This is Day 33 of the Green in 365 series!
It’s the month of love and Valentine’s Day is just around the corner. Since my daughter is in school now she has to hand out Valentine’s to her class. But, it so frustrating to me that every month there seems to be a reason to hand out candy at school, so I try not to add to the candy craze by having her hand out candy-free Valentines.
When you’re in school though, there’s not much cooler than giving and receiving candy. To help her feel good about her Valentines, I like to find simple, candy-free cards that she can make and feel proud about giving to her friends.
I got inspired by Andrea’s post on Candy-Free Valentine’s Ideas, and I decided I wanted to do a “You’re cute as a button” Valentine card. I searched around on Pinterest, but didn’t find what I was looking for, so I came up with my own version, and I wanted to share it with you. You guys, I have to say, Pinterest makes me a better mother because there is no way I would have ever come up with anything like this on my own!
DIY Cute as a Button, Candy-Free Valentine’s Cards
Supplies
- Cardstock
- Buttons
- Embroidery Thread
- Embroidery Needle
- Or Glue instead of thread and needle
Print out the Valentine’s Cards and cut them out, or have your little one cut them out.
Thread the needle with the embroidery thread, and have your child sew a button onto each card, helping them to sew or knot the thread as necessary. This is probably a better project for an older child, my five year old could sew the buttons on, but she needed a fair amount of help and supervision, especially with threading the needle and knotting the thread, which made it a little time consuming. She finished five cards yesterday, and we’ll work on them a little bit every day until Valentine’s Day.
Another option, especially for a younger child, would be to glue the buttons into place. It might not be quite as cute as sewing them on, but it would still be a sweet, homemade Valentine card.
Have them write their name, and they’re ready to hand out to their friends! A cute, homemade, candy-free Valentine that they worked hard on and can be proud of! My daughter even said, “I love my Valentine’s Cards!”
Free Printable:
If you’d like to make these Valentines with your child, here are the free printable cards!
Click here for the Printable Cute As a Button Valentine Cards
Please use these for your own personal use, and share them with your friends!
Do you have a fun idea for Candy-Free Valentine’s Cards? Share it with us in the comments!
Find all the Green in 365 posts.
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Thank you! This is great! My school is encouraging having a heart healthy Valentine’s day and this works out perfectly! Next year I’m also going to try and help the parents come up with ways to help make Valentine’s without having to resort to the commercially made ones. I just love how they encourage healthy habits, family time, and improve fine motor skills! I’m going to pass these along for sure! Thank you, thank you, thank you!
Your welcome, Heather!
My son, now in second grade, has always designed and made his own valentines, although when he was younger he would ask a parent to cut out the hearts. When he was 3 and 4 he just wanted hearts cut out of colored scrap paper that is blank on one side, and he wrote his name and colored designs on each one. They have gradually gotten more elaborate, and now that he can read he realizes it’s odd to use paper with some random thing printed on the back; one year he glued different-colored hearts back-to-back with the blank sides out, but mostly he’s used new blank paper.
This year, he came home grumbling about the school’s amnesty from the Healthy Snacks Rule on Valentine’s Day and determined to give something other than candy in his valentines. He is giving each classmate an envelope containing a paper heart, a penny, and a few stickers. Works for me!