It’s always easy for me to find a good reason to celebrate.  So, it’s no surprise to you that we have fun on Valentine’s Day at my house.

We aren’t a big fan of the commercialism that goes on around most holidays, and Valentine’s Day is one of the worst.  But we do like to celebrate as a family. So we keep it simple, and we enjoy each other’s company – what’s LOVE about anyway, if not enjoying each other’s company!?

First off, the boys had to do Valentine’s cards for their classes.  This whole business of Valentine’s cards really gets out of hand, but my fellow pastors’ wife Rachael over at Girlfriends with a Purpose had a great idea and I borrowed it for our cards this year.

a rare glimpse (for my blog readers) of my boys on their Valentine’s Cards

I took photos of the boys, used my free GIMP graphic editing program to put the Valentine greeting on them, and had the prints developed at Wal-Mart (uploaded online, and ready in UNDER an hour).  The back of the card even has “Valentine’s 2011” printed on them directly!  Then I used my rotary cutter and cut slits at the top and bottom of their outstretched hands and slipped the lollipop stick through the slits to make it look like the boys are holding it.  I did put a small piece of masking tape over the stick on the back side of the photo, just to be sure it would stay in place and not tear through the photo (photo paper is thick enough that I really don’t think either of those things would happen, but better safe than sorry, right?).

They were a big hit with the boys’ classes!

The prints were $0.19 a piece, and even printing extras they cost me about $12.  The lollipops were bought in bulk, and cost me less than $5 for a big bag of them.  A little bit of masking tape and a Sharpie marker for writing on the back of the photo, which we already had at home, completed the project.  60 Valentine’s cards for under $20 seemed like a good deal to me!

The boys only had to write on the back ” TO: whoever” and they were done.  They helped with the taping, too.  So the process for my busy boys was very fast, and fun!  MrCutie was amazed: “MOM, it looks like I’m really handing them the candy!”  Yup, that is the effect I was hoping for!  LOL!

We always used to share photos with our friends, but that rarely happens anymore.  And yet the kiddos are always thrilled to get a photo.  Not all of the boys’ classmates will keep the cards (I HOPE not everyone saves EVERY Valentine’s card) but having a photo card is still a neat touch.

This is a great idea for a card – easy, inexpensive, fun, and for us a family it’s a nice momento of the year.  If we do it every year it will be neat to see how the boys change and grow.  I LOVE that idea!

Stay tuned for Part 2 of the Valentine’s Day Fun at Our House!