Thursday, February 5, 2009

Valentine's Day

So Valentine's Day is coming up. I have never been one to get hung up on all of the hipe of the holiday, but now that I have kids, any holiday is fun because I get to make them little gifts and goody bags. But, better than giving them something, we like to give the grandparents something. All of our parents (the kids grandparents) do so much for us, that I like to show them the unexpected thanks in little homemade gifts from the kids - well, who are we joking, from me. PooPie likes to help until anything loud is turned on and then she runs and hides until I am done. I never do the same things and I never do them on the same holidays. I don't want it to be an expected thing for them. I want them to always be surprised with a "Wow, look what I got" expression. We are going to see some of Babe's family this weekend so I am going to prepare the Valentine's early. I am in search of the perfect little something, I just wish I knew what it was. I will be Googling up a storm and searching my brain to find something more fun then the heart-shaped rice crispy treats. Even though I will be making those for the girls for their goody bags, I want something with a little more of the "WOW" factor. Once I find the perfect something and have PooPie make them, I will post pictures.



I meant to get on here earlier than this to post pictures of our wonderful crafts, but I have been busy, what can I say. I was so excited that I found the cutest ideas for Valentine's this year and couldn't wait to see every one's reactions when PooPie handed them out, and it ended up being a flop. The in-laws weren't as excited as I thought they would be when their oh-so-cute grand-daughter/grand-niece handed them their presents, but what do you expect from in-laws, right? PooPie had a blast making the gifts and that's all that matters.


So first we started off with painting wooden hearts and when they dried I stuck a magnet on the back and we had a great gift. Simple and easy and lots of fun. PooPie liked this the best because she loves to paint and she didn't want to stop. I actually had to take some of the hearts away because she had painted them too much! While we had the paints out, we decided to decorate some plain paper lunch bags and make them gift bags. I had PooPie make hearts from her thumb prints which was so cute, but it didn't last long because she does not like to have the paints all over her hands (takes after her mom). Then I tried to get Mohawk to had her touch by painting her feet and making hearts out of those, but she wasn't having one bit of it - I don't blame her because it had to tickle:).




After we were done painting, we made Rice Crispy treats and shaped them into Hershey Kisses. This was so easy, but of course PooPie didn't really do much of this except watch and eat:) I loved this idea and will do it again some day. We made small ones since we were giving them to a lot of people. This will be a good treat for when the kids are in school and need to give gifts to all the kids. BUT, it is even cuter if you are making it for 1 person. My cousin stole the idea from me and made her boyfriend one big one and it was the cutest thing I have ever seen. I wish I had a picture to show. Anyway, to make these, you just make the Rice Crispys (I died the marshmallow mixture pink for fun or you can add chocolate to make it more realistic) and when they start to cool, take a greased funnel (any size according to preference) and pack the Rice Crispy in. Pop them back out and let them cool completely on some wax paper. Then cover the Rice Crispy in aluminum foil and had a thin white piece of paper with a love note in the top. Cute as can be:)






Voila! Little Kisses!!! Cute!



Then the best craft/baking we did we the heart cookie cake. PooPie's first Valentine's Day, I made the cake with her for Babe. This was the first time that I included her in baking and decided that I/we would do it every year. Then last year, the second year of it, I didn't do it. To be fair, we weren't hear so it's not like I was just being lazy. But this year we started up our tradition. It was fun having both kids right there while baking. I love to bake and hope that both of my kids enjoy it as much as I do - I just hope they don't enjoy it in their belly's as much as I do:)!






3 comments:

Jennie B said...

I love the idea of a little goody bag for the kids. What sorts of things are you putting in yours?

I wish I had the energy to make things for the grandparents but you know that situation and I don't think they would miss it anyway.

Samantha said...

I think this year we are going to have to do something with Abby for "Balentimes" Day. I'm thinking a goodie bag and some treats. They are having a little party over at daycare so we'll see.

I'm sure it will have something to do with a smiley face picture since that's her new fav thing to draw.

Unknown said...

Such a great idea Lara. I so let Valentines slip on by this year. I need to get my act together next year though.