These print-at-home colour-in cards fold up to look like a little gift box — but open them up and a sweet Valentine’s surprise is revealed inside. Cute, clever and full of heart!

You can download the full pack of cards for free here

What Are Valentine’s Day Surprise Cards?

These printable cards are designed to look like wrapped presents when folded. Children colour them in, write a message, and then fold along the dotted line to hide the little Valentine character inside.

When the card is opened — SURPRISE! A cute animal, heart character or sweet pun is revealed.

Inside you’ll find designs including:

• Bees (“I Wanna Bee With You!”)
• Teddy bears
• Cats and koalas
• Cupcakes & treats
• Cupid characters
• Flowers

…and lots more!

Each sheet includes two designs, so they’re great for classroom crafting, card exchanges, and Valentine parties.

Why We Love This Craft

• Print and go — no fancy supplies needed
• Kids can colour, cut and fold independently
• Easy low-prep activity for teachers or parents
• Doubles as a keepsake card AND a craft
• Perfect for sharing with friends or gifting to family

Handmade cards always feel extra special — and these only use paper, colouring pencils and scissors!

How to Make the Surprise Cards

You’ll need:

• Scissors
• Crayons, felt tips or coloured pencils
• White cardstock or paper

Instructions

1. Print your chosen designs
2. Colour in the card — inside and gift box cover
3. Cut around the outside edge
4. Fold down the top gift section on the dotted line
5. Crease firmly and flip back up
6. Add a name or message on the back
7. Hand-deliver your surprise!

Tip: Print on cardstock for durability — especially if sending to school friends.

Tips for Teachers & Groups

These printables are brilliant for:

• Valentine’s classroom party stations
• PTA craft tables
• Early years & KS1 Valentine crafts
• Scout/guide groups
• Card swaps and friendship messages

Pop finished cards in envelopes, or tape a mini treat or sticker inside!

More Valentine’s Crafts You Might Enjoy

• Valentine Heart craft for kids
• Valentine craft and activities for kids
• Salt dough valentine candle holders
• Valentine Printable Colouring Page Bookmarks • Free and Fun for Kids

Download Your Free Valentine Surprise Cards

Click below and grab the full printable pack — totally free

Have fun crafting, colouring, and spreading the love!

Tag @muminthemadhouse if you share your creations — we’d love to see them!

Today I have 5 child friendly Valentines Day printable sets to share with you including gift tags, valentines cards to colour, cake toppers, labels and gift tags.

Free Valentines Printables

Valentines Day Printable Gift Tags

Who doesn’t love a brown paper package tied up with string and one of these fab valentine printable gift tags turns brown paper and some beautiful ribbon in to the perfect valentine gift wrap.

Valentines Food and Drink Labels

Why not transform some empty jars with these gorgeous Valentine food and drink labels.   They turn marshmallows in yo cupids concoctions and are the perfect finishing touch to any valentines meal.

Children’s Colour-In Valentines Day Cards

Do you gift Valentines cards?  We do, but only homemade ones.  These Children’s Colour-In Valentines Day Cards are perfect for kids of all age or for adults if like me you like to colour in.

They include I’m nuts about you!, Whale you be mine?, Bee Mine, Valentine, You’re DINO-mite!, Owl you need is love and I like your cattitude.  So something for everyone.

Valentines Cupcake Flags and Cake Bunting

We love these Valentines Cupcake Flags and Cake Bunting, they turn a simple cupcake in to a sweet treat to break anyone’s heart. We are particular fans of cake bunting and often tie outs to two paper straws.  These are enough to make anyone forget that the cakes may be shop bought.

Date Night Cards

Experiences bring more lasting happiness than things, so I adore these Date Night Cards. You can use them to plan romantic rendezvous for months to come or even family date nights.

You might also like:

Fingerprint heart ornaments

Valentine Surprise Crackers

Heart shaped sugar cubes

See all of the free valentine’s printables here courtesy of Wayfair.

