It's that time of year again, time to make Valentines. My son and I have dhand-made Valentines since he was 2 1/2. We pulled out the Valentines issue of Family Fun Magazine to get some ideas, and G was really excited to make the Caped Cute-saders.
We had everything else on hand except the Tootsie Pops, and made a few changes to the instructions to streamline the process of making 2 dozen Valentines. I printed the Template, blew it up 10% to fit our rubber stamp, glued five copies of the Cape and Mask to a sheet of paper, and copied them onto Red Card Stock. G cut out the Capes and I helped him a little with the small curves of the Masks.
I did not trust Glue Sticks to hold the flat masks onto round Pops. So we ran the Masks through our mini Xyron Sticker Maker which gave G a sheet of Mask Stickers he could easily peel and adhere. Hopefully they will not pop off before his classmates get to eat them.
Knowing my 6 1/2 year old would not be up for writing a message on each cape/card, I used an interchangeable rubber stamp which allows us to create any message, "YOU ARE A SUPER FRIEND", "YOU ARE A SUPER TEACHER", and "FROM G--" for the back of each Cape. Since they were all going to be the same we decided not to write in the other kids names, easier for passing out to a class full of kids.
Finally we punched holes in the tops of the cards. Using a 3-hole punch G decided we could punch 3 cards at a time, very efficient. Then he slipped on each superhero's Cape and his Valentines are ready to take to school in the morning.
Year after year he comes home from school with a pile of generic, store-bought Valentines, but the few handmade ones always seem the most special. We enjoy this ritual every year, and I hope G will continue to want to make his own Valentines. So far he has never asked to buy store-bought ones, he just assumes cards are something we make ourselves.
