Valentine’s Day Card Inspiration for Boys

I think my eyes automatically glaze over when I see all the little Valentine’s Day cards that stores sell for kids to give to their classmates. While I love that they instantly bring me back to grade school when I was exchanging them with my own little friends, and I love seeing the masses that the kids bring home, I yearn for something different. Less common. More unique.

*those cards are just fine. I know this and agree. I use them too, usually one year with those, one year homemade. They have their place and they are all sorts of awesome. This is about those times that you want something a little different. And as an aside, I think the store-bought cards really leave out Nick’s age group, and are more geared towards kids a bit younger.

This year was a year for something different. With Nick’s cards, it all started when I found out that there is a web site featuring gorgeous photographs taken by the Hubble (you know, that space telescope?). (And thanks, Rubyellen, for that little tidbit). Not only is there a web site featuring the photos, but you can download them for free (and, although it’s easy, they give you step-by-step directions on how to do that). Which means these photos are perfect for making posters (as Rubyellen did for her husband) and … wait for it …

for making Valentine’s Day cards!

I picked the photo that I liked and downloaded it to my computer. Once there, use whatever photo editing software you have (I used Picasa) and add the text to your photo. Then upload the completed picture to your favorite photo printing spot and voila. Very unique Valentine’s Day cards for cheap.

I printed 23 cards at Costco for a whopping three bucks. Each of the photos from the NASA site includes a few details on the actual photograph and what you’re looking at, so I printed that on a white label and affixed it to the back of the photo. Since the cards are going to 10 and 11 year olds, I think this would be interesting to them.  And because I know kids like candy for Valentine’s Day (of course!), I taped a lollipop to the back.

15 minutes of my time
+ $3.00 photo printing
+ $2.50 bag of lollipops

equals 23 pretty special Valentine’s Day cards for a grand total of $5.50.

Have fun!

Hungry for more Valentine’s Day inspiration?
These are the cards I made for the kids last year.
Soon I’ll be sharing what I did for Madeline’s class this year.

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