With my son in kindergarten this year, it is the first time I have had to give out Valentine cards for him and his class.  A quick trip to the drug store was disappointing, as all they had was GI Joe, Twilight (vampires) and Dora: none suitable for a five-year-old boy.  So instead I ventured onto the web to find a great idea for us to make his cards and came across so many terrific sites.

As always my first stop is kaboose. They always have so much to do for every age group. I ended up getting side-tracked on their great craft ideas. I loved their terrific suggestion to make a Valentines Poem, perfect to do with my two year old.

The girl in me was giddy about the Paper Love Bug and I know my son will get a kick out of the Card Board Cupid. Quickly I was around the house gathering supplies for us to make things this afternoon.

Getting back to the Valentines cards, I found terrific printables at: livinglocurto.com, A few even I wouldn’t mind getting. Cackleberries, the online parenting resource center also had a great selection.

Most of you know, I try to be a sugar free mom, so while at the drug store, I found nothing other than candy as gifts for my kids this Valentine’s weekend. I just couldn’t bring myself to buy hot-candy-hearts or transformer-shaped chocolate.  Instead I ventured to the book section and found a book for my daughter about “hugs” and a cool photo frame shaped like a stickman boy, holding a heart for my son.

When my son heard the rule at the school that we were not to give out candy, he asked me what he could give instead? I said usually Valentine’s Day is about giving something sweet, or nice and he asked if we could give soap? Kids are so cool as they think so literal, and I thought it was a great idea.

Thanks to ehow.com, we found a great recipe.

Step 1:    Slice a bar of soap into think layers with the craft knife.
Step 2:    Position the metal heart cookie cutter on a slice of soap and press down to punch out the heart shape.

Step 3:    Push out the soap.  Decorate with decals secured with a few dots of glue on top of the soap if desired.
Step 4:    Wrap up the soap with netting or tulle. Put soap on a pretty soap dish or if giving the soap as a gift put it in a pretty gift box.

Standing on my Soapbox,

JB