Create a special Valentine's Day Tree - Stefanie Gabrych Fraser
You don't have to head out for the malls or downtown stores when Valentine's Day comes round. Instead, take a look around the house to see what you can recycle.
What can you and the kids recycle, reuse, or repurpose? Start with anything heart-shaped and anything with a hint of red or pink. One idea will lead to another and before you know it, you’ll have a stash of stuff to hand out to all your sweethearts!
Here are a few Valentine ideas for you that are easy to make and easy on your wallet, too. And you can feel good that you've done a little bit for the environment, too.
Valentine Tree
- Who says trees are just for Christmas? Create an eye-catching ‘tree’ display using a branch cut from your back yard. Fill a glass container with candy to anchor the branch and use the twigs to display heart ornaments, or get the kids to create small cards to hang on the ‘tree’ with small clothes pegs. You can paint the tree or leave it natural.
- If you don’t have a back yard full of trees, you can buy branches at any florist or farmer’s market. If you don’t have a glass container, use whatever is available.
Valentine Gift Bags
- Instead of gift wrap, recycle small paper shopping bags by covering the store logo with blown-up photocopies of dictionary definitions of words like love, sweetheart, etc. Cut to fit over the logo and glue on. Add pretty buttons or faux jewellery to the handle as added decoration.
Valentine Garlands
- Decorate a doorway, mantel, or headboard with a garland of paper hearts. Copy your favorite photos or print digital shots onto copy paper. Cut out the images into heart shapes and then glue onto slightly larger heart shapes cut from red or pink construction paper. Then punch holes at the sides of each and thread onto ribbon or raffia.
Valentine for Your Man
- For the man in your life, add a touch of whimsy by filling the back of a toy truck with his favorite flowers or greenery. Keep the plastic sleeves on the stems to keep them fresh.
Cheap and Cheerful Valentine Bouquets
- If you have a stash of pretty bottles in your recycling bin, get the kids to decorate these with bits of ribbon, glitter, and left over wrapping paper. Add water and a single flower to each bottle and place a few in a single row on the dining table.
- Grab a dozen of your sweetheart’s favourite flowers at the corner store, place into a clean jam jar (add water, too) and then lower this into a rolled-down paper bag. Wrap the bag with a ribbon and place this special offering where your honey is sure to find it.
Valentine for a Coffee or Tea Lover
- If your sweetie is a tea or coffee lover, mix red or pink candy sprinkles with sugar (or sugar substitute) and pour into empty salt shakers to use with their favourite beverages. If you've got any hard candy on had, you can whiz this in your food or spice mill to make a sweetener for you sweetheart. Then add a silly label (‘You shake my world’, ‘Sprinkle me with your love’ – the sillier the better) to the salt shaker.
Keep looking around the house to find more material you can reuse to create your one-of-a-kind Valentine's Day gifts.
VAL101
Copyright Stefanie Gabrych Fraser. Contact the author to obtain permission for republication.
