Free Retro Inspired Valentine's Day Card

Ah, how I love tacky and kitschy retro ephemeras, especially for Valentine's card! Inspired by the classical retro Valentine's Day card, here is babalisme own version of retro Valentine's Day card!

It's a regular side opened card, so the instruction should be very simple, just cut, and fold! Write sweet nothings or pour your Shakespearean heart out on the inside. I purposely keep the wordings simple for this card to work well for mothers, sisters, friends, or even teachers! Don't forget them, show everyone your love this year! 

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I would love to see your creative takes on the card and it's now even easier to share! You can tag me on Facebook @babalisme FB page, or instagram @babalisme, or twitter @babalisme. Share us your photos!!

If you'd like a game to play for Valentine's Day, check out last year free printable, the Cootie Catcher Valentine's Day Game.

p.s. Giveaway update. I'm so sorry for the delay on the giveaway, I scheduled the giveaway to end before Valentine's day, but here I am, hospitalized for the whole last week for dengue fever. Please stay tuned for giveaway on later date. Thanks! 

p.s.s If you live in a tropical weather do buy lots of insect, particularly, mosquitoes repellent, seriously! 

Valentine's Day Cootie Catcher

I think I do remember of wanting to share a cootie catcher printable with you, but I just can't find the perfect occasion for it. I once thought about fill in invitation, but what a huge trouble for both the sender and the receiver. Some of your guests might not "get it" and miss your party's time, for example. Because I know, some of my guests did have no clue about what to do with a cootie catcher invitation. Can't blame them. 

Then again, what's more suitable for a cootie catcher than be a Valentine's Day game? And I have modified the game a little bit, to be more family-friendly and less pre teen oriented, so smaller children can also enjoy this game with their siblings, parents, or class. :) So please bear with me if this cootie catcher is somewhat played differently than you are used to. There will be no fortune telling involved now. 

First of all print it right here. 

Follow the instruction below the cootie catcher to make one. Repeat if necessary. This game can be played from as low as 2 persons to up to .. well a class of children will do. :) Here's how to play.

1. Take turns with the cootie catcher, first person up, would spell his name while opening and closing, alternating left right and up down movement, the cootie catcher with his fingers. For example, if his name is Bryan, it would be " B (open left right close), R (open up down close), Y (open left right close), A (open up down close), N (open left down, remain open)"

2. Bryan would pick a number he'd like. for example from 4 numbers available he picks the number 3. 

3. Repeat step 1, but this time counting "1-2-3" while opening and closing the cootie catcher. 

4. Again, Bryan would pick a number, this time he'd like to choose the number 8. Open up the number 8 flap.Hey it's "Whisper Sweet Nothings"! Bryan should do the assignment he had picked to the next person in turn. For example, it's Angela. 

5. After Bryan whispers his sweet nothings to Angela, now it's Angela's turn with the cootie catcher. And she will do another assignment to the next kid in turn. 

Here's the list of the assignments :
Give a hug : the cootie catcher handler give the next kid a hug. 
Tickle Me Crazy : everyone tickle the cootie catcher handler!!! It's a wild ticket bonus everyone will love :D
Share a chocolate : the handler should give a chocolate/candy to the next kid.
Sing a love song : handler sings! or the whole team sings with her choice of song. 
Get up and dance : handler dances, or she may ask the next kid to join her. 
Kiss a cheek : kiss the next kid's cheek
Do an eskimo kiss : between the handler and the next kid. it's rubbing each ones' noses gently btw. 
Whisper sweet nothings : aw, you know this one. 

Bottom note : this printable has been tested by 5 year old big sis G. And she played it continuously you may notice the wear and tear signs on my cootie catcher above. At the first time she had a hard time closing and opening the cootie catcher correctly, but she got the hang of it pretty soon. Hope you have fun playing too! 

Cootie Catcher Birthday Invitation

Well. I assume you're expecting this one's coming, ...another birthday for Big Sis G! Yay! 

If you've been reading my blog or know me a little too well by now, you might realize that I took the vow of not using any licensed cartoon characters when it comes to my offspring's birthday. But sometimes in the life and times of being a mom, you'll learn to compromise (mothers, are you with me?). For example, when your daughter, all teary-doe-eyed, asked you for a Gru's (from the movie Despicable Me) minions party, and been singing and imitating those yellow creatures for weeks, you'd bound to break your own rule. *sigh* 

So, yes, I made not one but two, TWO, Despicable Me inspired pinatas. One is minion shaped and the other take the shape of Fluffly the unicorn doll (or papoy, according to the minions).We'll get to these pinatas in later posts. Now, I'd like to show you how your 5 year old toddler can to be tricked into your own aesthetic, without him/her throwing a tantrum. My secret is ..... incorporate my love of a British tea party theme into a cootie catcher! Kids love cootie catcher! And I love English roses! It's a win-win solution for us! How is it related to the minions, you ask? Who cares? Just kidding. We're not having a full blown theme party, so I guess I can go away with mismatched party printables this year. Do forgive me.

About the cootie catcher, just in case you're not really familiar with the name, it's a pretty simple origami kids make to predict future/fortune. Depending on what's written inside, of course. It's pretty popular on the playground of first or second grader. To play the game, one must hold the four corners with both pointer fingers and thumbs. Move it open and close, and pick two numbers (or symbols, or drawings, anything), and boom, your fortune's been told! 

Since the cootie catcher is modified to an invitation, mine is filled not with fortune but lots of party's details, all the when and where and in place of the "fortune", I put lots of happy activity to be done when the player choose a certain number combination. 

I was thinking of sharing the cootie catcher invitation with you, what do you ladies think? Would you need one? And instead of oh-so-personal invitation, do you have any other ideas to use the cootie catcher? Share your thoughts in the comment box, and I'll do the most creative idea of cootie catcher as a free printable later on :)