If you want to buy a special Valentine gift for your child, grandchild, favorite relative or friend, or for a whole group, the possibilities are limitless. Whether you're planning to build your own Valentine gift, plan a Valentine party, provide Valentine cards for your children to take to school, or need to mail order a Valentine's package for that distance loved one, try these ideas-many of them cost effective and creative. The places to shop include Rite Aid, JC Penney, Sears, Target, Elaine's, WaldenBooks, and Hello Kitty. Online consider Amazon.com, Harry & David, Mint Box, Carnival Source, Suzy's Zoo, Pottery Barn Kids, Erna's Gifts, and Sugar Plum Gifts. One thing I'll say upfront, only a few stores are providing Valentine's theme gifts at this time, many of the mail order sites say they are, but for children, the items are provided without the red hearts packaging you expect for the holiday. Cool items to include are cosmetics, jewelry and gear, socks, books, candy, and stuffed animals.
Build Your Own
Right now, many retail stores have sales on a variety of products suitable for filling out a Valentine's basket of your own at savings. The most inexpensive way to package it all is to buy gift bags that cost about $2 in the gift-wrap sections of most stores. If you're planning to mail the items, think about using a seasonal mail order envelope from the Postal Service, Hallmarks or Fred Meyer and selecting lightweight, flat items to include in the packages. Doing so will help reduce your shipping costs. Mother's should consider holding a party with several of their friends to help cut costs by buying packages and sharing the individual items amongst several Valentine's baskets. If you want to have fun but don't have grandchildren yet, think about holding a basket building party for charity.
Cosmetics and Gear
JC Penney had 30% off and Sears had a buy one get 1 half-priced winter sale on lotion, toilet water and other cosmetics, average price $10 before the sale. Elaine's has a buy 2 get 1 free, and buy 1 get 1 free sale on various items like packaged lip gloss, fingernail polish, jewelry and the like, proving why this store is a favorite for girls. See picture 1. For boys, you might consider the sporting stores post-football season sales. Target has cute girls socks with hearts with an average price of about $2.
Jewelry
For more expensive enclosures, all the jewelry stores have diamonds, rubies, garnets and heart offerings, many at 30-75% off normal prices with many of them offering deals through January.
Books
Waldenbooks currently has a Manga book sale where you buy four books and get a fifth book free. Waldenbook also has a rack of seasonal themed books-see picture 2. Amazon.com also has many Valentine's themed books.
Candy
The best candy offering I found was at Rite Aid with a huge selection, their best sale was 75% off of chocolate covered cherries. Expect area grocery stores to have similar supplies and values. Target has many candy offerings priced at a $1.00 that are suitable for quieting a child while shopping but also make good add-ons for a basket. See picture 3.
Stuffed Animals
Rite Aid had many small stuffed animals. The cutest stuffed animals I found were at Hallmark including two singing frogs on a lily pad and a hairy love beast. See picture 4. Target had stuffed animals in their $1.00 offerings.
The Mint Box website has a similar idea with lip gloss, mints, and tins with toys inside called toy trunks. The web site requires 2 weeks for delivery and free personalization. Average cost is 1.50 for a single item and10.50 for a four pack.
Providing cards for school
Rite Aid and Carlton cards had packages of 20 Valentine cards, some designed for boys i.e. Transformers, Pirates of the Caribbean, some for girls, Bratz, Disney and other things like i.e. jeweled tattoos. Tattoo packs and sticker packs are an alternative idea. Hello Kitty has a small number of Valentine's supplies and Valentine's cards with cute fuzzy hearts to include inside. See picture 5. Fifty Valentine's cards from Amazon.com costs $5.
Suzy's Zoo website provides a richer variety of Valentine's cards at a reduced price. If you have a neighbor with children, you might want to get together with them to reduce your overall price since there is a minimum order of $15. She also has sticker packages.
Favors and Supplies for a Theme Party
Carnival Source website has many gift ideas to provide at a Valentine's party as favors. The most expensive item was $40 for a dozen mugs with plush toys. Carnival Source has many packages of twelve item cookies, toys, cards, stuffed animals, light up flowers, hearts and the like with an average price of about $8. These items could be added to fill a basket above, too.
The Pottery Barn Kids website has tablecloths, napkins, cups in packages averaging in cost from $15-60 for Valentine's.
Mail Order Gifts and Baskets
Harry & David's is one of my favorite mail order gift basket companies, including many items for Valentine's Day. I've ordered through them, had terrific items and no problems. Harry & David have towers-three or more boxes of items wrapped individually and delivered together that makes everyone feel special. Harry & David's chocolate towers and brittle boxes are $25.00 on sale and $50 for the larger Royal chocolate tower with boxed petit fours priced at $20. Harry and David's have other items in the same range. They also have two Mini-Cookie collections for $34.95 if mailed to same address but without Valentine packaging.
Erna's Gifts has several Valentine's gift baskets, the cutest being a $24.00 mug with teddy bear and goodies.
Sugar Plum Gifts has more deluxe Valentine's gifts many with Hershey's Hugs and Kisses, toys, balloons and mugs.
By Sheri Fresonke Harper, published Jan 07, 2008
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