Each February I go in search of a clever valentine for my son to make for his friends. It has to be something that reflects whatever he’s into that year.  Third grade is somewhat of a transition year from what’s cute to what’s cool. Cutesy valentines aren’t going to fly this year. We needed something that would earn cool status.

And you know what’s cool… the wii! The boy loves video games. Lucky for him, he was born the son of the Atari Frogger champion from the 80′s. I mastered that game! And whenever I see an old Ms. Pac Man game, I can’t resist the urge to play.

I don’t think video games are evil, as some parents do. And I don’t think they will negatively impact this generation of kids. It’s all about balance. As long as there is still plenty of outdoor play with friends and other activities going on, I have no problem with a little Wii. In fact, if you stop by unannounced, you may just catch me playing Guitar Hero or singing into the microphone for Simon on the American Idol Wii game.

Last month, I went in search of a Wii valentine, but couldn’t find anything. I remembered reading about a bowling Wii tournament party on Hostess With the Mostess, so I went back for some inspiration. It is full of great Wii themed ideas. I, then, found a template online to make a paper, Wii-mote. This served as the envelope for the valentine. It is a pdf file and perfectly to scale. I printed one on my printer and ran the rest on the copier. The quality was still great. These would make perfect party favors too. Take my advice, use a glue gun to put these together, regular glue will make you a crazy person. There is a little cutting and folding involved, but it’s a great excuse to catch up on Tivo.

 If you’re familiar with the Wii, one of the first tasks you do is to create a Mii (pronounced “me”), a graphic version of yourself. There are a few sites on the web that allow you to create and print your own Mii’s, just for fun, including MakeWee and My Avatar Editor. For the valentine, I had the boy go on the site and make his mii. I then cut and pasted it into Photoshop and created a valentine note to stick into the Wii-mote. The boy is one of three other Blake’s in his class and is referred to as Blake R. I’m hoping that doesn’t stick. To finish these off, we filled the Wii motes with AirHeads and other smaller candies. The boy can’t wait to share them later this week.

One of Blake’s best friends made Ipod Valentines this year, using small conversation heart boxes. The Ipod valentines are complete with peanut butter cup headphones attached. I love this idea! Family Fun shows all of the directions on how to make them.

Do you have any other great ideas for valentines, do share!