The Cutest School Valentines – 2 Ways!

February 8, 2024

I LOVE school valentines. You know the ones I’m talking about—not the new, fancy ones that have a toy or piece of candy (or, say, a gel pen!) attached. The classic, fold-in-half, sealed-with-a-heart-sticker type valentine. There’s just something sooooo nostalgic about them! Every time I see them, I’m tempted to buy a pack and send them out to my girlfriends. That wouldn’t be weird, right?!

I designed these cute, printable valentines with those in mind. Of course, I added a cute little take-home aspect to them. But I wanted to avoid candy, since our kiddos are just bombarded with sugar all day every day anyways!

I have two different valentine printables here for ya today! I couldn’t decide on just one—luckily my sister always agrees to let me create and craft things for her daughter, too! I started out with the cute little gel pen valentines. I ordered a pack of these mini gel pens for my daughter for Christmas and was instantly reminded of why gel pens had such a CHOKEHOLD on my childhood. They are absolutely addicting. Its probably what started my love of hand-lettering. I knew I had to find some way to incorporate them into a valentine card. Not just because they’re so dang cute, but they were also insanely cheap! Enter my clever play on words—“Hey valentine, we really GEL!” Too stinkin’ cute.

If my niece was a valentine, she would be this second set. The girl has a minimum of 6 accessories on at any given moment, and always has to have a bracelet! I created these cute tags that loop into themselves to hold super simple friendship bracelets. I think they turned out adorable! We just made very simple, braided bracelets; but you could definitely lean fully into your 90’s nostalgia and go all out with the bracelet tying! (Did anyone else make that crazy one where you threaded the strings through a circle of paper and moved the strings over each other? Over and over and over….Classic.)

Below you’ll find a link to the two printable stencils. For each, you’ll cut along the sold lines/crop marks, and then use an x-acto knife or blade to cut along the dashed lines. The gel pen valentines have two cut lines to thread the pens through. The bracelet valentines have a single cut line that you thread the tail back through to secure the bracelet. I’ve included a helpful gif below!

I hope you enjoy these valentines! If you make them, please tag me! I loved creating these and hope your little one (OR YOU!) have fun handing them out for Valentine’s Day!