How to Decorate Valentine's Bags

Whether gift bags, card bags, or just sacks with Valentine's cookies to give to your child's teacher, everyone wants for their bag to look cute and embrace the Valentine's Day spirit!

Difficulty: Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Bags (preferably paper)
• craft items - crayons, markers, paint, stamps, etc.
• scissors
• glue
• construction paper

1. First, assess your supplies, your time available, and your need - one bag or fifty will strongly influence the best way to decorate the bags! Similarly, if you have lots of different craft supplies, you can pretty much do anything! But if you only have a few, you will be limited.
   
   Recommendations for supplies (in addition to bags):
   -Stamps (always fun and styrofoam ones can be bought on the cheap at a craft store or even large retailers (like Target or Wal-Mart)
   -Ink or acrylic paint for stamps
   -Paper doilies (for the old school V-day crowd!)
   -Construction paper
   -Crayons or markers (especially for young kids)
   -Glue
   -Scissors
   -Glitter
   -Print-out images (do a google for Cupid, Heart, or Love printable coloring pages)

2. For one bag, have at it- cut hearts or even hearts and arrows out of construction paper or the paper doilies! Have kids color print-outs and cut them out and glue them on! Be aware that the constant cutting out of things gets tiring (and time consuming) after awhile, so don't do this for lots of bags, unless you have lots of helpers!
   
   Glitter is also always a favorite and can be used in raw form (super messy!) or in the ever-popular glitter pens (much cleaner!). If kids are decorating hearts, they LOVE using this stuff!

3. For lots of bags, I strongly recommend use of "conversation heart"-style decorating! Conversation hearts are also known as sweethearts and are basically the little candy hearts with writing on them that have been around for Valentine's Day for virtually forever!
   
   Either find stamps with hearts that have sayings or stamps that are plain hearts. You can use either ink or a light coat of acrylic paint on the stamp, then turn it over and press firmly. If you use plain hearts, just write fun sayings on them in marker or paint! Try "U R a Tiger," "Luv much," "Only You," etc., that are standby favorites. Or make up your own like "As one," "Forever Amen," "Your Girl," etc.

4. Make sure you allow your bag to dry completely before folding it, filling it, or giving it!