One of the sweetest traditions of elementary school is exchanging Valentine’s Day cards with the classroom. Paper bags or empty boxes are popular choices for making a handmade mailbox to collect Valentines. Another idea that is easy to create with large groups of children is my Valentine’s Day Paper Plate Mailbox. This mailbox is ideal for primarily paper valentines – particularly the mass market classroom ones that are about the size a business card. A pack or two of inexpensive paper plates is enough for the entire class to make their own mailboxes. The best part is that the paper plate mailbox comes together in a matter of minutes, leaving plenty of time in your class schedule for decorating and personalizing.
Children can decorate their Valentine’s Day mailbox however they wish with their own creativity. But inspiration examples are always helpful to nurture creativity. Here, I’ve shown how to personalize the mailboxes with a cute little emoji. An initial would work equally well of course!
Materials
- Paper plate
- Scissors
- Pencil
- Tape
- Cardstock, yellow, pink (for the emojis)
Steps
- Use a pencil to mark the lines where you will need to cut. Make 4 snips on paper plate at the locations shown in photo. Don’t cut beyond where the lines are located – you need to just make snips.
2. Fold the plate lengthwise. Repeat on other side.
3. Then fold down the part between the two snips. Repeat on other side.
4. Bring the corners into the flap and tape down.
5. Time to decorate! Make emojis from cardstock such as a kissing face, heart eyes or heart with diamonds and tape them to the paper plate. Alternatively, add initials to the paper plate or even a symbol of a favorite hobby such as a basketball or video game controller or anything else that represents personal identity.
Did you make this DIY of ours? We’d love to see it! Share with us on Instagram or Facebook @helloholydays.
If you make this DIY and share photos of your version on your own blog, please include a link back to this page as your source of inspiration and tag @helloholydays on all social media.
If you prefer to purchase Valentine’s Day cards rather than craft them, check out my shop for greeting cards perfect to express love on Valentine’s Day or anytime of the year.
Want more Valentine’s Day crafts? Check out our list of Valentine’s Day Crafts.
This craft was first created by Manal Aman for marthastewart.com before being republished on Hello Holy Days!
