8 Unique Creative Valentine Card Ideas

Valentine's Day is coming up and that means trying to find fun ideas to share with our friends. We have made many a Valentine over the years and here are some of our favorites that are easy to make, including some that do not involve candy or snacks.

1. Thumb Print Cards

This was one of our first Valentine cards and they just went out to family. I pressed the babys' thumb into non-toxic ink and stamped a white circle of paper. Then I added arms, legs, eyes and a smile. I was into making my own cards at that time so I created and decorated a card to put it on, but you can easily purchase blank cards to put the prints on. Then, I wrote "Thumb" body loves you! These were a great keepsake.

2. Mini Candy bar Robot

The boys really enjoyed making these. They are great for toddlers to practice scissor skills with. I purchased a bag of mini candybars and we covered the labels with construction paper. We then cut strips for arms and legs. Some of the legs we crinkle folded and added googly eyes on the heads. Again, I made cards for these, but you can still use purchased blank cards or cardstock.

3. Printed 3D Valentines

At this time, Star Wars was a very popular topic in our house. For these, I printed a photo of the character and then cut a small slit at the top and bottom of the "lightsaber" base for a glow stick to slide through. Super easy! This idea could be modified to use with a photo of your child with their hand out to slide a sucker, pixie stick or a decorative pencil through also. I cannot locate the printable we used for this, but I'm sure there are plenty of other options.

4. Dry Erase Cards

   
   

Dry Erase cards are the perfect Valentine for elementary classrooms. We purchased a couple packs of these from PaperPie in an age appropriate variety and hole punched the top corner. We then tied 3 cards together and added a dry erase marker and the valentine we printed to go with them. There are many versions of dry erase cards from games and puzzles to look and finds. Here is where we found ours: PaperPie Dry Erase Cards

FYI - This is my brand partner website so you would be purchasing them from me and I would make commission on it.

5. Gum Packs

Packs of gum (for the right age group) is a fun and inexpensive Valentine choice. We chose Extra and added that to the wording of our card, but there are plenty of versions with different wording for different flavors or you can simply say "You blow me away" or something similar. For this we printed out a saying on card stock and used some tape or glue to adhere the gum packet to the card. We found the FREE printable here: Extra printable

6. Paper Airplanes

How fun is this? Everyone loves paper airplanes. This is another idea we have used from a PaperPie product. There are several choices like planes, jets, spacecraft and even bugs to fold and fly. For this we tore out a page and rolled it up. Tip: if you put a tiny elastic band around it, it will hold much more easily to tie the card to. We printed out a card with instructions on how to fold (instructions are in the book) and tied it to the rolled up paper. Very quick idea. The cards we used can be found at: PaperPie fold and fly books

Same as earlier - This is my brand partner website so you would be purchasing them from me and I would make commission on it.

7. Smarties

Always a favorite so I probably don't need to say any more. These, like the gum idea, were so easy. We printed what we wanted to say on cardstock and taped the candy on. So quick! The FREE printable was found here: Smartie printable

8. Paint with Water

I remember doing these as a little kid. They are still popular. These we also purchased from PaperPie and there are seriously like 20 different themes to choose from. You can find them here at my brand partner website: PaperPie Magic Painting Like the airplanes, we just tore out a page and rolled it up. Then attached our card and a paintbrush and were done. Another inexpensive idea is to use a cotton swab instead of a paintbrush. It will work just as well.

There are so many ideas to choose from. I hope this gave you some new ideas for your famiy. I always think of what my kids are into at this age and find some way to let them share that with their friends. Let them help get them ready and enjoy a good bonding activity together. Happy creating!