Valentine's for Preschool

[hbridge]

Hi,

We just got the information for DC's Valentine's Party at school and I'm wondering if anyone has any great ideas as to what to give. I know we will be making Valentine's cards, but would love to include something else too.

They have decorated shoe boxes so there is plenty of room for large valentines/treats. Should we include candy, special crayons, pencils, ect.? Is there something fun we could easily make?

What have people done in the past? Last year DC's class was small and we did store bought cards. This year I wanted to do something a little more special.

I checked out the craft forum, but making crayons for 15 students is beyond me at the moment.

Thanks so much.

Oh, the children range from 2yrs 9mo thru 5 years old.

[SnuggleBuggles]

Last year we did those heart crayons from Family Fun magazine and they were awesome. Very, very easy to make- don't be overwhelmed by them. :)
http://jas.familyfun.go.com/arts-and-crafts?page=CraftDisplay&craftid=11585
btw, we used the silicone Wilton pans for them. Check the rest of Family Fun b/c there are lots of great ideas there.

The other year we made homemade heart shape cookeis and ds decorated them.

We always included store bought valentines too.

Most of the other parents just gave cards and some included candy (like a lolipop).

Beth

[lisams]

We've done stickers in the past. Even though DD's school has a no candy rule, there is always candy (at least in the past). I would rather not get the candy, but it doesn't keep me up at night if she gets some.

So, some ideas: stickers, pencils, party favor size playdough, flower seed packets, small pocket size notebooks (DD loves these to keep her "lists")

[cchavez]

We are doing store bought cards w/ organic yummy earth lollipops.

[mamicka]

DS's & I made valentine fish from cone coffee filters. I think they're really cute. I don't think any store-bought gifts are necessary.

[Corie]

This is what my daughter is making for her kindergarten
class. I found this idea in my Family Fun magazine a few
years ago and just kept it in my Valentine's file.

http://jas.familyfun.go.com/arts-and-crafts?page=CraftDisplay&craftid=11165

[KBecks]

We did stickers.

[shilo]

we do the larger snack sized boxes of raisins. the box is already red and i just get some fun stickers which DS helps decorate/cover up the sunmaid lady with. my grocery store puts the 6packs on sale 10 for $10 about once every other month, so i just stock up sometime in the month before valentine's day whenever i happen to see the sale. the stickers cost me more than the raisins.

hth, lori

[supercalifragilous]

Last year we did those heart crayons from Family Fun magazine and they were awesome. Very, very easy to make- don't be overwhelmed by them. :)
http://jas.familyfun.go.com/arts-and-crafts?page=CraftDisplay&craftid=11585
btw, we used the silicone Wilton pans for them. Check the rest of Family Fun b/c there are lots of great ideas there.Beth

We did this last year too! I tried them in the mini pans and found that silicone was easier, too. I got the X's and O's silicone pan from Williams Sonoma.

This year, I noticed Target has some silicone miniheart pans at the Dollar Spot for $2.50 for a pack of 3.

Along the same lines, this year I'm thinking of doing the same thing but with Jolly Ranchers so they're edible shapes.

[s7714]

I haven't decided if we're going to buy ours or make ours this year. Either way, we'll probably do stickers. We were going to make chocolate covered marshmallows on a stick (another Family Fun idea), but they're making rather small mailboxes so I don't think the marshmallows would fit.

[Jen841]

We put oranges in celo bags last year and put labels that said "Orange you glad it is valentine's day" and for the other (my monkey) we did "Go Banana's it is Valentine's Day". They had something with popcorn you could do too that someone in the class did.

A previous year I printed out coloring pages online and tied them with a ribbon.

Personally I stress and fret about doing something nice each year. I seem to be one of the only few that do this. This year we are handing out Cars and Superman store bought cards with tatoos. I know I will cave and do something else too, maybe coloring pages since those seem to be a hit. Please share if you have some good Valentine's Day ones.

[tiapam]

Personally, I prefer that DD does not get too much "stuff". I think just a card is fine, but a small treat or something else consumable (stickers are great) makes it a little more fun. We are doing a card that holds a lollipop.