If you are looking for a cute kids Valentines mailbox for an upcoming Valentine’s Day party I have a super fun idea for you! This Valentines box is a little different than the typical Valentine’s Day mailboxes – it has just a little extra fun and flair! It’s made with just a few basic art supplies and household items and it’s easy to personalize. Because it’s so customizable, it’s a great Valentines box for any age. It’s sophisticated enough for older kids to enjoy, and simple enough for many kids to do independently. Younger kids will need just a little help, which gives you a great opportunity to spend some quality time crafting and making memories with your child! In this post I will give you all the free printables and instructions that you need to make this super cute kids Valentines mailbox!
Materials for Your Kids Valentines Mailbox
You probably already have most of the supplies that you need to make your own Valentine mailbox. You will need the following materials:
- An empty oatmeal canister. We used a standard 18 ounce size, which was the perfect size for our purposes, but you might want a larger canister if your child is expecting a lot of Valentine’s Day cards.
- White paper (or colored paper if you prefer). This is for covering the sides of the canister, so it needs to be fairly large. A large sheet of construction paper should work. We used paper from a roll of drawing paper. Butcher paper or wrapping paper would also work well.
- Masking tape, packing tape, or duct tape.
- Craft glue, glue stick, or double-sided tape.
- Hot glue – this is optional, but very helpful for some of the steps.
- Scissors
- Card stock for the printable mail box flags and heart decorations (you can find the free files below).
- A brad.
- About 12 inches of 3/8″ wide ribbon (optional). This is completely optional, but it does make the Valentine’s mailbox extra cute!
- A toilet paper roll (optional). This is for the Valentine mailbox post. You can leave it off, but is does make the Valentine box look like a mail box.
- Optional: You might want extra elements that your children can use to decorate their Valentines day mailboxes, such as letter stickers or other sticker sheets, paper hearts, glitter glue, etc.
Instructions for Making the Valentines Mailbox
The mailbox is pretty simple to put together. Just follow the instructions below!
- Print the Valentine Mailbox Flags and Valentines Day Mailbox Hearts printables onto card stock.
- Place the lid of the empty oats canister on the back of the Valentines Day Mailbox Hearts paper, centering the lid on one of the hearts. Trace the lid. You might have to hold the card stock on a window for this step to see the heart clearly. If you don’t care about seeing the tracing lines, you can just trace the lid on the front to make it easier.
- Write your child’s name inside the heart if you would like, so friends and family will know who the Valentines mailbox belongs to.
- Cut out the circle. Set it aside.
- Make a hinge for the lid. To do this, place a strip of masking tape from the lid to the oats container on the outside of the box, and another layer of masking tape on the inside of the lid and container. The lid should be able to open and close after you do this, like the door of a mailbox.
- Now attach the heart circle to the top if the lid of the canister. You can use glue or double-sided tape for this step.
- Cover the sides of the canister with your construction paper. First cut the piece of paper to the correct width, then tape the paper to the side of the canister at the point that will become the bottom of the mailbox. Wrap the paper around the canister and tape or glue it at the end.
- Now to add the flag! Cut out the heart flag. Cut a slit for the brad in the flag and in the canister with scissors or a craft knife. An Exacto knife worked great for me for this step. Put the brad through the flag and the side of the canister and open the end inside the canister to hold the flag in place.
- If desired, add ribbon to the edge of the lid – or door of the mailbox, to give it a finished look. Glue the end of the ribbon to the bottom of the edge of the lid, then apply glue along the rest of the edge, pressing the ribbon onto the glue as you go. Hot glue works great for this step.
- Add a bow to the top of the door of the Valentine mailbox if you would like.
- If you want to mount the Valentines mailbox to a toilet paper tube, first shape the top of the tube to fit to the canister. To do this, squeeze the toilet paper roll in half and trim the top slightly into a bit of a curve. Now find the spot where the canister will balance on the tube. It will probably have to be a little closer to the front of the mailbox where there is more weight because of the lid. Hot glue the tube to the bottom of the Valentine mailbox.
- Now your child can have so much fun finishing off her Valentine mailbox with any decorations she would like!
All finished! Now your kids Valentine mailbox is ready to be filled with Valentine’s Day cards and goodies!
A Fun Way to Use Your Kids Valentine Mailbox at Home
I love Valentine’s Day because it’s all about love, and I think it’s a great excuse to go the extra mile to show some love to our family members as well as our friends. This year, we are planning to make a Valentines Mailbox for each of our family members and keep them on display so that we can deliver love notes to one another every day in the weeks leading up to Valentine’s Day. I think it’s a perfect way to nurture love and appreciation in our family, and a sneaky way to get my younger kids to work on their printing and writing skills. We might even make this an annual tradition!
I hope you have enjoyed making this kids Valentine mail box! Feel free to check out the links below for more fun crafts you can do with kids!
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