Cookies & Cards

So, I’m kind of like a sucker for little celebratory holidays…yes, even the heavily commercial-spun ones. And yes, that means even Valentines Day. I like to see joy even in the ordinary – which is possibly why I like celebrate even the little things in life with my kids. But that doesn’t mean I like to be slave to the commercialism and empty my pockets out either. Nor does it mean that I often possess the “krag” to even be too fancy in my DIY efforts. So when energy levels are dipping like they currently are for me (I mean,we just about dusted ourselves off from first day at school), and minister of finance of our home got our wallets on lock down, I dig deep into the creativity think-box, and follow my finger down to the easy-peasy files.

The result of which was that Valentines Day this year, my girls could be a little sweet on some teachers and godparents with this little combo of a gift pack. I’ve had to move my V’day schedule up a bit, because the school is celebrating today , so time was of the essence, and as simple as possible was the name of the game.
It honestly is easy to make, is yummy AND practical, and if you already have all the ingredients at home, then pretty economical as well.

I think what makes it so cute is all about the presentation:

We used red paper bags that are still leftover from Parker-Grace’s first birthday party. (Yes, the Little Birdies and Owls birthday theme from two years ago! We bought that pack of bags then and have provided excellent value to us throughout these two years!)
To fancy up these bags, I simply added a pretty paper doily ( I bought a stack of these for R4 a pop at China Town)

To fill them up we whipped up a batch of Cranberry and White chocolate cookies (the same recipe we used for the Christmas cookies in jar idea – which really is awesome if you’re tight on time and running low on flour! Eek!), stashed a bunch of them in there along with some personalized homemade natural lip balm (see here for that easy tutorial – we used peppermint essential oil and still can’t get enough of it’s icy tingle.)

We wanted to add some cute love sweets – you know, the old school kind of candy with the little love messages on them- but I couldn’t seem to find any stock. So that’ll have to wait till next year or something. But if you are keen to hunt them down, apparently CNC foods stock them.

In fact, you can fill up those pretty bags with whatever you’d like, it goes without saying. Maybe even some chocolate cookie-pops like these we’ve made before, or even these almond vanilla babies(so yummy!). Really, it’s whatever floats your boat.

We added names to the doillies and included little handmade cards. For the cards, we basically used cardstock that was prettied up with some washi tape I had, some lace trim leftovers and little paper hearts. And just in case you’re wondering why on earth those hearts look a bit lopsided and like a toddler did them – it’s because a toddler DID make them! The girls used their thumbs dipped in red paint to make these hearts that I then outlined, cut out and glued onto the card. BOOM. Grandma’s and godparents freakin’ love that kinda stuff. Right? I mean I am a godparent, and I freakin LOVE it! So based on that totally legit, although small survey, I am like 100% on the ball, right?! 

Anyhoo, lame surveys aside, I hope I’ve inspired some valentines day creativity in you, no matter how low the energy levels are dipping.

Now go spread some love this weekend, eat all the chocolates, before I do! Nomnom. X