Candy Free Valentines Everyone Will Love

Even thought candy free valentines are not a common thing, everyone will love these.  Valentines Day seems to go hand in hand with candy, but it doesn’t have to.  I don’t mind a little treat now and then but when my kids come home with sacks full of candy, I cringe.  Just one of those little treats sends my tornadoes spinning around the room at full force. 

I have decided to help the other parents out there in the world by sharing my favorite candy free Valentine everyone will love. Instead of using candy, these Valentines provide the receiver with a fun tiny toy and a cute message!  

Get Prepared

I found the most adorable free printable at Sweet C’s blog page.  She has multiple print outs that can be printed directly onto card stock or onto paper.

We bought, from Amazon, a huge container of tiny animals, dinosaurs, sea life, and bugs.  They were so cute we had a hard time giving them away!  These are pretty small so I would not recommend this for a child younger than three. 

What You Need

1. Heavy Card Stock with Valentine printed or glued on
2. Hole Punch
3. String or jute
4. Tiny creature
5. A crew of kids to put them together

Instructions

We printed the Valentines that best matched our purchased tiny animals.  I would have loved to print right on the card stock but my printer just wouldn’t do it.  Check your printer manual to find out ahead of time.

All was not lost though.  After printing our Valentines on regular 8.5×11” paper, my children cut them out and glued them to 5×7 card stock. Make sure you use heavy card stock so that it can support the weight of the animal.

Next, we hole punched the cards by stacking a few together at a time.  Put two holes in each card, across from each other, near the middle.  

Then test fit a tiny animal using a piece of string.  The length of string will vary depending on how far apart you make your holes.  Once you decide a good length of string you can cut as many as you need to the desired length.  

A super fast way to do this is to wrap the string around an object that is the proper length, such as a sturdy piece of cardboard.  When you have wrapped the string around the object a few times, then cut the string at the top and the bottom.  You will now have many strings of the same length! 

Before you tie those animals in, see if your kids want names on the Valentines.  I made the mistake of making them all, only to discover that my children wanted to choose special animals for each friend.  This is a good point for names to be added.

Finally, tie the animals in and they are ready to spread some love!

Results

My family was so excited about how these turned out!  We also got lots of compliments from the parents and teachers at school.  These are a bit time consuming but they are my favorite valentines we have ever made. 

Our whole family together in an assembly line and made these over a few days.  Even my husband helped!  We had fun as a family and it felt really great to create together.

I hope you give these candy free valentines a shot because everyone will love them! Show me all your candy free creations on instagram! Tag me at #gardenfoodandcraft and don’t forget to rate and comment!

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