1. Prenatal Massage

If you think that your partner would appreciate a practical gift this year, why not treat her to a prenatal massage? A massage by a fully trained professional may help to alleviate many of the aches and pains that go hand in hand with being pregnant, and there is evidence to suggest that prenatal massage can reduce stress and anxiety too. The latest techniques also address muscles tightness and circulation, so a prenatal massage could be the perfect way of helping your partner through the more unpleasant aspects of pregnancy.

2. A Date Night

The surge of hormones that takes place during a pregnancy can trigger mood swings, stress and worry. It’s important that you use the opportunity of Valentine’s Day to demonstrate to your partner that you understand, and that you’re both ‘in it together’. A simple date night is a great way to keep the romantic flame burning during pregnancy, as it can reinforce the love, intimacy and togetherness in your relationship.

If you want to keep things simple, you can cook dinner at home, light some candles and invest in a box of chocolates. Have a movie ready to play after your meal, and make sure you won’t be disturbed for the evening. Alternatively, you can plan a romantic dinner at a local restaurant, and combine it with a romantic walk, limo ride or theatre visit. Pregnant women will often need extra comfort, support and pampering when they’re pregnant. A date night is the perfect way to let your partner know that you still desire her.

3. Maternity Clothing

During the latter stages of pregnancy, many women fall into the habit of wearing anything that fits. If you have noticed that your partner is relying on the same T-shirts, leggings and baggy dresses, why not show her you care by giving her a stylish maternity outfit this Valentine’s Day? Despite having a growing bump, many women still like to feel smart and desirable – which can be a difficult feat to achieve without a fully equipped wardrobe. If you’re unsure about what your partner will wear, buy her a gift voucher for a leading maternity boutique.

4. A Personal Trainer

If your partner has expressed her intention to get back into shape shortly after she gives birth, she might be delighted to receive a digital weight loss plan for women this Valentine’s Day. The Kiqplan Healthy Baby Bump programme is an intuitive mobile fitness app – specifically designed for new mums who want to lose their baby bump as quickly as possible.

After entering some basic information, your partner will be able to link the Kiplan programme with a Fitbug activity tracker. This provides real-time information on the number of steps taken and miles travelled. Your partner will then be given workout videos, advice and motivation based on her specific fitness level and weekly goals. She’ll even be sent nutritious recipes and lifestyle advice, depending on her progress reports. In effect, you will be giving your partner her very own dietician and personal trainer – which can both be carried around with her wherever she goes.

5. A Foot Spa

Getting around on foot during the latter stages of a pregnancy can be tough on the ankles and feet, so what better way to tell your partner that you feel her pain than by giving her a foot spa this Valentine’s Day? The latest models feature adjustable temperature settings, and the top-of-the-range options will also deliver a relaxing massage to the soles of the feet at the same time.

Too many couples allow Valentine’s Day to pass by when a baby is on the way. However, with the right gift and some quality time together, you and your pregnant partner can enjoy a romantic and exciting time together this year.

Even better I love the fact that we have my mum’s sugar tongs and bowl and it makes it such an experience.

How to make heart shaped sugar cubes

Materials

1. granulated sugar
2. water
3. Heart shaped silicon mould or small cookie cutter.

How too:

It is really simple to make heart shaped sugar cubes, in fact almost too simple!

Fill the mould with sugar and then transfer it to a bowl (this way you only have the right amount of sugar)

Add a teaspoon of water at a time to the granulated sugar and mix.  You want the sugar to be damp enough to come together, but not too wet as it starts to melt.

You can make your cubes colourful by adding a tiny amount of food colour to your water at this stage.

Place the sugar back into the mould before pressing down with your fingers

Allow to dry.  You can speed up drying time by popping in an oven at its lowest setting for 10 minutes before allowing it to dry overnight.

We wanted to have a go at painting hearts on to our sugar (which is a great fine motor activity) at this stage, so we  added some red food colouring to a small amount of water before painting on a heart with a clean paintbrush.

How to make washi tape heart cards

Materials

1. A selection of Washi tape
2. Card
   or blank cards
3. Scissors
4. glue stick or glue pen
5. Heart shaped cookie cutters or card stencil

How to:

As the boys are getting older they are becoming more and more able to do most of the work themselves and also more competent with scissors and even craft knives.

Fold your card in half to make a card shape or take your pre folded card and using a stencil or cookie cutters mark your hearts to cut out.

