Little Hiccups: Worm Hugs for Valentine's Day

Friday, 12 February 2021

Worm Hugs for Valentine's Day

Are your kids celebrating Valentine's Day with their classes this year?

I know it's all a little different this year with so many kids doing home learning. We're lucky that our schools have opened back up again and the kids have been back in person part time since January. With the kids back in school that means we were able to hand out valentines to classmates just like every other year. There were no class parties and no yummy treats to share, but I'm so happy the kids got to take part in something they look forward to every year.

Usually we'd give out some sort of home made treat, but with the pandemic I wanted to avoid giving out food. So this year we went with worms on a string. Not sure what worms on a string are? They're neon colored fluffy "worms" attached to a piece of clear string. Sometimes sold as party favors; sometimes sold as cat toys! They look absolutely nothing like a worm (as you'll see in the pics), but they are pretty cute. I'm not generally a fan of giving out little plasticky, throw away toys, but I figured they were a safe bet plus the kids had been asking for some for themselves to play with at home. Lola and Mathilde had their class parties on Thursday and apparently the worms were a hit.

With the worms ready made, there wasn't an awful lot of DIY for these valentines, but I did design a cute label for the packaging, complete with a cheesy saying. Actually, we came up with two cheesy sayings for our worm valentines, so Lola went with one and Mathilde with the other. I know you're dying to hear what the sayings were, so here they are. Lola went with "You've wormed your way into my heart", which some of the kids found a little creepy! Creepy's good, right? Mathilde went with "worm hugs", which no one found creepy, because it's not creepy. That said, if a giant worm gave me a hug I probably would be a little creeped out!

Ok, enough talk, let's see those valentines...

Here's what you'll need to package up the worms the way we did:
Worms on a string
Cello bags 3" x 4"
Sticker paper/Shipping Labels
Rotary circle cutter
Label template:
"Worm Hugs"
"You've wormed your way into my heart"

There aren't really too many steps for this one. Download the label template from the links above and print the number you need onto sticker/label paper. There are 6 labels per page. Use a rotary circle cutter or a pair of curved scissors to cut out the labels and write the names on each one. Curl up the worms and place each one into a cello bag. Fold the cello bag over and seal with a label. Voila!

If you don't have any sticker paper you can always print onto regular paper instead and attached the label to the cello bag with a glue stick. If you go down this route you'll want to tape the cello bag closed first to make sure it stays in place while the glue dries.