Yeah, that’s what he said. No, I’m not using Steve Carell’s line from The Office. That’s what he really said about the boy’s Valentine boxes for school. He’s right you know. It is just a box…….that is until I get a hold of it. I’ll admit that this is an childhood issue of mine. Every year a few kids would bring in these extravagant boxes and well I always wanted one. Although my mother was good at many things, craft projects were not her forté. Now my children come home with flyers that it’s a competition with prizes. Thanks school for giving me a reason to act crazy!

Saturday I went to the store to get stuff for the boy’s Valentine boxes. I asked before I left “What do you want to make this year?”  (Last year we made a Sponge Bob and a pirate ship.) My 11 year old replied “I want to make cupid!”  Yep, he’s my kid…..he’s obviously inherited my big ideas. I’m not sure how we are going to pull it off but I’ll try. My 7 year old said he wanted a castle. I asked him at least three times if he was sure. Not because I didn’t like the idea but because he always changes his mind once we start a project. He confirms that he defiantly wants to make a castle. Okay, I can handle that.

The craft section of the store was pretty bare but I found a few things that I thought we could use and I would just search the house for the rest. When I got home I decided to start with cupid first because I  thought it would take more time. My son is quite the little artist and so I told him to draw the shape of the head on a piece of paper.  When he finished that I had him do the arm and then the leg. He was having trouble with the leg because he wanted it to be bent at the knee. He asked for my help and so I sat down and drew a leg, but the whole time he’s critiquing my work. “Mom the knee need to be smaller……. the toe is too long……I imagined it more like……” I feel like telling him that I’m not a police sketch artist and that this isn’t Americas most wanted. Once he approved my work then I had him cut them out and trace them on cardboard.   

I couldn’t find the right color of construction paper for the skin and so I purchased a yard of fleece for $2.00 and decided to just hot glue it on the box. I didn’t want him to get burnt and so I handled the hot glue gun. Go ahead ask me how many times I burnt myself. I’ll tell you that I won’t be making a  arts and crafts safety video anytime soon. While I was doing that he made the wings, bow, arrow and quiver (In case you didn’t know that’s an “arrow holder”.  I googled it.) Once I had everything glued on, including some of my skin, he drew the face. I thought it turned out pretty good. It’s one of the funniest valentine boxes I’ve seen in awhile.

 Now it was time to do box number two. Here comes the 7 year old “ I want a cupid too”. Are you kidding me, didn’t we go over this before I left? I can’t believe I said it but….. “I have some leftover fur from Halloween. How about a teddy bear?” Yeah, he was told multiple times to get his butt back into the kitchen and help MOM with HIS box. We pretty much went through the same process with less help from the child.  Here is Cupid and the castle Teddy Bear….box style….

I know my husband thinks I’m crazy, but this morning when I dropped the boys off I passed a mom with a box that had the Eiffel fippin’ tower constructed out of popsicle sticks and red yarn and a kid carrying a huge roller coaster, so I’m not the only one.   

Welcome to the competitive world of Valentine’s day.