Valentine's Day Festivities + FLASH Giveaway!

I'll be honest. I'm not a huge fan of Valentine's Day. I don't really have a reason why... just not a fan. We will still celebrate in style in our classroom though! I actually put some thought into my valentines this year and came up with these:

Get it? Hippo? Hip?! Yeah... I'm a dork. Hippos are my trademark though, so it had to be done. I attached a snack sized sleeve of Oreos to each valentine. Other than the fact that I need a new color ink cartridge, I'm pretty happy with how they turned out.

Next up: Valentines Containers. In the past, I used to supply brown bags and die cut hearts, and I would give time in class for the bunnies to decorate a bag to collect their valentines. Not only did I not have time for that this year, but I also wanted to give them the chance to create something. So this year I sent a note home along with some colored construction paper and asked families to create a "container" for their valentines. I love how they turned out! We also had a little voting action going on. Here are the winners:

Prettiest 

Most Creative... we actually had a 4-way tie!

It's hard to tell, but this one had teeth like a monster and in the corner he made a "Hello, my name is..." badge and he named it after himself: "Student" Jr. LOL!

Most Original

I wish I didn't have to blur out his name, because he actually made his name with small stickers that looked like Lego guys' heads. It was SUPER cute!

What do you think???

This one is mine. I use the same one every year. I know, I know... I need to up my game.

How We Celebrated: I have a hard time throwing an all-out party in my class. Call me a Valentine's Day Grinch if you will, but that's how I roll. Because of my district's nutrition policy and the junk that will inevitably come in anyway, we have a "Healthy Heart" party. A few days before the party, the bunnies voted on what kinds of healthy snacks they would like. The party started at 1:00. First, they passed out their valentines. Students put their containers on their desks, and then they all just walked around, passing them out. While this is going on, the parent helpers and myself are getting the food situation under control.

Look at these HEALTHY Jello snacks a parent made! Super tasty!! 

Once everything was passed out, they were able to choose 2, yes TWO, valentines they could eat. I don't need bunnies bouncing off the walls here! The rest they can take home. Then I turned on a movie.  And because I'm a Grinch, of course it was educational. We watched Magic School Bus Lost in Space. We just finished up our solar system unit, so I don't feel so bad taking time out of our day to watch this "educational" video. While the video is going on, I called up groups of students to the snack table to make a plate of food. I try hard to make sure we don't have too much food and/or too many choices, or else I end up with a ton of leftovers and the bunnies end up with a belly ache from eating so much.

After the movie was over, we cleaned up and headed outside for recess. I like to do my parties at the end of the day {so I don't have to worry about how I'm going to get them focused back on school and learning}, but today I had music at the end of the day, so I had to do my party early. I'm sorry, Ms. Music Teacher, that I did this to you... hopefully the bunnies burnt off some of their energy at recess.

The hubs informed me a few weeks ago that he has to work late tonight, so it's just me and my little valentines hanging out tonight. I think we're going to lay in my bed and watch a movie after dinner :) And speaking of my own little babies, check out the awesome hockey valentines I made for my son to give to his preschool friends:

Yes friends, those are hockey stick pencils! How cool is that?!

Because I'm feelin' all lovey dovey {yes, this Grinch does have a heart!}, I wanted to do a quick giveaway! Go to my TPT store, pick something out, and leave me a comment including your email. Aannnddd, if you pin something from my store and leave an additional comment with the link, I'll give you an extra entry! Do all of this before Friday 2/15 at midnight, central time. I'll randomly choose a winner on Saturday and BAM! It's yours!!!

Have a LOVEly night!!