Homemade Valentine’s Day Cards: How Our Family Tradition Began

by Holly Homer on February 3rd, 2011 | 3 Comments »

When my oldest son, Ryan, was in Kindergarten, I was a clueless first time Kindergarten mom.

This was made obvious the night before Valentines' Day. It occurred to me about 30 minutes before his bedtime on Feb. 13 that Ryan probably needed 18 Valentines.

duh.

Thank goodness for the crapload of scrapbooking supplies in my closet.

We cut, stamped and signed 18 Valentines plus a special edition for the teacher.

Yep, Martha Stewart would be proud.

I learned my lesson and the following year while shopping at the grocery store in early February, I wheeled over to the seasonal area and said, “Let’s pick out your Valentines!”

To which Ryan replied, “But we ALWAYS make them!”

ugh.

So my dear reader, this is how the handmade Valentine tradition began in my house. It wasn't something that I intentionally started, or anything I EVER would have intentionally started.

We are the family that takes the homemade Valentines to school...no Sponge Bob or Scooby Doo sentiments for us!

Each year the scrapbook closet opens and grade school Valentine magic happens.

Before you nominate me for Mother of the Year or Martha Stewart II, you might need to know that the QUALITY of the Valentines is not important to my boys. It is the appropriate QUANTITY that is important.

They may look overly handmade, but they always end up at school with the proper number of cards.

Two years ago my three boys were working quietly amid giggles on their Valentines. I was pleasantly surprised because although the homemade Valentine tradition was Ryan’s idea that doesn’t always translate into Valentine-making-excitement. Quite often it turns into Valentine-making-against-his-will.

Fun times.

A few minutes later I was presented with this Classic Valentine Card Trio:

This is the popular “I love you but you steenk” which goes to show that first grade Saxon Phonics would label “stink” as a sight word.

This is the romantic “I love you but you wer a diper”.

And finally the wildly loving “I love you but you poop” which requires no editing or explanation.

Before you start to worry about my sons classmates, let me assure you that none of these ended up in their backpack Valentines Day Party bound.

When Holly isn't censoring Valentines Day sentiments, she is writing a mom blog, June Cleaver Nirvana. She is also the founder of She is Dallas where all things fun and DFW-y can be found.