Nicole Villalpando| nvillalpando@statesman.com
Kids love Valentine’s Day. I am not the biggest fan (and it has nothing to do with Valentine’s Day horror stories). No, it’s that when my kids were in preschool and elementary school, they spent 5 minutes tearing open their Valentine’s Day cards to just get to the candy or the sticker and never actually read the cards. And then we had all these cards sitting around unloved.
Then I thought about all those parents who sat with their kids writing all the names of their classmates on those cards and sealing them up with the stickers that never wanted to seal.
So, what to do with those rejected cards that have showed up in your house this week? Here are five ideas:
- Buy clear contact paper or clear shipping tape. Line the cards up into a rectangle and stick them to the contact paper. Then put another piece of contact paper on top. You’ve just created a place mat, or you can make it into a bookmark.
- Use the same technique, but make the rectangle slightly larger than an 81/2 inch by 11 inch piece of paper. Fold the rectangle in half and add paper folded in half between the two halves of the rectangle. Staple the paper into the cards. Now you’ve created a journal or sketch book.
- Cut out all the hearts you see in the cards. Use needle and thread to string them together. Now you have a funky necklace.
- Cut up the cards into itty bitty pieces of paper. The next time you have a party use the cut up cards as confetti or stuff egg shells with them for Easter cascarones.
- Shred the cards in a shredder. Now, the next time you have a package to mail or a birthday present that needs some color, you have instant packing material.
Or, you could just recycle them in the recycling bin. BORING!
