Stand Tall, Shine Bright

At the beginning of the school year, the teachers asked all of the parents to sign up for a party. By the time I got to the list there were only a few left and all were after my due date. So I signed up for Easter, the farthest away from post-baby… or so I thought. The week before my due date, the teachers asked me with slight concern if I was sure that I wanted to do the Valentine’s party. My immediate response was that they were mistaken and I was signed up for the Easter.

They were very understanding when they showed me the proof on the sign up sheet that in fact had signed up for Valentine’s Day. After telling me it could be very simple and really just a special snack treat was all I needed to do I told them I had it covered!

Unfortunately, I cannot just do a snack treat so I got to work on what I wanted so it would be ready and minimal effort could be applied post-baby. I decided to keep it basic:

• Snack treat: red berries, very berry cheerios and a small brownie (gluten-free of course!)
• Themed photo wall
• Activity: heart hopscotch

Snack:

And bonus: it made for a great family activity on our wide-open Monday’s!

The Photo Wall:

I keep past years holiday decorations stored in the garage, so we whipped out these bad boys for the festivities. I made that X + O back in college — who says hoarding doesn’t pay off!?

The Activity:

Trying to think of something simple that a group of not even two year olds can do was part of the trick. I decided on hopscotch in hopes of little requirement from the teachers and the kids could just count if they participation didn’t work out.

Valentine’s from our girl:

Of course sending home a Valentine with all of her friends was on the list. Luckily, I had thought about this one before the party and had these ready weeks ago! One of Avera’s favorite activities is coloring so it was an easy decision. I made the simple design on picmonkey and printed a page of stickers and a page of cards. Avera enjoyed coloring the entire sheet then cut, stuck and tied them.

 

I love how they turned out!

The teacher’s couldn’t be left out and since my pregnancy brain forgot to send out gifts at Christmas, I made these cute little cards and attached them to a gift card for a local coffee shop.

Happy Valentine’s Day!!