We have this yearly Valentine’s Day tradition in our family where the cousins put together fun Valentine’s Day gift packs for each other and mail them out via snail mail.
Now, I don’t know about you, but I love getting fun, surprises in the mail! (It sure beats bills! Am I right?) And my kids are no different. My boys love getting mail with their name on it. Letters, magazines, packages, books… you name it. If it comes in the mail, and it has their name on it, they’re stoked!
These little Valentine’s Day gift packs are a fun little way to show their cousins they were thinking about them on this holiday all about love.
One of the perks of being from a large family is that there’s always something going on and people to be around. When it comes to our kids, most of them have cousins who are right around the same age, and they’re all best friends with each other. Not only do we see each other every Sunday, but since those of us with school-aged children all homeschool, we’re always doing fun activities together as well.
I’ve said it before, but one of the things that drew me to Dean when we were younger was his big family. Being that I was an only child, this whole “big family” thing was new to me. There was always so much going on, and I’m the kind of person that likes to be busy so I loved that I was never bored when I was at Dean’s house. We were always doing something… even if all of us teenagers were just hang around.
I’m not so sure that all big families are like ours, but our family is close. Super close. Everyone gets along, kids and adults, and we all genuinely like being with each other. We all have similar beliefs and lifestyles, but even when we do vary here and there, it doesn’t separate us from each other. We accept each other and our differences. Anyway, family is important, and we want to teach our kids to love and stick with their family. That’s one reason why we love doing fun little things like putting these Valentine’s Day gift packs together. It’s just another way to show our love for each other.
Making Valentine’s Day Gift Packs
To start things off, we head to WalMart to pick out some fun Valentine’s Day themed gifts for the cousins. The boys love picking and choosing Valentine’s Day cards as well as the gifts they want to put in their packages.
Next up, we dump everything out on the kitchen table and get busy. We start off by making a list of all the cousins that will get packages. This year, we put together 13 packages for the cousins, and one more for Judah’s friend, Ellah. The boys start by filling out their Valentine’s Day cards, and we double check to make sure that everyone gets a card from each boy.
After that, we fill up the Valentine’s Day gift packs, making sure that each cousin gets the style or color goodie they will like. This year we had pencils, pencil sharpeners, and little pads of paper as well as silly glasses, jumping frog toys, bouncy balls, window cling monkeys, puzzles, and more.
We also take some time to play around and act goofy too. These silly glasses are a favorite every year!
Once we have all the gifts in the packages, we seal them up, and write everyone’s name on their package. Then we separate all the Valentine’s Day gift packs by family groups and pack them up for shipping. And as soon as that’s done, we clean up our mess! There’s always a ton of it.
I hope you’ve enjoyed seeing this little glimpse inside a day in the life of our family.
xo, Meagan