It's Never Too Early

It is never too early to begin looking for things to use as Valentines. Just Friday, I found some great Hershey's Kisses that were at a Christmas clearance sale. They are wrapped in black and the little paper tag says "Naughty". There were silver ones that said "Nice" too. I haven't decided yet what to do with them. But I think they will be great for something and if I hadn't been looking for Valentines already I would have passed them by. There are also great things available at Halloween. Once I found eye ball chocolate balls. I put them in a cellophane bag with a cute bow and a note that said "I only have eyes for you". Again, if I hadn't been looking for Valentines, they would have been left on the shelf. You can make a Valentine out of just about anything.
Christmas clearance sales are a great time to buy Candy Kisses, Rollos, Reese's Peanutbutter Cups and all the candy that is wrapped in foil. Just separate it by colors, Red & Silver, and Green & Gold. Use the Red and Silver (and possibly the gold) pieces for Valentines. Save the Green and Gold to use on St. Patrick's Day in March.
Another great resourse, if you are thinking way ahead, is yard sales. I have found a lot of cute baskets (heart shaped) and candles and heart shaped soap at yard sales. I even found a heart shaped paper lamp. They are not neccessarily things I would choose to decorate with all the time, but they are great and cheap for Valentines. My only problem with yard sales is that after you have the stuff, you have to store it until Valentine's Day. Then I sometimes have a hard time remembering what I have or where it is. Now I have a Rubbermaid container in my storage room that has Valentine stuff init. That makes it a little easier. If you have limited space, storage might be a problem.