Buckle in.
Wait, sidebar. Do moms get to be nuts? I mean, aside from the "I drink too much wine because my kids make me crazy" stereotype of a mom, aren't we all supposed to be dainty and proper and wiping our kid's faces?
Heh. Dainty and proper. So not me.
Oh! Another sidebar. Trust me, this will become relevant in a minute.
So, I don't know if I've mentioned yet, but I'm kind of an Amazon freak. *Amazon Prime - HOLLA!* In my down time when I'm bored, since I'm not really much into TV, I search Amazon for unique gift and costume ideas and other ... random things.
Yeah ... don't judge.
Since I spend a fair amount of time messing around on Amazon, about a year or so ago all my bookmarked "discoveries" started to clutter up my wishlist and make it unmanageable. So, being the OCD person I am, I decided to hack the system and create a list for all my various whimsies. That meant quite a bit of new list creations and sorting - but in the end all the work was worth it, as things became much more easy to navigate: now if I'm looking for something, I just go to my list for Halloween costumes, or list for daycare "party favors", etc.
As it stands right now, I have 11 (yes, 11!) different Amazon wishlists.
Whatever. I'm not obsessive. I'm "organized".
Anyway, back on topic. Valentines Day.
One of the things I had flagged awhile back on my Amazon "daycare party favors" list was a teacher's gift for Valentines Day. It was a simple, base metal necklace with a CZ stone that looked something like this and cost a whopping $2.
While I liked this concept as a Valentine gift, I just left the necklace to rot on my Amazon list because I couldn't really stomach the idea of giving cheap jewelry, that may or may not turn your neck green, as a gift.
But then - I had an idea. Lovely-Jewelry and Accessories to the rescue!
A friend of mine who lives down the street from me runs her own costume jewelry business. Remembering she has direct relationships with a handful of overseas factories, and at least one of which who can do decent sterling jewelry, I decided to reach out with a bulk buy request (6 necklaces).
After a little conversation with her contacts - poof! I was in the money, and a few weeks later I had put together this:
Disclaimer - only the necklace was from Lovely-Jewelry and Accessories, the rest I came up with myself. Even the poem!
Also, one small disappointment of note: the card that I mounted the necklace to ... I thought was a bi-fold card when I purchased it. I was a little sad when I opened the package to find out it was basically a single sheet of card stock. Oh well, I guess ... what can you expect from a $1, 8 pack of cards from Target's "Hot Spot"? LOL! Despite the lack of a bi-fold, I punted, and I think the idea still turned out pretty cute.
Since the above necklace did come from a Chinese factory (and was $4 a piece, FYI, in case you want to contact my friend for your own), there was a little of down time between when I ordered and the necklace's arrival. In all, I think it was maybe 2 or so weeks.
While I was waiting, I started working through what my son would use as his Valentines exchange with his classmates. For that process, I had a few basic parameters:
1 - no candy or junk food (toddlers don't need that garbage)
2 - try to avoid plastic toys that may just end up in the trash, or break and become a choking hazard
3 - make the item somewhat reflective of my son's personality
Ok, seems easy enough? Starting out, I headed on over to Oriental Trading and found this cute bumble bee:
For quite some time, I had planned on getting this bee. It seemed like a perfect fit, since my son loves to sing the "Baby Bumble Bee" song, and I know they sing it at school quite a bit.
Honestly, I didn't decide to pull the plug on the bee until about a week or so ago when I realized my son's class has 15 kids in it ... which would require me to buy 2 dozen bees instead of 1 dozen. At $19.99 per dozen, plus shipping, it just seemed silly to spend almost $50 on a stuffed toy that may or may not be well loved by the end recipient. I mean, no matter how many times they sing "Baby Bumble Bee" at school, a stuffed animal is a stuffed animal. And stuffed animals always seem to end up at the bottom of the toy bin after a few days. So why sink $50 into that?
Meanwhile, over Christmas, my sister had given my son a hand crochet banana for his play kitchen. Being that my son loves to eat bananas, this new toy (with peels and all) was a big hit for him.
Sudden inspiration!
As I've mentioned before, my sister runs an awesome Etsy shop with all sorts of fun, custom crochet things. But unfortunately, in the wintertime her hands flare up with painful dry skin issues, and it makes finishing projects difficult.
Knowing my sister's hands wouldn't be up to the challenge of making 15 bananas, I headed back to Etsy and ended up stumbling across this amazing seller - Yeeli's Little Corner. In a manner of a few days, I had this:
Ta-da! Fifteen custom made bananas - good thing I know a bunch of little monkeys!
With my 3 point check list above fulfilled, I feel good knowing that this Valentine exchange gift will make for a great imagination building toy (and serve as a healthy eating inspiration to boot!). The banana can easily fit into any child's play kitchen, or might even become the inspiration for a parent to get their child a toy food set in the future. Plus, I cannot say enough good things about Yeeli, the shop owner, as she was so kind and responsive. In the end, I have no regrets for dropping the bumble bee. I am so glad that this ended up working out instead.
So there you have it. A heart necklace for the teachers, and a banana for all my son's classmates. Happy Valentines 2018!!
And bonus to you - I'm posting this blog PRIOR to Valentines day, with plenty of time to order your own knock off of my cute gifts. So, if you like either of these ideas, click on the shop links in blue above to go buy your own. Trust me, I don't mind being copied if it means giving these two wonderful shop owners more business!! (And be sure to contact the shop owners directly for volume cost discounts and lead time quotes. For example, I think Yeeli only has pricing posted for up to 6 bananas right now - I would suggest asking her to quote you costs if you need more than that).
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Now tell me ... what are you planning for Valentines Day? Comment below!
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