Valentine’s Day is coming up quick. I don’t know
about you, but for us, every year the kids have a Valentine’s party at school, and until a couple of years ago, I was always a bit stressed as to what they should bring. It had to be simple and easy because we hold a really, really busy schedule, and often I do not get home from work until after 7:30pm. My kids always want to bring something that looks “Valentiney”, so we usually made cupcakes or cookies with icing and heart sprinkles. I’d always end up feeling guilty for providing the kids in their class with too much sugar (oops, sorry teachers…)
I do prefer that my kids help me make the treat too, as it is their class party and they should help share the responsibility. It’s also a great way for us to spend some time together. There were years where we stayed up way past bedtime baking cupcakes or cookies…
My A-ha moment
A couple of years ago I was cutting up some strawberries for one of my Mother Goose classes, and discovered that if you cut them a certain way, they look like hearts. Some of the moms in my class commented on how sweet they looked, and so from that day forward, I’ve had my kids bring these simple but very appropriate snacks for their class party. One year we made heart shish kabobs, putting strawberries and other fruits on skewers. Last year we just cut the strawberries into hearts and put toothpicks through them, to look like arrows going through the hearts. It’s quick and easy, especially the arrows going through the hearts. I quickly slice the strawberries and my kids put the toothpicks through. Done in less than 10 minutes! No major clean up, just a knife & cutting board to wash and stems to put in the compost! Now that’s my kind of snack 🙂
Check out this simple treat!
1) Cut a “wedge” shape when hulling the strawberries.
You can stick toothpicks in diagonally at this point, or if your strawberries are medium to large sized, slice them longitudinally into thirds. If they are small strawberries, slice them into halves. They should look like this:
I get the toothpicks with the cellophone at one end, it looks more like an arrow. Here’s their finished look:
ENJOY <3