Love will be in the air at the Smithsonian National Postal Museum’s annual Valentine’s Day Card Workshop this weekend! On both Saturday and Sunday, February 10-11, guests of all ages are welcome to the free, open-house event to get creative and have fun while making one-of-a-kind greetings for next week’s special day.
The museum provides all the supplies, including patterned papers, rubber stamps, gems and other 3-D embellishments, special cut-out scissors, washi tape, stickers, markers of every color (with a surplus of red and pink!), and more. Kids and adults alike will have a great time using it all to design their cards — and we know this from firsthand experience having attended several times!
Sasha making a Valentine for a special someone at a past workshop
Once finished, cards can be placed in envelopes, then addressed and adorned with a distinctive National Postal Museum postmark at the museum’s stamp store. Even better, kids will love dropping their cards into an official USPS mailbox decorated to exactly resemble SpongeBob SquarePants.
Plan to explore the whole museum while you’re there. The workshop takes place in the lower-level Atrium, which is full of postal transports from over the years — a real train car, semi-truck (that kids can climb in and pretend to drive!), a horse-drawn carriage, and airplanes hanging from the ceiling. And there’s much more to enjoy in the rest of the galleries.
In this modern, digital era, a handmade card can be hard to come by! This event is a perfect environment for kids to express their love for friends and family with a heartfelt note of affection and appreciation. The layout of the card-making stations and supply tables fosters sharing, friendliness and a sense of community. They can also experience the satisfaction of crafting their very own unique creations from start to finish, and the pure joy of giving that creation to someone special.
Valentine’s Day Card Workshop
Where: National Postal Museum
Address: 2 Massachusetts Avenue NE, WDC
When: February 10 & 11, 10am – 4pm
Admission: FREE
