Oh hey, February, what are you doing here?

People do NOT like Valentine's Day. Do you?

I think the hate originates sometime in high school when teenagers start to feel (ugh) feelings and invent unrealistic expectations about romantic, Parisian, Lady and the Tramp-esque dinners on February 14th. Then when that doesn't happen, and you end up making out with some gross basketball player in his parents' rec room until your 11:30 curfew, (or if you were like me in high school, staying in to watch Will and Grace reruns alone), you decide that no sir, V-Day is not for you. Never again will you pay homage to a dumb, cherubic baby with wings and an affinity for archery.

But even at the ripe old age of 22, I actually do like Valentine's Day! I always hark back to the pleasant memory of grade school Valentines: shopping with my mom to pick out the perfect cards, snapping the cardboard's perforated edges into little rectangles and customizing each one for every member of my class, even Yucky Paul who smelled gross and ate erasers. Those were the days.

That's why this year I'd like to try for the 3rd grade approach and hand out fun goodies to all my friends and roommates. Yeah, NSYNC Valentines would be ideal, but I'd like to try a more creative approach. Like these adorable little suckers:


Brooke over at Inchmark came up with this great idea to make tiny candy boxes out of match boxes. Unfortunately I'm not yet creative enough to have come up with a neat idea like this myself, but I think I'm going to try a version of this for my friends this V-Day. I'll probably fill them with dark chocolate, and maybe use a weird/ironic print? Not sure yet, but I'll definitely document and post the process. If you'd like to try Brooke's craft, you can read her directions here.

In the two weeks leading up to the big day, I'll post some more Valentine's Day gift wrap tips and ideas in attempts to extinguish the Cupid hate.