In the weeks leading up to Valentine's day, kids are so focused on making sure they've picked out the perfect cards that making an equally exciting Valentine's box sometimes slips their mind. For parents with weeks to go or caregivers with just a night to get it done, we've got all the Valentine's box ideas you'll ever need that are perfect for those school parties.
Easy Valentine's Box Decoration Ideas Any Kid Can Master
With all of the havoc you're managing during the school year, sometimes holidays creep up on you. Inevitably, your kid will come to you with their undecorated Valentine's box a day or so before they need it ready. Thankfully, there are a lot of great and easy decoration ideas you can throw together in under 30 minutes. It's completely possible to help them create a creative card box to hold all those sweet valentines from their friends and classmates with these simple ideas.
Twister Mat
If you've got a lot of paint in the cupboard and a short amount of time on your hands, then one way you can decorate your kids' Valentine's box is to look like a Twister game mat. Kids love weaving themselves into cramp-inducing positions during Twister, so most of them should recognize what you're going for with a quick glance.
Simply, cover your tissue box or shoe box in white copy paper or construction paper. From there, you can draw on a series of four columns with six circles each. One column of red, blue, yellow, and green. Do your best to draw on the Twister logo and color it in red at the top. From there, you can cut out a slit on the side or where kids can toss in their cards.
Kirby
Kirby continues to be a beloved video game character, and there's no better holiday to incorporate the all-consuming hero than Valentine's Day. Take your Valentine's box and color it black with construction paper or paint. Cut out a large pink circle just bigger than the size of the box (you want to cover the whole thing). Glue the circle onto the top of the box, and color in two large oval eyes, two pink blush marks, and a circular mouth. Using a utility knife or box cutter, cut out the mouth hole, as this can be where kids put their cards in!
Troll Doll
Troll dolls are bigger than they've ever been, and they can make for a super fun homemade Valentine's box theme. The easiest part is drawing on the troll's face on the top of the box (after you've covered it in your kid's desired color of construction paper) and cutting out a hole where the mouth is to put their cards in. Now, if you've got time to get some mohair, that works best, but you can also use thick yarn to create their big hairstyles. Hot glue huge chunks of the hair or yarn to the top of the box until you feel like it's voluminous enough. A quick spritz of hair spray should keep it stiff enough to hold throughout the day.
Lego Piece
You'd be surprised what you can create with some Playdoh, spray glue, and construction paper. Take a container of Playdoh, and drop it onto the table. Using a piece of thread or twine, cut about 10 or 12 circles out of the cylinder (imagine the Playdoh is real clay).
Once you've got your pieces cut out, take some spray glue or Mod Podge and coat them in it. While you're waiting on them to dry, cover a shoe box with construction paper the same color as your Playdoh. As they dry, you can hot glue the circles to each side of the box in an even pattern, like you'd find on a Lego block.
Monster
A classic and easy design is the toothy, big-eyed monster. Take a tissue box, setting the open hole towards the front. Weave two pipe cleaners with an eyeball cut out of construction paper through the top. Then, glue in some spikey teeth to its mouth that you cut out from some construction paper.
Minecraft TNT Box
If you've got a color printer and some glue on-hand, then you can whip up a Minecraft TNT Valentine's box. Whether it's a tissue box or shoe box, you can customize an image to print in just about any dimensions. So many talented artists offer their own versions of the block-art online that all you have to do is print the sheets off and glue them down before the school bell rings.
Fun Valentine's Box Decoration Ideas to Have Family Craft Time
Kids, with their bright imaginations, don't have any limits when it comes to making up ideas, but it's the execution part that might make their eyes glaze over. Help them stay focused on creating a memorable Valentine's box using any of these unique ideas.
Mario Bros. Pipe
With a new animated movie on the horizon, Mario is set to get a ton of new fans. The video games have been around for decades, and there are so many fun characters to inspire a Valentine's Day box. An unusual one is the pipe that classic Mario would slide down at the end of every level. Take an old grits or oatmeal container and cover it in green construction paper. Then, cut out a few strips of the same construction paper (evenly sized) and glue them on top of each other to create a thick rim for the pipe. Glue the rim to the top, and you're ready to go.
Ballet Pointe Shoe
For any burgeoning ballet dancers, the pointe shoe is the most important tool in their toolbox. Although they might be too young to be going on pointe, they can dream big by turning their Valentine's boxes into a pointe shoe. Cover the bottom half of your box in a light pink color, and then crisscross satin ribbon around the front and back of the box to create the classic shape. You can use hot glue to secure the bow and edges.
Piece of Candy
Represent the sweet holiday by turning a Valentine's card box into a wrapped piece of candy. Color the box whatever shade feels sugary enough, and cut out enough colored cellophane wrapping to leave some over the edges. Bunch up the ends of the cellophane like you'd find on a peppermint, and twist them closed with some ribbon or twist ties. Make sure you leave a small sliver open in the middle for people to drop their cards in.
