It is February 3rd, do you know what your kids are taking to school on Valentine’s Day?
I don’t know about where you live, but many of the stores around me are already moving on to Easter. It’s important to act now to get your kids’ school Valentines planned and purchased. You don’t want your kids to be left with a mishmash of randomness to bring to school on the 14th.
In my few years of doing Valentine’s Day pass-outs at preschool, I’ve learned that people are all over the place with what they send to school. When I was in school, it was folded cardboard with whatever the hot Disney character du jour was. I remember many school Valentines featuring Belle and Princess Jasmine, the two defining Disney characters of my childhood. Nowadays, kids bring in everything from nothing to these simple folded cards to a little treat to an entire freaking goody bag exploding at the seams. The sheer variety of school Valentines can make you feel like whatever you send in with your kids to school is wrong.
I’ve coped with this feeling by going straight down the middle of the options available for school Valentines. This way your kid’s offerings blend in with the rest and don’t leave him or her feeling “different.” For me, this middle-of-the-road approach to school Valentines looks like a card, a piece of candy, and a non-candy thing for each classmate.
School Valentines Caveat
Make sure you know the rules of your kids’ schools. Is the school nut-free? Is Valentine’s Day a no food event? Can you bring food items to distribute, but no candy? These are important things to know going into making your school Valentines plan.
Steps to Middle-of-the-Road School Valentines
1. Everyone gets one
This should be a no-brainer. Apparently the parents of some of my classmates were missing these particular brain cells, though, so it’s worth spelling out. Each kid in your kid’s class should receive the same school Valentine. This isn’t to stay that you should discourage your kid from sharing extra love with his or her bestie on Valentine’s Day, but exchange those extra gifts outside of the school-sanctioned Valentine swap.
If you and/or your child would like to personalize the Valentines, get a list from your child’s teacher. Make sure that the list includes nicknames or cases in which the kid goes by his or her middle name. You want to avoid your kid feeling awkward when his friend Chip receives a Valentine addressed to Charles.
If you’re like me, you choose not to personalize the Valentines and simply address all the Valentines to “My Friend.” This way neither your kid nor the teacher has to spend time ensuring that each kid gets the correct Valentine. Your kids’ teachers will thank you for taking this approach.
2. Card
Maybe it’s nostalgia talking, but I love the super commercialized Valentines with characters and cheesy sayings on them. This was by far the most common Valentine I received in my decorated brown lunch sacks oh so many years ago. You can find them basically anywhere. Like the cookie tins I suggested in my Best Christmas Gift for Teachers post, I like to by my kids’ school Valentine cards at the Dollar Tree. They typically have a pretty good selection of themes, and the price is comparable, if not less, than what you’d pay at the big box stores. This year I grabbed Paw Patrol Valentines for my son to pass out and Minnie Mouse Valentines for my daughter to giver her classmates.
If you really hate the character-heavy pre-printed Valentines or you love a craft project, feel free to bust out the art supplies and make homemade school Valentines with your kid(s). We did this for my son’s first year out of the infant room, and they turned out pretty cute. I bought Valentine-colored construction paper (think red, pink, purple, silver) that I cut into heart shapes and puffy heart stickers (again, thanks Dollar Tree). I wrote a simple message of “Happy Valentine’s Day” on each called it a day. Now with two kids, I would never dream of trying to do this again until they are old enough to largely handle the entire project with very little supervision. Ain’t nobody got time for crafts for other people’s kids!
3. Piece of Candy
My kids’ school permits candy, but requires it to be nut-free. Unfortunately, the children will miss out on delicious Reese’s hearts (more for me!), but they’ll get something to spike their blood sugar enough to make them hell on wheels. Things like KitKats and small packets of gummy bears have been historic hits among the pre-school crowd.
I typically add one or two pieces of candy to a small bag with the card and the non-candy item discussed below for a nice finished treat. The resealable treat bags with zippers, also from Dollar Tree are clutch! Those twist ties just cause a lot of unnecessary aggravation for the parents who are assembling the school Valentines and the kids who are trying to access their loot.
4. Non-candy item
Last, but not least, I like to include a small non-candy item in each kid’s treat bag. You can opt for something frivolous (think a sticker or a small toy) or something useful (like a pencil or an eraser). At the risk of sounding like I’m working for the Dollar Tree, I will again suggest you peruse the aisles of the Dollar Tree and see what you can find. Last year I sent in dinosaur-shaped erasers for the 3-year-olds, and the year before I opted for shades of red and pink crayons for the 2-year-old set. This year I lucked out because the Valentine cards that I picked up at the Dollar Tree came with jumbo stickers, which will sure to be appreciated by both the 1-year-olds and the 4-year-olds. Gotta love a two for one, especially at the dollar store!
Good luck helping your kids put together their school Valentines!