Valentine’s Day is this week and parents everywhere are scrambling to one up the homemade Valentine’s Day cards their kids made last year.

Don’t you just love when teachers say they much prefer homemade Valentine’s cards to store bought ones? Actually I like receiving homemade cards, too - making them is the part that I have a difficult time with.

In years past we have alternated between some really creative valentine’s and the store bought variety. This year we opted to make homemade cards but with a twist - I removed myself from the project entirely. And honestly, it was the most fun our family has had making Valentine’s cards, ever.

The cards we made this year were easy enough for my four year old to make on her own.

Materials needed:

• paper doilies
• construction paper hearts that will fit on the doilies
• glue sticks
• Valentine’s stickers
• Markers

Do I even need to write the instructions?

Have your child glue a heart onto a doily, decorate it with stickers, and write to and from info with markers. Done.

Parent’s involvement - I traced enough hearts on the construction paper and cut them out for my four year old. The older kids cut their own out. And I helped my four year old write the to/from info, although she did a pretty good job on her own.

So, how’s that for a parenting tip? A hand’s off, stress-free homemade Valentine’s card project that the kids loved. We probably won’t win any awards for creativity but we had fun!

WooHoo! I won MomGadget’s Valentine’s Giveaway Spectacular!

For those of you that stop by NeenMachine.com regularly to fill up on my parenting tips, you know that I usually post a Friday Giveaway Roundup. This is just a list of links to sites that are giving away free stuff.  And the stuff they are giving away is pretty awesome. So, obviously, I am not only writing about it but am entering the contests as well. Well, here is proof positive that real people actually do win and it is definitely worth the effort to enter.

This Valentine’s Day will be extra sweet for me!

And if you are not familiar with the MomGadget site, take the time to head over and discover all the wonderful things that Gayla writes about. In addition to hosting fabulous Giveaways, Gayla introduces her readers t0 new products, websites, and services, and of course gadgets that moms will love. A successful, work at home mom herself, Gayla provides guidance and inspiration to the rest of us.