Nothing Wrong With Store-Bought

I am not the mom you love to hate. I am the mom who is thankful she remembers to pack lunches every day. And sometimes, snacks are forgotten! I am the mom who is normally disheveled picking the kids up from school, hoping the baby doesn’t have spit up all over him. I am the mom who pretends to like Pinterest but actually despises it. I am also the mom who buys store-bought valentines.

 Store Bought Valentines

I am not apologizing for my store-bought valentines. I like them and so do my kids! I actually enjoy taking my kids to Target and letting them pick out their favorites. I like to see them zero in on whatever their favorite character or interest is (this week) and choose those. Or sometimes they choose something I would never have expected. I like having my children do the valentines themselves. I like not having to spend the extra time making Pinterest-worthy ones, but instead, use that time to get a healthy meal on the table. Better yet, I like getting that meal prepared while my kids are sitting writing their own valentines.

Store Bought Valentines

This year my two older kids accompanied me to Target and chose their own valentines. My daughter, age 3 ½, chose Dora, which came with cute little erasers. My son, age 5, chose NBA valentines. No surprise there, he is obsessed with sports. His came with temporary tattoos. They were both very excited to do their own valentines. I loved how they wanted to sit and write their names on each card. Then they went through and wrote their classmates names as well. It was a great exercise in practicing their writing, and they didn’t even realize they were working since it was so fun!

Store Bought Valentines

This is not to say I don’t find the crafty valentines cute. I do. Nicole’s blog on Valentines has some great ideas! If you are crafty, definitely take a look at her post. And maybe when my kids are older, they will be able to do those without my help. But right now, the fun is picking them out and writing their classmates names on each of them, doing it themselves. And to be honest, I do not think any of the other children notice the cuteness of the crafty cards…I’m pretty sure they just want the candy or prize included with the valentine 🙂

So, the question is, which mom are you, crafty Pinterest Valentiner or store-bought Valentiner? Neither way is better, but isn’t that the whole story of being a mother anyways??

What works for you and your family? I’d love to know!

Cheryl
Cheryl Leddy is both a mom and a C.P.A. in her native Jacksonville, FL. Upon graduating from the University of Florida, her love for Jacksonville brought her back to the First Coast where she began her career and her family. She and her husband have three curly-haired children, Nate, Evelyn, and Whit, whom she adores, but who constantly keep her on her toes! Cheryl is fortunate to be able to work as a C.P.A. at Farmand, Farmand, and Farmand, LLP while also being home with her children (except during the dreaded “tax season”!). Her favorite parts about living in Jacksonville are the great family and kid-friendly activities, the proximity to the beach, as well as the short drive to Gainesville, where she can keep up with the Florida Gators (her first true love)! She is excited to share some tax and financial tips that can benefit all moms and growing families…hope you enjoy!

5 COMMENTS

  1. I own an online stamping/card making store so it is fully expected for me to make hand-made Valentines. However, I have other “crafty” projects that I have to do for my store so I don’t always have the time for an extra project. I used to stamp out 20 images and have my kids color them then we would put the pieces together as a team. But the past few years they decided they didn’t want to color the images anymore so I went with store bought Valentines for past 3 years. I will be honest, it was a huge step for me to pay for something that that was almost a “card” (I haven’t bought a store-bought card in 7 years)! This year my daughter asked me to make them for her, but she said she didn’t want to color stamped images this time. My son is into MineCraft and I couldn’t find store-bought ones so I pulled out my silhouette machine and searched Pinterest for ideas. I die cut “creepers” for my son and some Mustaches for my daughter. They were pretty simple for my standards and the kids love them. But I have purchased store-bought Valentines and they love those, too!

  2. Last year I found foam heart shaped valentine’s that came with stickers in the Target $ Spot. It worked out really well for my 3 year old. She got to put stickers on all of them to decorate, so she participated but it didn’t take much work for me! I like finding a balance with things 🙂 I did add a lollipop so the kids got some candy out of it!

    • I do not judge anyone for buying store bought ones…just as I hope I am not judged for making homemade ones. I don’t do Pinterest. I like the creative aspect of doing something different each year…pulled directly from our imaginations.(My perspective is probably different from most…we went through 15 years of heartache to finally be blessed with our miracle girl. How many years do I actually get to do this sort of thing…2? 3? 4 Tops? I only get to experience the wonder & excitement of a child once. I am going to enjoy every moment of it! We do it together and my daughter is always involved (& is very opinionated.) (1st grade-age 7) She is in a co-teach class this year with 36 kids & 2 teachers, so I thought it would be too expensive to make them, so we went to Target to check out the ready made ones. She didn’t like any of them. She said they were all the same & not personal. She wanted to make rainbow loom bracelets for everyone…sweet, but not practical for 36 kids. Finally she decided she wanted to give everyone valentine pencils (she loves pencils) and a few Hershey’s kisses. We found cute pencils, 12 for $1. (X3) Cute bags 25 for $1. (X2) Pink hearts for the girls & red hearts for the boys. A bag of valentine Hershey’s kisses for $2. & a bag of heart stickers for $3…grand total $10. (Same price or a few dollars less depending upon if we would need 3 or 4 boxes of store bought ones.) we had cardstock & markers at home, so we had everything we needed. She was so excited! Normally I would cut them (the patterned scissors can be tricky.) & glue them & she would write them out…each with a personal message. Due to the large amount (38) I cut, glued & wrote Happy Valentine’s Day on them. She sat down today & wrote each child’s name & signed them love Avery. To my surprise she also drew a different picture on each one…something that was specific to that child. (They also all looked different with different colored markers & stickers.) She & I put the bags together as a team. She put in the card, 3 chocolate kisses & the pencil. Then I tied the top with a ribbon & a cut out, handwritten (she wrote) name tag. (The bags were patterned, so it was hard to see the names once they were inside.) Cute, thoughtful, personal, inexpensive…and most importantly…she will always remember the time we spent doing this together. Making Valentines are already a special part of her childhood & will continue to be for as long as she wants to continue.

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