Valentine Boxes

This was the first year that we’ve had to make Valentine Boxes at home. I knew it was an activity that I could do individually with each of the kids. I asked what each child wanted to make and the six year old knew right away….an Angry Bird valentine Box. So, I said okay and got the supplies to make a paper mache angry bird (It’s a good thing I asked the kids early because this bird took days to dry and then still had to be painted).

I would dip the strip in the paste, my daughter helped by holding the little balloon knob on the top while my son paper mache’d his bird. It dried, we popped the balloon and we cut an “egg” shape out of the back for his Valentine’s because that’s why the birds are angry….the pigs stole their “eggs”!

After a few days, it was ready to paint. Painting in our Pajamas….what could be better than that! Great Saturday morning spent with my buddy….boy, he was a chatterbox while painting!

All painted and drying so it can be ready to go to the school Valentine party!

Now that the Angry Bird Valentine Box is made…now just a ruffled cake and Cupids Bow & Arrow Box left to make. Phew….it is going to be a busy weekend!

My daughter requested a cake. So, I knew we could start with a hat box. The Valentine supplies were on sale and it was actually cheaper to get the glittered Valentine hat box to change than a plain brown one…Score!

We looked at some cakes on line and she wanted a ruffled cake. She wanted a heart on the top. I found a little wood heart at Hobby Lobby for 49 cents. (perfect!) We use crepe party streamers, cut in half and glued in a ruffled pattern. The whole was cut in the top for Valentines to go in and the heart was glued to the top like the one we saw in the picture. It was looking awesome!

I found a simple wood candle holder (not heavy or breakable) to attach to the cake. I used my trusty 3M strip to connect them so that I can use the candle holder again.

The blue candle stick makes the ruffled cake stand out! So cute!

My daughter was thrilled that I was able to get the heart glued to the top after she went to bed and it was dry by morning when she saw it all finished. She was thrilled and loves that she can open the top to get to the candy(the important part, right!)

WahLah….a Ruffled Cake Valentine Box…exactly what she wanted!

Now the last one(the last Valentine box to make only because the other two kiddo’s were a little more persistent than my oldest child). He was cool to wait until the last day…which meant a late night for me (or few because I still hadn’t finished their custom Valentine’s). Ha Ha Go me!

We started with a free Similac formula box that came in the mail, covered it in felt. I found a toy kiddie bow & arrow set and changed it to create a Cupids Bow and Arrow Valentine Box.

We created arrows, a bow and a holder for it all!

To make the Arrows, we started with sticks from the neighbor’s yard. (Yep, you guess it…our sticks were the wrong color, ha ha just a boring grey and the neighbors had pretty reddish colored sticks….so we asked and they were happy to let us take a few that had fallen to the ground.)

My buddy used the rose bush trimmers to cut the sticks to size and clip any twigs sticking off the side. We needed straight sticks for our Arrows.

Felt was glued in pairs (one for each side of the stick) for the tips and the feathers at the end. Turned out SO cute!

We wanted to change the bow to be more Valentine-ish so we cut a piece of felt to wrap around the handle and used the same ribbon cross pattern to match the arrow holder. It looks really great and mimics the leather strap type look you can see on leather handles. We also added some blue paint to the green bow (so it would match a little better).

The arrows needed to be seen (they turned out so cute!) So, I circled a transparency, punched holes and laced it up. Now the handle of the bow and the holder of the arrows mimic each other.

Cupid’s bow and Arrow, complete with space for Valentine’s!

The bow’s elastic string was replaced with a piece of ribbon so it would be cupid’s bow and not a little boy’s toy (it is headed to school and I want it to be safe).

I think the arrows are one of my favorite parts about this Valentine Box…so cute!

All three of my kids were SO happy that their individual Valentine Boxes! Their ideas came to life! I was so happy we were able to create their vision of a Valentine’s Box. I loved spending time, creating these boxes and listening to their chatter as we painted, glued and cut!

The Valentine Creations came home FULL of candy and the kids were so excited to tell me about their Valentine’s Parties! I consider that a success!