One of my favorite parts of writing a blog is hearing from other people and exchanging ideas based on what I wrote in a post. After seeing Annika's valentines that were created on Hooky Friday, Molly emailed me with a great idea. She asked what I thought of organizing a handmade valentine exchange among our kids and opening it up to whomever else wants to participate. I thought this was a fantastic idea, so I'm throwing it out to the rest of you.
Here's how I see it working:
- Please leave me a comment if you're interested and tell me how many kids will be participating and their ages. You may sign up until January 20.
- I'll compile the list and match up families based on the ages of the children. If you're a prolific procreator, you may be matched up with more than one family to get the right age matches.
- I'll email you the contact email and kid info for your exchange partner(s) by January 25.
- Please contact your partner by January 28 and exchange addresses.
- Handcraft a valentine (yes, gocco counts, so long as it's designed by the child) and mail it off to your partner by February 10 to allow adequate mail time. Don't forget to take a photo of the beautiful creations!
- Post your photo to the not-yet-created Flickr group so we can all see the inspiration and creativity of our children.
- If you have a blog, post the received valentine on your blog.
That's it! I don't see this being a big gifty exchange - getting it together on the Valentine front is enough work in my book - but be as creative as you'd like to be. If you and your exchange partner want to take it further, then go ahead and do so as long as you both agree. Just make it about fun and connections for kids. If I get organized enough, I may even make a (gasp!) badge for your blogs. And Molly, I'm all over it even if we get no takers - I can't wait to see what you'll do.
Valentine production line 2007
Let the Valentine production of 2008 commence.
