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Again with Target saving the day! I love the dollar spot & I was so excited they had these adorable mini mailboxes again this year {since I was too slow to score them last year}.

We are using these cute lil guys as part of our month long Valentine's Day Party. All I did was buy different color boxes for each child. My Target has pink, red, and white in the small $1 version & the same colors in the larger versions but those were $5. The only reason I got larger ones for Matt & I was because they didn't have enough of the 'right colors' in the smaller one. {almost missed them again}

I used some of that great chalkboard paint leftover from our chalkboard table project.

All I did was use painters tape to mark off the rectangles I wanted the tiny chalkboards to be on the front of the mailbox door as well as the side {that one was a little bigger than the front}. I made one rectangle "stencil" and pulled it off to use on each mailbox to make sure they were the same size.

Putting multiple coats is the best idea for a chalkboard that will last. I did chalkboards rather than just using sharpy for writing their names so I could use them for other things if I wanted to.

Let these dry really well between coats. Be careful though...if you let the tape stay on until the its completely dry it will tend to pull up the paint. I put on the 1st coat, removed the tape {placing it on the next box I was planning to work on} and then just added the next few coats over the area I already had marked out.

After writing each persons name on them, I set up a "love note station" where the kids as well as Matt & I can write sweet nothings to one anther through the month of February.

Love Note Station includes:

• chopped up red, pink, purple, and white paper using cutesy scissors
• heart hole punch
• red, purple, black pens
• pink highlighter
• heart, flower, Valentiney stickers

Tuesday was our first day to introduce the boxes and they LOVED them! They loved getting notes from their parents about how much they're loved. They were also really into 'writing' notes to one another...this basket was EMPTY day one...I had to restock with more paper & random stickers.

I am also using these little boxes to give the kids silly treats or tiny toys {I got on 50%+ off sale after season last year}. Tuesday I cut up packs of those jelly window clings and gave each kid only a couple. I plan to give them a few at a time so they new doesn't wear off as quickly. I have heart bracelets, heart popper thingies, and candy divided up in bags marked with each child's name so every other day I can sneak a treat into each kids box.

My oldest is on the verge of reading/writing on her own so we used the highlighter to write messages she thought up and then let her trace the letters with her own pen. I think when they're a little older I will add a bible or list of scriptures about love to the station or even cutesy Valentine's Day library books for a little inspiration!

What are you do'n with your kiddos this lovely season?

I know it's not Thursday but I really wanted to share our inexpensive Valentine's before next week. These were so easy and I think some of you would LOVE this idea for your littles to hand out at their preschool or nursery.

I love not only giving our neighbors seasonal gifts but our church family as well. Since my kids aren't in daycare or preschool, we treat our church friends like classmates and it's a good excuse to show some love'n every now & then. Since we plan to homeschool, starting this tradition early will help form this habit as well as let my kids enjoy some of the typical public school traditions. Valentine's Day Parties and passing out Valentines were always so much fun!

We are on a pretty tight budgets so I wanted to do something simple yet fun for Valentine's Day. This will actually be one of our last Sundays with our current church family before our preview services & launch so I Really wanted to do something kinda special to let these families know how much they've meant to us.

When I found these adorable packages of tattoos at the fancy dancy Targe', I knew just what I wanted to do! I believe they were $5 a bag. . They only had two different kinds at the Little Rock Target I was in but it worked great. Boys- Pirate Tats & Girls- Heart Tats! I didn't want to simply put my kids' names on the 'from' line and to be honest, 1. I don't know all the kids in their 2 different classes, 2. I forgot to ask for a list and 3. You never know how many on said list or how many newbies will be there on any given day. I chose to make one {FREE PRINTABLE!} label work for both packs...mainly because I'm lazy but partly because I wanted all the kids to be able to hand out guy & girl boxes and not from each specific child. I did cut them out using different shears to give them a little different look {girly vs boyish}. This kids had fun helping me put together their Valentine's! Here's the final product:

If I can remember, I may go back & snatch some left-over ones on an after season sale and have them for next year as well! Anyways... Maybe this will help somebody searching for an inexpensive Valentine idea for an entire classroom full of kids but with a small personal touch.

Don't forget to get your FREE Valentine's Day Pirate/Heart Printable Cards/Labels!