Valentine’s Day Craft

So this post is a bit overdue but if you are reading this, you are ready to prepare for Valentine’s Day next year. Don’t believe me? I will try to make a believer out of you by the end of this post!

If you are like me, you are constantly trying to come up with fun things that excite your students! You also are balancing paying bills, rent, and for all of life’s other necessities and knows that all too quickly even dollar store items add up REAL quick. That being said, I am ALWAYS looking for a good sale which often comes AFTER the season has passed. I know my average class size year to year (26 three years in a row) and for me 75% off 30 items is much cheaper than 26 items full price.

Allow me to demonstrate my math…

These bubble wands from Michael’s were originally $1 each, if I bought them at Christmas time they would have been a total of $26, or $22.10 including the teacher discount.

I found these same bubble wands on clearance at the end of the summer (the colors change slightly season to season) for 30¢ each. I bought 30 to be safe (actually 50-my sisters class too) my 30 came to a total of $9 but I used my teacher discount bringing them down to $7.65 a savings of $14.45.

In buying them so far in advance I did myself a huge favor. When it was January/February I wasn’t rushing around trying to find something nonfood related, that was also cute, that also had enough for all my students, that also wasn’t super expensive, you get the point of my run-on sentence!

Finally, adding the quote. In the Cricut Design Space I used a Fontastic Fonts font to write “You blow me away Valentine!” I cut it out on outdoor vinyl, so that if it gets wet while being used it won’t come off. I welded the letters together and set them up as a 9 inch by 1 inch cut. Then I watched a few episodes of Friends while I weeded out the pieces.

The trick I had transferring was once weeded, I put the transfer tape over the whole sheet and let it sit for 48 hours. I only did this out of being tired and it being conference season so I had a lot to prepare, but it worked 1,000x better than the year prior. It was perfect for all the little pieces!

Once transferred on, I added a bow and it was ready to go! My sister added a tag to her classes, but honestly I knew I would post mine so my families would see! The kids LOVED them, yes my fourth graders still get excited for bubbles, and my sisters first graders did too!

Moral of this story. Start preparing for Valentine’s Day now. When you see the sale, get it, tuck it away in your holiday bin, and you’ll be set to go for Valentine’s Day. What is your favorite Valentine to give your students?