Happy Valentine's Day!!

Happy Valentine's Day!!!

        Okay so first of all I have to apologize for being a complete and total slacker lately.  I kept meaning to wake up early so I could post these and I could not drag myself out of bed...mornings and pregnancy have not been my friend for the past couple of weeks!  I hope this post makes up for my absence even though you probably have all of your Valentine's written and sent off with your kids to school!  I finally finished my hubbie's Valentine's Day Present!  Total cost??  $1.69...literally...that's buying all the materials.  It did take a lot of time however but hey it was worth it because he totally and completely loved it!  First off go to the Dollar Store and pick up 2 white poster boards for $0.50 each.  If you have a monopoly board you can trace around it or make your square 24x24 inches.  Draw a square in the middle measuring up 3 inches from the sides.

       Next sketch out Lovopoly in the middle with a pencil. I recommend doing everything with a pencil first so that you can erase it and make sure you do it on the non-shiny side of the poster board that way it doesn't  leave smudges when you erase! I made each of my corner squares 3 inches, you know the ones that have Go, Jail, Free Parking and Go To Jail.  So you need to measure a 3x3 inch square on all 4 corners.  Next you need to make 9 rectangles in between each of those squares.  I made mine measuring 2 inches each to give you the right amount of space.  No from your top line measure 1/2 inch down and draw a straight line across, these you will color in with the colors of the properties.  This is where monopoly comes in handy.  I used it the whole time for colors.  Don't forget that Income Tax, Community Chest, Chance, Utilities and Railroads do not have that line across.

       Next I wrote up a list of all the places that had special meaning to us.  You will need 28 special places, preferrably ones that have special memories that you can incorporate into the game.  By the way, I did find the website for the game if you want to purchase it go to www.lovopoly.com. I did use some ideas from there but most of the stuff was fun to just create on my own!  Okay after you have all your memories decide what you want to go where.  Again the board comes in handy.  You will need 2 brown, 3 light blue, 3 purple, 3 orange, 3 red, 3 yellow, 3 green and 2 dark blue properties.  You will also need 4 railroads, I put 4 temples that were special to us.  Then last you will need 2 utilities, I put the hospital and Disneyland.  Now sketch those out and any pictures you would like.  I just tried to think of simple pictures since I am no artist as you can tell :)  I colored in the squares accordingly, wrote the properties and prices.  I also did a 1/2 inch outline of black marker all the way around the outside of the board to make it look more like the real thing.

       Dog House is used in place of Jail

Stop Sign is much easier to draw then that guy from Monopoly :)

Diaper Fund used in place of Income Tax.

       Next you will make your Property Cards.  I apologize that I didn't get pictures for the rest of the tutorial.  For the Property cards I measure them 2x3.  I just colored in a co-ordinating square on the top and wrote the name of each property in the colored square.  For pricing and house information I just used the exact same pricing as they had on Monopoly.  You are almost there!  Next you need to make your Community Chest and Chance cards (I used Feelin' Lucky and Family Treasure).  You will need 32 of these, 16 of each.  You can do more or less but that's what I did since that's what the game had.  This is where your "meaningful places" come in handy.  So for instance I said "Take a trip to Chicho and Cecy's house.  While you are there, steal your first kiss.  If you pass go, collect $200 Love Bucks!"  Or another one was "Head on over to TGI Friday's where you have an awkward run in with an ex.  Pay $50 Love Bucks for emotional distress."  Get creative!  Find ways to incorporate them in, it is well worth it and we all had a good laugh as we played!  The kids loved it too! 

       Okay here is your last part, phew...you are ALMOST done!  Find good pictures of you and your spouse's faces!  Develop them, laminate them and cut them out.  I used the little stands from our Chutes and Ladders game and set the faces in there and that's what we used for our playing pieces!  So fun!  Trust me, your whole family will have so much fun playing this game, especially when they read little things about themselves in the cards :)  I will put some links below to some fun last minute Valentine Printables from other fun websites in case you need a quick fix!  Good luck and enjoy!

- Kristin

Cute "Lovah" Gift Tags From Skip To My Lou

Matchboxes from Inchmark

Elephant Printable from Family Fun

Super Cute Lips from Paper Crafts

Valentine Candy Box (Printable) Family Fun

Valentine's S'mores from Tricia Rennea