Let's pause our garden series so I can wish you all a happy Valentine's Day! Also so I can talk about Valentine's Day treats.
As the mother of three children who are still in elementary school, I'm still in the thick of class valentines for all. And being me, I refuse to buy cards for my children to sign. Or, perish the thought, the new option of individually wrapped candy with a spot printed right on the wrapper to write the recipient's and giver's names.
Not that there's anything wrong with giving (or getting) a heart-shaped Reese's peanut butter cup! I just like to make my kids work a little harder than that.
Of course, this also means that I have to work a little harder than that.
Just like last year, we raided Cubby's stash of origami paper so the two younger boys and Poppy could make cards for their classmates.* Also like last year, I carved the world's wonkiest hearts on the ends of potatoes so they could stamp correspondingly wonky hearts on the outside of the cards.
Now, we won't pretend that it's the cards kids are excited about getting on Valentine's Day. Of course it's not. They're all about the treats that come with the cards. And for us, that means crispy rice treats.
I've made these enough years in a row that they've become a tradition. And, because our school is so small, I actually make them for every elementary student--even in years when I don't have a kid in every classroom--AND all the staff.
Honestly, I think the staff is more excited than the kids to get a Valentine's treat.
The only downside to these treats is that they really don't keep all that well, so they should be made the day of or the day before. I'm subbing at school today, so I made a recipe and a half after work yesterday. Making them takes no time at all. Individually wrapping 40+ of them is actually the most annoying part. Poppy was happy to help, though.
I made something different for Poppy's class. She doesn't have preschool on Tuesdays, so her class party was Monday. I didn't want to make a tiny batch of crispy treats just for her class, because she only has two other kids in her class.
I had a bunch of Oreos left from making the chocolate-cookie crust of Cubby's birthday chocolate cheesecake. I also have a big tub of sprinkles left from Poppy's birthday cake decorating (thanks, sis!). What I did not have was any chocolate chips to melt and dip the cookie in to make the sprinkles stick.
The Internet had an alternative, though! I used a mixture of powdered sugar, milk, and vanilla to dip the cookies in and then rolled them in the sprinkles. The milk in the dipping mixture did soften the cookie a tiny bit, but certainly not enough to make them unappealing in any way.
There's also a party for the elementary students this afternoon, but I am thankfully not signed up to bring any food for that. I pretty much maxed out my Valentine's spirit with the Oreos.
Regardless of whether you have children or not, I hope this Valentine's Day is filled with love for all of you.
* Cubby has aged out of the valentines-for-all stage, a fact that Poppy found quite upsetting. She does not understand why anyone would choose to forego making and receiving cards and treats.
6 comments:
Happy Valentine's Day! Love the Oreo treats!
Linda
After many years of making valentine's with my kids for their classes, I began to just buy the candy with the space for the writing on the wrapper. This is my 23rd year of having kids in elementary school, and I just can't anymore. (Actually, with one daycare the preschool also exchanged filled eggs at Easter time. So maybe even longer...)
Though this year, I was almost foiled. I walked into the store Sunday and found hardly any Valentine's candy left. None of it individually wrapped. I made do with Rice Krispy treats - not Valentine's , but they had the convenient space on the wrapper. (And peanut free - always a good choice!)
The only thing that gets my attention faster than dumplings is Oreos. I have a secret package hidden in my night stand. June and Chao lei know something is up when I retire with a cup of cocoa or a glass of milk.
mbmom11: 23 years is definitely long enough. You served your time. We're going to top out at 15 years of elementary students (barring something--or someone--unexpected), so you win.
We had a shoebox stash of Valentine cards we were either given or bought very, very cheaply. We were driving on Valentine's Day, so today we brought out the box to prepare for a little celebration this evening. But there were not enough store-bought cards. So some of us slapped stickers on index cards, but my daughter was thoughtful and created a special card for each member of the family. I appreciated the thought she put into it.
In all honesty, I felt huge relief when I moved from traditional classroom teaching to an online school and I no longer had to deal with Valentine's Day "parties" and Valentine exchanges. OMG, those days were ridiculously sugar-infused and, frankly, majorly difficult.
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