According to Wikipedia, Valentine’s Day was first associated with romantic love in the circle of Geoffrey Chaucer in the High Middle Ages, when courtly love flourished, which may bore you to death before you finish reading this article. As kids in the somewhat (1980’s) modern era know, it was our parents job to pick up that box of dollar Valentines from CVS or Walgreens. You know the ones – where you ripped the sheets apart, wrote your friends names in a hurry and slapped them into the included envelope. And if you were lucky, you received the UNIQUE Valentine – the one with a Conversation Heart or an M&M stuffed down inside.
The sad truth about the former is that they were quickly discarded as soon as mom or dad got a hold of them.
Partially due to the rise of allergies in kids and LARGELY due to the advent of Pinterest, the last half decade has seen a big transition to more interpretive Valentines. The 3-D non-candy Valentine has made it’s way onto the scene, as well as the heart crayon DIY attempted by ourselves for the first time several years ago and perfected this year with the addition of GLITTER the enemy…
…or the plastic bug in a jar from my sister-in-law…
…or the bouncy ball…
Each year as a family we enjoy making and sending unique Valentines.
This year we ventured into unknown territory with The Valentine Snow Globe. Our plan was to do it as a DIY for Ava’s kindergarten class during her Valentine’s Day Party, but it’s also something cool to make for your kids’ teachers or grandparents. So here you go…
VALENTINE SNOW GLOBES
MATERIALS:
- 6 oz Mason Jars
- 2” Foam Balls (cut in half)
- Decoration for Inside SnowGlobe (keep it to about 1″)
- 1 t Glycerin (this keeps the glitter from clumping together at the top of bottom, but it is not necessary–we didn’t use it in this sample picture)
- Toothpicks (cut to 2”)
- Hot Glue
- Extra Fine Iridescent Glitter
- “Buffalo Snow Flakes” or some type of larger Iridescent Sprinkles or Glitter
- Any desired decoration for inside SnowGlobe (we used ‘Celebrate It’ Mini-Hearts from Michael’s in both pink and red – they come 40 to a tube for about $4.99—they’re about 1” tall and are styrofoam)
The project is REALLY SUPER EASY.
It all starts with the jar…
INSTRUCTIONS:
- Find a few 6 oz Mason Jars (you can use Ball Jars, baby food jars or other kinds…) We chose a plain, no logo type from a company called www.uline.com. For just a single project, it’s really expensive, but if you’re planning to do this as a class project or if you need to make a dozen or more, you can buy a case of 24 for $40—just over $1.50 each.
- We took all of the lids and spray painted them red – the nice thing about these jars is that they come clean (i.e. without logo or markings on the top) and they’re white—so you can easily skip this step.
- Cut your Foam Balls in half so that you have two halves.
- From the bottom, push a Toothpick straight up and through (trim any remaining Toothpick under the Foam).
- Take one of your Mini Hearts and push it through the top of the Foam Ball (don’t let the Toothpick come out of the top of the Heart).
- Hot Glue the Foam Ball/Mini Heart into the middle of the top of the Jar.
- Fill the Jar all the way to the neck with water and 1 t Glycerin. It’s ok to have spillage, as this will ensure that you have as few air bubbles as possible.
- Add your Buffalo Snow Flakes and Glitter as desired. You need about 2 t total to see it, but you can add more if you’d like.
- Take the top with the Foam Ball/Mini Heart glued in, and invert it into the jar, tightening the lid completely. Again, you will have spillage here.
- Make sure you don’t have any big air bubbles—if you do, you may want to take the lid off and add more water.
- When satisfied, add a couple of dots of Super Glue to the edge of the lid to keep it in place firmly (this isn’t entirely necessary, but young children like to take tops off—as we know!)
- Wipe up any excess water.
Voila!
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