For as long as I can remember, we have been putting together special little Valentine's bags for the kids' friends at school. Rather than opt for a cheap piece of cardboard with their names scribbled on it, I prefer something a little more useful. I usually give the kids a few options to choose from -- they choose the one that they want -- and then I print the tag (totally inexpensive to do this at a photo printing place like Meijer or Walgreens using a coupon) and purchase the goodies to go inside a clear cellophane bag.
As the kids are getting older, they are taking over much of the task themselves and they are done in less than a half hour with the assembly. Knowing that it would take Jimmy a little longer to put together the packages for his preschool friends , I worked with him individually setting him up in my office. I allowed him to use a sharpie and he carefully penned his name on 11 tags that read, "You knock my socks off, Valentine!"
It is well-known in his classroom that he loves FUN socks -- he always has on a pair with cute prints that include animals, characters and food items. So, how fitting was it to give each one of his friends a pair of fun socks that they could wear too?!
His name was written on the back all of each one all by himself and we also put together valentines for his two teachers using an EOS chapstick.
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Jack and Sophia settled on the same goodies for their classrooms, which made things easy to assemble.
The girls each received the softest cat puffball keychain (they are perfect to clip onto bookbags) and the boys all received small electronic basketball games that make noise whenever you make a basket with the ball. I am pretty sure the teachers just LOVED me by the end of the morning! Ha!
Sophia took her time carefully writing her name on each and every one based on the list of names that the teacher provided. She also took great pride in individually choosing the particular color cat puffball for each girl. She even ended up with one for herself that she promptly added to her bookbag. Purple, of course.
While Jack and Jimmy made their own valentine bags in their classroom to hold their stash, Sophia's classroom was instructed to make their own special box and bring it into the classroom on the day of the party. Luckily, because Sophia is my 'packrat/hoarder,' she had saved her box from the year before in her closet and we were able to just pull it down from the shelf and re-use it!
With Sam in middle school, there are (sadly) no more structured classroom parties like this anymore, but that didn't stop us from still putting together some special goody bags for her closest friends. I love an opportunity to gift someone with something -- even if it is small -- and I hope that I am imparting that on the kids too. A little bit of effort goes a long way.
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