Using a craft knife or very scape scissors make the initial cut in the center of the heart and then cut out the shapes.

If you have a cutting machine you can also use that (we have a Cricut Explore) and the boys are more than capable of using it top design and cut.

On a price of paper lay out the washi tape.  If doesn’t have to be in strips like the boys did, you are just aiming for the area behind the cut out to be covered.

Lay the paper covered washi under the opening.

Using either a glue stick or glue pen outline around the cut out and place the washi covered paper behind before taping around the paper.

If you like these, then why not take a look at our other Valentines crafts.

How to make a family fingerprint relief heart art canvas

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Materials:

1. Canvas (I love the canvas panels for little fingers as they can press as hard as they like without damaging the tension)
2. Ink pads or paint.  On our previous canvass, we used red and white acrylic paint, but on this, we used ink pads.
3. Paper or card
4. Blue tac
5. Heart template

No products found.

Method

Draw a heart on to a piece of paper or card and cut it out the size you want .  If you want something more precise then you could print off the template that I drew and use that.

Position the heart or hearts on the canvass and temporarily stick them down using small pieces of blue tac.

Place some red and white paint on to a paper plate or palate.  I love that the white and red gets all mixed up so lots of different shades of pink.  It is also a great way to discuss colour mixing with the kids. Or as we did use a selection of ink pads in the colours of your choice.

Take turns in dipping finger in the ink or paint and making fingerprints on the canvass

Allow to dry before removing the stencil.

I have to say that as a couple MadDad and I have never really been in to celebrating Valentines Day.  Mainly due to the fact that it is our wedding anniversary in March and we tend to celebrate that much more than Valentines, however, since having the boys things have changed.

It seems that they really want us to celebrate valentines, they have made fingerprint love heart cards for their dad and also made heart bookmarks which they are giving out to their teachers tomorrow.

Simple Fingerprint Heart Cards

It doesn’t really get much simpler than this and I think we originally saw this over at Thinly Spread a couple of years ago.  You take a forefinger and angle your fingerprint then add a second one to make a heart shape. Chris’ are much neater than ours, but then my boys are only 8 and 7 and refused any help!

To make it simpler for younger children you can add the paint to a sponge rather than a paper plate like we did, in fact the sponge method is better for all ages, but the boys wanted to mix their own colours.

No how to on this post, as it was very straight forward, although I do wish I had been able to get red bells, instead of painting them and spraying them with matt clear sealer.

This wreath was inspired by a Christmas decoration I had seen at Salisbury’s and took a photo of. I used two thicknesses of florists wire, a think one to form the hear and then a thinner one to connect all the bells.  The ribbon is red gingham from my stash.  I have popped in on the front door, but instead of just hooking over the hanger, I have wrapped it round it. MadDad was concerned that it would jingle in the wind and bother us, but the only time it makes a noise is when the door is opened and closed.

When I take this one down I will be replacing it with an Easter one.

If you have made a wreath I would love to see it.

So who was St Valentine. Well he was a Christian call Vanetininus amd  He was arrested and imprisoned upon being caught marrying Christian couples and otherwise aiding Christians who were at the time being persecuted by Claudius in Rome.  Helping Christians at this time was considered a crime. Claudius took a liking to this prisoner — until Valentinus tried to convert the Emperor — whereupon this priest was condemned to death. He was beaten with clubs and stoned; when that didn’t finish him, he was beheaded outside the Flaminian Gate.

So the boys are away that Valentines Day is about celebrating who you love and for standing up for things you believe in.  We are firm believers in family.  So we have embraced this and we fill out house with heats, good food and lots of home made heart crafting.

We stole this finger print idea off Mediocre Mum (who in turn had took inspiration from Jude at Artful Adventures) and made cards.  I love these, they were very simple to make and the boys did all the work themselves, from cutting the paper, punching out the heart and arranging it all on the card.

We also used an old Boden catalogue and made scrap heart garlands with my heart punch.  This is super easy for the children to do and looks really effective.  Mini even managed to do the sewing on the machine with a little help from Mummy.

We also made some heart sugar cubes (tutorial to follow).