(Although this post is sponsored, all opinions are my own.)
Valentine’s Day is the perfect opportunity to show our children how to spread love to others in our community. My children and I put together adorable Valentine gift boxes for an amazing organization called Best Foot Forward that helps children in foster care maximize their potential through academic support and guidance. There are so many ways that we can show others how much we care during this holiday and throughout the year.
A Holiday Volunteer Opportunity For Valentine’s Day
What better way to brighten a student’s day than with a box filled with treats? This project was so much fun to work on because it combined creativity with giving. We found all of the products on the special Valentine’s Day page at Oriental Trading. This is a wonderful resource for all things Valentine’s Day-party supplies, cards, candy, crafts, and toys. Check out their coupon page for the latest sales.
For our care package, we wanted to reward the children for their hard work at school and encourage them to keep at it. So, we used an academic theme when choosing which items to include in the box. Each student gets a few heart erasers, a bookmark, a valentine with a pencil, delicious cherry-flavored heart lollipops, and chocolate heart candies with cute sayings like “Be Mine” and “U R Cool”.
The heart erasers come in red, pink, and purple and have cheerful smiley faces.
When we saw this valentine card, we knew it was perfect for this project. It says “Valentine, You’re Just Write For Me!”. A pencil decorated with hearts fits nicely through the card. They are really easy to assemble-event my four-year-old was able to help with this task.
They also receive a colorful, fuzzy bookmark. You can color them yourself with crayons or markers, which allowed my children to get creative. We hope that these bright-colored bookmarks will bring a smile to the students’ faces as they enjoy reading for school.
To top it all off, we placed everything in these handy Valentine boxes that we colored ourselves. They are the perfect size for giving your loved one a sweet treat and so easy to put together. We just added a small piece of scotch tape inside on the bottom to keep the base nice and flat.
Who We Helped
Best Foot Forward addresses the important issue of helping foster children succeed against all odds. Because of the many challenges that foster children face in their personal lives like neglect and abuse, their education takes a back seat. Only 46 percent of American youth in foster care graduate high school and 3 percent graduate college.
Best Foot Forward was created to help remove the barriers to these children. The organization offers guidance and advise needed for educational success. Programs ensure that students receive the same tools and support that children in traditional homes have. Through one-on-one attention and a number of effective strategies, high school graduation is within reach for every foster care youth in this program.
Some of the services provided include: analysis of diploma options, comprehensive education plans, test taking and study skill development, organizational skills, tutoring, and SAT/ACT test preparation. They tap into many talented volunteers that support the program by tutoring students, participating in fundraisers, and putting together gifts and care packages for the students to encourage them to stick with their studies. Learn more about how you can get involved and support this amazing organization.
Other Ways To Spread Love
Valentine’s Day provides a great chance to touch someone’s heart. Here are some project ideas for your family to do during this time of year.
- Make your own Valentine cards and deliver them to a local nursing home, along with a fresh flower or small plant.
- Find a school or local group of less fortunate kids and send them cards with special treats.
- Create 14 days of kindness notes with your kids
- Send “love letters” overseas to American soldiers thanking them for their courage and service to our country.
- Bring cards and small teddy bears or other stuffed animals to hospital patients.
- Design an online Valentine card with a positive message and distribute it far and wide.
- Thank community helpers like police officers and firefighters by baking some cookies, cupcakes, or a cake and bringing it to them with a homemade Valentine card attached.
- Hand out Valentines, along with a bag of snacks, to those staying at a local homeless shelter.
- Think of friends and relatives who may be having a difficult time and send them a Valentine to cheer them up.
- Share stories of love together by enjoying Valentine’s Day books.
How will your family spread love this Valentine’s Day?
*This post was sponsored by Oriental Trading.
Amy
I love this! Foster care is something that is close to my heart, and these little gift boxes are sure to make anyone feel loved. Thank you for the inspiration!
Kathleen
These are such lovely and sweet ideas. True, there are so many ways to celebrate love aside from the usual cards, flowers, and chocolate and it doesn’t always have to be romantic! 🙂 Love should be shared with everyone.
Debbie Ellman
All of us at Best Foot Forward are so excited to give the Valentine’s bags to our students. THANK YOU so much for supporting our children and making Valentine’s Day a little more fun for them!
Sandi Schwartz
Our pleasure!
Mrs. Picky Pincher
This is WONDERFUL. I love the idea of spreading love to your community outside traditional Christmas giving. I remember we would always visit the nursing home on Valentine’s Day when I was a Girl Scout. Once we even put on a show singing songs from the 1950s-it was a HUGE hit with the residents, who got up and danced to their old favorite tunes.
You can have such a blast when you put a smile on other people’s faces. 🙂
Ashley
Such lovely ideas! I have always been an advocate for valentines day being a day for love in general and not just romantic love between partners…. So this is an awesome idea!
rachel
What a fantastic idea — so much more important than just the same old classroom Valentines!
Tyane
I love the bookmarks and mailboxes!! I think I will have my boys make valentines for the nursing home down the street from me. Great ideas to show love toward others!!
Sandi Schwartz
What a great idea!
Allison at Brainy Business Babe
Great ideas! I love that you shared your kindness with foster kids <3
Kait | Slumber & Scones
It’s such a great idea to use Valentine’s Day to spread love more than just in the traditional manner. It’s so wonderful that you are devoting time to helping foster kids.
Sonia Seivwright
What a beautiful idea. very creative and fun too.