Valentine’s Day is always a hit for preschoolers and school aged kids, and even now, as a big kid – I’m a huge fan of celebrating this holiday. Yes – everyday should be Valentine’s Day, just how everyday should be Christmas, and in our case, everyday should be Halloween! We should be showing our love and gratitude for those we love every single day of the calendar year. But what I love most about these occasions, is that we have a deadline – where we challenge ourselves to come up with fun and seemingly unique ideas for our friends and family. The best part? We come up with these ideas as a team. It gives us an excuse to get back into the groove of planning, prepping, and handing out. And as some of you know – we’re all about the handing out part of it.
Now that Little Mama is in pre-K, we’ve been faced every season with gift giving opportunities for the whole class. I call them opportunities, and not challenges, because we try to make it a point to enjoy the process, rather than dread it. I mean, gift giving is a choice – not an expectation. So it’s up to us to make it a chore, or to make it fun. Today – we’re going with fun.
Ask me how I feel about this in 5 years…
Unfortunately, as we recuperate from Big Daddy‘s 40th surprise parties, trips, and other shenanigans, as well as preparing for the upcoming Kid’s Fashion Week, we haven’t been able to give much attention to Valentine’s Day. Poor Cupid’s been given the back seat – right up until the Friday before Valentine’s Day. Our big challenge, was coming up with a Valentine’s Day gift for preschoolers that didn’t take too much time, yet appeared that it did. What 3-dimensional object could we possibly come up with that spells out fun, love, bright, and super duper easy?
Why, heart shaped springs of course!
Who doesn’t love springs? Little Mama sure does…
I can’t explain how quick and easy this was for my little preschooler and her already creatively-exhausted mother. All it took was 20 heart-shaped springs (from any dollar store or seasonal section of Target or Walmart), 2 sheets of 8.5 x 11 paper, some ribbon, a hole punch, and quick fingers. Oh – and a super involved, understanding husband on his day off to assist in the very important role of bow tying.
Within minutes, we finally completed what could have been a seemingly daunting task, and were ready to deliver before class started. Little Miss Cupid threw them in her spring basket, leaned back, and watched her little friends enjoy some spring action. This wasn’t your everyday Valentine’s Day gift for preschoolers, yet, simple enough to pull off quickly and successfully. Go, team-last-minute, go!
Just to keep things consistent, we decided to do the same for her ECE teachers. However, we were stumped with a very obvious dilemma. What would a grown adult possibly do with a spring? We decided to keep the message, tweaking it so it works for her educator rather than her peer, and placed the spring as an accessory to her greeting tag. We found some fun heart decorated chinese box containers in our craft closet (God bless our craft closet!), folded in the flaps, and threw in a couple heart shaped cookies – and voila! A very sweet and practical gift for a handful of very inspiring teachers.
Who said last minute ideas aren’t good, practical, (literally) heart-felt ideas? We sure didn’t! If you’re running late… you should definitely give this Valentine’s Day gift for preschoolers a whirl.
Showing your love, friendship, and appreciation, doesn’t have to be complicated!
Happy V Day!
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