just couldn’t leave him. From other people’s pictures it looked really fun! So bummed!
Aw, so sorry we missed you in ATL! Hope the little one is feeling better! And the crayon roll ups sound awesome!
xo
s
my 3 year old son loves donuts so we are picking up a dozen Krispy Kreme donuts and I will individually wrap them and stick on a label that says: “Donut what I’d do without a friend like you!”
So cute!
xo
s
and I love your idea and poem!!
Love it! haha. Ya’ll would probably like these too: http://www.houzz.com/ideabooks/7346252/list?utm_source=Houzz&utm_campaign=u230&utm_medium=email&utm_content=gallery6
And yes, I made my own calligraphy + lined envelope valentines this year… check it out: http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10151366027869435&set=pb.93658824434.-2207520000.1360788145&type=3&theater
Hahah, so funny!
xo
s
Hahaha, I LOVE the Hey Girl memes. And I love Clara’s little bags. Crayons are way more fun than just a card Valentine.
so funny! i bought the exact same crayons and some other notebooks for my daughter’s valentine’s day party tomorrow. my husband said it was too boring without candy, so i had to buy some fruit rollups, which jacked up the cost per piece (haha). i’d already bought candy, but thought i ate too much of it to have 36 pieces left. turns out i didn’t and therefore didn’t need the fruit rollups! geez, i just can’t get it right…here’s my blog post on my last year’s valentine’s day #momfail http://www.lifeasalindquist.blogspot.com/2012/02/my-valentines-day-debacle.html
Aw that’s so cute!
xo
s
I saw these crayon related phrases on Pinterest, for future crayon related Valentine’s– “For Crayon Out Loud, Happy Valentine’s Day”… could also say, “You COLOR my world!” Cute, huh? Love the candy-free and super adorable bags.
Haha, so cute!
xo
s
How cute! Sure beats the out-of-the-box Snoopy Valentine’s my mom would let me scribble over. I was just going to ask if people still even do that but see Erin beat me to it and you answered her. Very neat!
Love, love, LOVE it! Simple, sweet, and personal! Although I haven’t the energy to make it to Target (for the 49th time this week), I will be stealing this idea for next year.
I LOOOVE how in LOVE you two are!!! The shadowbox one made me bust a gut :)