I decided for my kids’ preschool Valentines this year we would go candy free. Ok, almost candy free. For the twins, we did no candy at all! For Brielle’s we did mini candy bars and a toy. I wanted to go candy free on hers too, but she wanted to give her friends toys and candy. I can appreciate that. In order to do candy free Valentines for the twins’ classmates we shopped at the dollar tree. I am sure I have mentioned before that I am a huge fan of the dollar tree. In the past, I have even placed bulk orders with them online for parties, events, and gifts. If you place an order online on the dollar tree website and then have it shipped to one of their stores for pick up, the shipping is free! This is the way to get things in bulk at a great price! I have done this also when I did mission/humanitarian trips to Guatemala and was bringing supplies. I once brought a 100 baby dolls in my suitcase and they came from the dollar tree! I also did a bulk online order two Christmases ago when I purchased Christmas themed board books for each child in our Moms of Multiples Club for the annual Christmas party. If I were to purchase the same type and style of book anywhere else I would probably have to spend $4 per book! I am still surprised and shocked with the things that they are able to sell for only $1!

I found some great items for Valentines day at my local dollar tree in North Richland Hills, TX. I bought a number of these items so I could share with readers some of these options for candy free Valentines. Here are the items I selected and I will explain below:

Valentines gifts

 

The seven items above were $1 each at the dollar tree! These are the best items I found at the dollar tree that could easily be used for Valentine gifts instead of candy.

  • 3- Pack of Bubbles
  • 3- Pack of Bouncy Balls
  • 3- Pack of Doc McStuffins Crayons (they also had the Cars version too)
  • 12- Pack of Valentine Pencils and 12- Pack of Valentine Erasers
  • 6 Pack of Glitter Sidewalk Chalk
  • 3- Pack of Large Punching Balloons
  • 4-Pack of Dough/ Molding Clay

The reason that I selected these items was because they can be opened and used for multiples Valentine’s. For example: The molding clay/ dough comes 4 in a pack. You can open the package and use one for each Valentine. If there are 16 kids in the class, you only need to spend a total of $4 on this (4 of the 4-packs)! The sidewalk chalk comes in a 6 pack. I would open this and put either 2 or 3 pieces of the chalk in a snack size Ziploc and then attach the Valentine Card to the outside using a hole punch and piece of ribbon.  They even carry brand name Valentine cards at the dollar tree. I picked up a package of 35 Disney Princess Valentines for $1 and 35 Mickey Mouse Valentines for $1! They also have cute bags for the gifts and Valentines. 25 bags (larger style) for only $1! They also have the smallest size loot bags that are 40 for $1! Did I mention that the dollar tree is the best!

IMG_7867

If your child has to give Valentines for a class of 30 kids I highly recommend doing the pencil and eraser set:

IMG_7860

The pencils come in a 12 pack and the erasers come in a 12 pack as well. For a class of 30 you would only need to buy 3 of each of these which totals $6! Along with the $1 for the cards from the dollar tree your grand total comes to $7 for these great non-candy Valentine gifts! They will certainly last a lot longer than a piece of candy too. They are a cute, fun Valentine gift that is sure to be remembered.

For the twins gifts I decided to go with bubbles and the punching balloons for each of their classmates. The gift bags were actually purchased at Michael (on sale of course).

IMG_7884

 

Brielle helped load every bag for her classmates. She signed her named to several of the cards, but because it was so time consuming I helped finish. She picked out bouncy balls for her classmates. Along with the mini candy bars.

I

IMG_7868

I hope these ideas were helpful if you are trying to do candy-free Valentines. Happy Valentine’s Day from our family to yours