Valentine's Soaps 'n Stuff

So, it's Valentine's Day.  My kids love their friends and family and enjoy making things to give/send to them.  I'm kind of artsy and a bit crafty, so when the mood strikes and the kids aren't cranky and one or more of them are occupied or napping, I like to help them make things for their friends & family.  I don't think crafting with your kids makes you a good parent and the inverse of not crafting with your kids certainly does not make you a bad parent.  Other than making art using pencils, crayons, markers & stickers, we only do a handful of crafts a year (you know, because I have three small children which equals utter chaos most of the time most days).  This year it worked out for Simon (age 4) and me to make these cute little heart-shaped soaps to give to the kids' friends, their cousin and grandparents...

Cute right?  We already had the soap-making stuff (glycerin bars, soap dye & soap scent) because a couple Christmases ago we made soaps with tiny ornaments inside to give out.  As the kids and I were perusing Target a week or so ago, I came across these ice cube trays in one of the bargin bins at the front of the store:

I know melting crayons down into different shapes using trays & pans is a pretty popular craft right now, and that was the inspiration for this soap project.  When I saw the tray I instantly thought it was perfect for making little soaps!  And since we already had the stuff at home, there was no loading the kids up to make a special trip to get supplies, it really was the perfect Valentine craft.

I simply melted the glycerin in a big bowl using the microwave, Simon stirred while I added the soap dye & soap scent, then I used a ladle to pour the liquid into the tray.  It hardened in less than 30 minutes and was ready to pop out.  Simon & I used some plastic wrap to package the soap.  I tied it with some paper ties from packaging from some Imaginext toys the boys got recently (I saved the ties because I thought they would make some cute gift wrap options, glad I did).  Simon was the art director as I made tags on the computer.  Then I just cut the tags out with scrapbook scissors (because I cannot cut a straight line to save my life and the wavy scissors make that less obvious), punched a hole and tied the tag on.

I think our tag is pretty clever, if I do say so myself...

I felt the need to put "It's soap!" on the tag because I wouldn't want their friends to mistake it for candy...

The soaps are small, cute, smell good without too much scent, AND the kids love using them to wash their hands (3-year-old Jonas will purposely touch the potty so that he has to gets to wash his hands with these soaps!).  So they're decorative yet practical.  It's very likely that Simon and I will do this again next year for his kindergarten class Valentines.  How is it he's old enough to start kindergarten next school year?!?!

So the soaps were Valentines for the kids' friends.  A few weeks ago while we were at Target (different trip than the aforementioned one, we all love us some Target), on an impulse I got the kids some way awesome Valentines cups...

Target had this whole display of circus-y Valentines stuff.  If you really know me, you also know that I love love love the circus.  So I really couldn't not get these cups for the boys.

I especially had to get them because for Simon's 3rd birthday he had a circus party and I made Jonas into a strong man on the invitations & decorations...

So then I couldn't get the boys a cup without getting one for Charlotte as well...

Just look at that girl!  She likes monkeys and will often just sit on the floor saying, "Mon-kee soun, mon-kee soun... AH! AH! AH!"  So the monkey cup was fitting.

So I hope you enjoyed my super-long Valentine's post.  I'll leave you with a picture of Simon being the strong man on his cup.