Pixy Stix Valentine Cards

So, I searched high and low for a bargain price on the Strawberry Fields Tic Tacs, but the cheapest I could find them in my neck of the woods was $1.39/pack. The Tic Tac Toe Valentines I had in mind for my students were super cute, but ultimately I decided that $34.75 was just too much to spend on a class set of valentines.

It has become a family tradition to make hand crafted valentines with my own kids at home. We always come up with something really special and fairly simple to make. Of course, I try to keep the cost down because we end up making about 70 valentines for the kids in my class, plus my daughter’s class, plus my son’s class. My hands usually ache by the end of the day. The kitchen table and floor are always a mess, but I know that we are making more than just valentine cards. I would like to believe that one day my children will think back on these memories with a smile.

This year, we ended up using Pixy Stix and foam paper from the dollar store to make our valentines. The whopping price of $1.00 for 35 Pixy Stix was a much better fit for my budget. To make 70 valentine cards, I bought 2 bags of Pixy Stix, 1 multi-pack of regular foam paper, and 1 multi-pack of sparkle foam paper. Thanks to the Dollar Tree, our supplies this year came to a grand total of $4.00!

First, we printed out the cards and cut them out. We used our class lists to address the back of each card.

Then, we cut out all of the hearts and feathers for the arrows. We did a mix of sparkle foam and regular foam in a variety of colors.

Next, we cut fringes on the feathers for the end of each arrow.

My daughter and I worked the hot glue gun, while my son selected the parts for each arrow. He added one sparkle piece and one regular piece for each arrow.

Finally, we used the hot glue gun to attach the arrows to the cards, and they turned out like this!

If you have already made your valentines this year, go ahead and pin it for next year! Also, I was thinking that a non-candy alternative to the Pixy Stix could be a pencil or a glow stick. Enjoy!