Use These Christmas Items for Valentine’s Day & St. Patrick’s Day

When our kids were 3 and 1 my husband, Nick, was laid off from his job. It was a really hard time. I was working part time at the local newspaper and money was a bit tight to say the least.

I would go to work at 5:00 in the morning (in order to get my work done and be home with my babies!) and I can remember the morning so distinctly.

I made little notes (at about 4 in the morning, gah!), and placed them all over the house, leading them from one clue to the next. At the end was a little bag of those chocolate coins wrapped in gold foil. You know the ones. I had picked them up that year on clearance at Christmas time, knowing I could use those at Christmas time.

Since then, the kids have begged for me to do the gold scavenger hunt. Even now that they are teenagers, it’s more about nostalgia and tradition then actually wanting to go through a scavenger hunt.

The chocolate was something to be shared. The notes were written on fridge notebook paper but it was so special to them that after all this time, they still remember it poignantly.

And that’s the point. It doesn’t have to be some big, elaborate event for kids to remember how special it was. Keep life simple and your family will make such sweet memories in the simplicity.

All that said, here are some things you can keep your eye out for when clearance shopping this winter. Maybe you’ll see some Christmas clearance marked down and can look for these items. If you don’t need them then don’t worry about them. But if you do, looking through the clearance can save a lot of money in March. Trust me, You’ll be lucky you looked. Eh? Eh?

These are the candies that were behind our whole tradition.

We found green plates on sale for a song. They will be great to send with the kids for their St. Patricks day themed lunch at co-op. Also, if you frost sugar cookies, paper plates are a great way to contain the mess from the table. We usually make shamrock cookies for the holiday, and really live it up, seeing as we live next to Notre Dame. Go Irish!

Green straws are so much fun! If you find a set of red and green you can seperate them to use the red for Valentine’s Day and the green for St. Patrick’s Day. I often do that with Christmas clearance then head up to the attic to put a bag of red and a bag of green in the correct seasonal storage bins.

Anyway, I think these should give you a few ideas of what I mean. There are tons of ideas out there that can be reused. Often times when I find something I use it as a way to bring joy to my family in a way I might not have thought of without the super cheap item.

What do you do to celebrate St. Patricks Day? Comment below so we can all share in your fun!