A Conversational Valentine Box

With Valentines Day right around the corner, I wanted to share one of our favorite boxes.

This time of year, parents of elementary students start receiving that fun letter from their child’s teacher…

the one all red, pink and white and informs parents of the upcoming Valentine Day class party, asking for parents to send cute Valentine’s to school (one for each classmate!), asking for party donations and parent volunteers…

and most of all

the oh so fun

Valentine Box!

And of course, it absolutely MUST be homemade!

Y’all… I had absolutely NO IDEA how seriously some parents took the creation of these boxes until Abby was in kindergarten.

Bless my child’s heart, her poor little box wasn’t much to look at. A simple shoe box wrapped in red and white paper with Valentine stickers she randomly stuck on it. Her daddy had to put her box together that year when I became severely ill. I’m the DIY parent, he’s the handyman… cute box creations are not his thing but he tried, she had a box and she loved it and was oh so proud.

Then it was the day of the party and the boxes….

Oh.My.Gosh at the boxes!

Can I really call them boxes? I mean, there was a Dragon of all things!

A Dragon

A Robot

A Mailbox

Oh

My

Gosh

It was a Pinterest War of Kindergarten Valentine Boxes!

Needless to say, I was so glad the next few years, teachers decided to make things much easier on parents and the kids created boxes/bags in class.

Then we reached 3rd grade

Not only did we need to create a box but they were having a contest!

Oh what fun!…..

And of course, being the crafty person I am, I brainstormed ideas until I found one Abby loved and immediately said we had to make it… (and no Pinteresting for ideas, proud to say we figured this one out on our own).

Next time, someone remind me to keep my ideas to myself until I realize just how complicated they are.

So what was this super cute idea? Have I completely lost you yet as we strolled quickly down memory lane?

Here is Abby’s 3rd Grade Conversation Heart Valentine Box

And…..

The award she won!

Yes, the sleepless night, the mod podge covered fingers, it was all worth it when she ran to the car that afternoon, so excited to tell me how much her teacher loved her box and the award she won.

I have always loved Conversation Hearts, they are bright and colorful and just fun. Plus, they ARE Valentine’s Day.

And this was the year that there was either a shortage or conversation hearts were no longer being made, I don’t quite remember but I do remember there was something about “A Valentine’s Day Without Conversation Hearts” which is why I had them on my mind as I started brainstorming and why I thought it would be fun to use that as inspiration for her box.

And while all the cutting, writing and mod podging is slightly tedious, this was a design I knew Abby could do with me as well as on her own with a little assistance.

And as mentioned, as soon as I mentioned the idea and sketched it for her, she was deadset it had to be this design.

**yes, I do help her. I help her brainstorm ideas but never pick for her. And I help her with the creation but never do the work entirely for her. I know some do and some are completely against helping the child at all. I’m an inbetween because my child does need assistance.

A quick call to Mimi for colored paper and we were ready to begin.
*I used simple colored copy paper, the cardstock was too thick and didn’t work well.

After hours of cutting hearts and thinking of what to write on each heart, it was time to figure how just how we were going to create this Conversation Box.

And yes, we cut all the hearts by hand…. I found a heart cutout in my craft box to use as a stencil but we cut each one out. Yep, there are easier ways but what I had was a stack of papers, a stencil and scissors so that was my option.

Lots of Sparkly ModPodge and hours later, with a lot of strategic placing, the box was complete!

Oh yes, Sparkle ModPodge is an absolute MUST!

What You Need:

A Box – make sure it’s big enough to hold a classroom of Valentine’s.
Solid Color Wrapping Paper or Paint to cover the box
Colored Copy Paper (Your Choice of Colors)
Scissors (kid and adult of course)
Black Sharpie
ModPodge and Sparkle ModPodge
Brush for the ModPodge
LOTS of patience!

Directions:

*To begin, I actually covered the box in gold wrapping paper. This was to help cover the box design. You can use a plain box, use a solid wrapping paper or simply paint the box. This is all preference. Make sure to cut a slot in the top of your box for Valentines!
*Cut/Print out several hearts in different colors.
*Write fun, cute sayings on the hearts. My daughter chose not to include too many “love” inspired messages. She wanted messages more for friendship, positivity and being yourself.
*All that’s left to do is to cover the box with all the hearts. You can leave a little of the box/wrapping paper showing for background or cover the box completely. Simply cover with modpodge and place the hearts as you want.
*A final layer of Sparkle Modpodge adds the finishing touch!