Spiderman
Thankfully, the Spiderman costume has an easy-to-follow pattern that you can replicate onto your own tissue box. Cover the sides of the box with blue construction paper or paint them blue. Then make the middle of the box red with paint or paper. From there, you can draw a web-like grid down the red section in black marker or paint. Top it off with the iconic abstract spider symbol on the chest. Bonus points if you get some webbing from your Halloween decorations and glue it so it's sticking out of the card hole.
Dinosaur Land
Using a cheap set of plastic dinosaur pieces you can find in any toy aisle, some fake moss, and a little glue, you can bring the dinosaurs back from the dead. If your kid is dead set on becoming a paleontologist, one way to support their interests is to create a quick and easy dinosaur land themed Valentine's box. Cover the base of the box in brown construction paper, and the top in green. You can spray glue some moss on to add texture. Then, using hot glue, you can glue the plastic dinosaurs and the vegetation that comes with them on top.
If you want to get really creative, you can glue on dinosaur bones in the 'dirt' layers beneath the dinosaurs on the side of the box.
Retro Valentine's Box Decoration Ideas to Stand Out
You and your kids can have loads of fun putting together these retro-inspired Valentine's boxes. They might even send you down memory lane. These boxes are great for upper elementary or even middle schoolers who are looking for something cool and creative for their school Valentine's party.
VHS Player
Kids today don't know the wonderful tactile experience of putting in new VHS tapes in your player and hearing the satisfying whirring as they unwound them. Bring back this old school electronic that every kid wanted in a new craftable form.
- Start with a shoebox, tissue box, or other box that's wider than it is tall.
- Cover the cardboard with gray construction paper using a glue stick or hot glue.
- Once it's fully covered, draw a rectangle 6 or so inches wide and 2 inches tall in the center front.
- Let an adult cut out the right, left, and bottom edges of the rectangle using a craft knife. You should end up with a piece that's only connected to the box by the top edge.
- Carefully, bend this piece back and forth a few times to loosen it up because this is where Valentine's Day cards will go.
- Now comes the fun part. Cut out little squares of white or black construction paper and draw various electronic symbols on them. A triangle for a play button, a square for a stop, and arrows for rewind. Glue these on either side of VHS slot.
- Bonus points go for writing a popular brand across the front or top of your VHS box (like Pioneer or Sony).
Old Flip Phone
Give your classmates and neighborhood friends the satisfaction of clacking closed a flip phone by transforming your Valentine's Day card box into one.
- Cover a tissue box in any color construction paper you like.
- On the top, draw the buttons 1-9 like an old flip phone.
- Have an adult cut out a circular slot on the top or bottom of the phone for your friends to slip their cards inside.
- Cover a toilet paper roll in construction paper or paint it black, and carefully glue it to the top right or top left corner of the box.
- Cut a piece of construction paper (the same color as the phone base) the same size as the tissue box. On one side, draw and color a screen.
- Glue two small rectangle pieces of construction paper halfway hanging off the bottom of the page. You should glue it down to the side the 'screen' is on, and half of the rectangle should hang off.
- Fold the rectangle in half, and glue that side onto the top of the tissue box, making the top part of your flip phone.
- Once everything's dry, your friends will have to 'answer' the phone to leave their card, and flip the phone shut when they're done.
Guitar
If your kid's musically minded and loves singing along to their favorite songs, then one way to customize their Valentine's Day card box is to make it into a guitar.
- Take an empty tissue box and cover it in brown construction paper or paint it in a brown shade to your liking.
- Cut out a large circle in the lower middle of the box as this will serve as the sound hole and the place where kids can slip in their cards.
- Using cardstock or cardboard, cut out a long 'neck' to the guitar. Leave it bare or color it, and glue it to the top of the tissue box using hot glue.
- Taking some fishing wire, light-colored string, or thread, glue 6 or 12 strings from just beneath the sound hole to the top of the neck.
- Draw on the extra decoration pieces, like the fret lines, for the ultimate effect.
Solar System
Get some early practice in on building a diorama of the solar system with this Valentine box decoration idea.
- Cut various sized foam balls in half and paint them different colors using acrylic paint.
- Spray paint an old cereal box black.
- Once they're all dry, take the cereal box and, using a silver permanent marker, draw on some stars in the background.
- Hot glue the balls onto the front of the box, creating a solar system.
- Take a silver permanent marker to add a few rings and a bronze one to add a few asteroids.
- Set everything out to dry.
Have Fun With the Process
When you're crafting something, the end result isn't the only thing that matters. Learning and experimenting throughout the process can be just as fun, if not more so, than creating the thing you set out to make. Help your kids push their creative limits and put together a Valentine's box they'd be proud of using these great Valentine's box ideas. Kids sometimes keep their boxes long after the Valentine's party, so it can be a fun keepsake that will help them remember the time you spent together working on it too.
