Frugal Valentine's Day

Today was the day for class parties for my kids. I managed to do Valentine's for both classrooms, goody bags for my daughter's class and gifts for six teachers for about $5.

All I did was plan ahead. Last year a few days after Valentine's I hit the stores and purchased six boxes of valentines for $.25 or less each. It's more than I needed, but I thought it would give my kids some fun choices - and surely they'd like at least one of them! I also picked up two Valentine's boxes for $.25 each and four nice ceramic plates for $.50 each.

I used two packages of Valentines for the classrooms and stuck on a Dummy sucker to each one (have these on hand at all times). I used some leftover red Christmas saran wrap squares and filled them up with candy purchased on clearance after Christmas for $.25 a bag (kisses, and Hershey's bliss - just pull out the green and you are good to go). I tied the "bags" up with red leftover Christmas ribbon and placed one on each bag or in the box for the teacher gifts. The baggies were purchased last year on clearance for $.15. I filled them with suckers, sticker sheets and candy hearts from Walgreen's purchased with my $6 Register Reward (see Tuesday's post).

So - be ready for next year! Go to the stores next week and snap up some stuff on sale. I know I will! Plus red and silver can easily be used for Christmas!