Originally Published on February 8, 2016. Last Updated on November 21, 2023.

For me, Valentine’s Day hasn’t really been the same since elementary school. Who doesn’t love receiving a bunch of valentine’s notes and, more importantly, lots of candy?

Sure, having a valentine who’s obligated to buy you presents is nice and all (no judgment to those who love it), but nowadays Valentine’s Day is just an excuse for me to buy pretty pink and red candy (Hershey’s Valentine Truffles). Pair that with a cute DIY project and I’m all in.

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Flamingo Valentine Supply List

• Thick & thin pipe cleaners
• Craft feathers
• Paper hearts (download our PDF template to print)
• Googly eyes (the smaller the better)
• Glue gun, scissors, markers/whatever you like to write with
• Not pictured: candy of your choice and small clear bags

Disclaimer: the feathers can get a little crazy (i.e. messy) and using the glue gun to attach the small googly eyes requires a bit of finesse to keep your fingers safe. It goes without saying, but make sure kids are supervised with this one.

First things first, print out the heart template on whatever paper you choose, then cut out your hearts. You’ll need two for each flamingo.

It’s easiest to write your messages first and have the hearts ready to glue onto your flamingos (Creatingreallyawesomefreethings.com has a ton of cute Valentine sayings).

After you’re satisfied with your hearts, grab one thin pipe cleaner and cut it in half (these will be the legs). The thicker pipe cleaner will be the body–the ones I used were about eight inches long.

Note: To make the beak, use the leftover paper from your hearts and color with a black permanent marker as shown below.

Ready, Set, Go!

1: Bend your thicker pipe cleaner in the shape of the number (2), as shown below. This will be the flamingo’s body.

2: Take your thinner pipe cleaners and add slightly curved bends to one end, indicating feet. Then, bend one pipe cleaner in half to create an acute angle as shown below. These will be the flamingo’s legs.

3. Glue the thicker, now curved pipe cleaner (body) to the back of the heart.

4. Glue the thinner pipe cleaners (legs) on top of the body pipe cleaner, orienting the feet towards the right and keeping the bent leg in front of the straight leg.

Halfway there…

5: Okay, I did this a little backward, but you can do it correctly! Glue a couple of feathers to the back of your heart and then glue your second heart on top to create a heart sandwich.

6: Glue your beak to the “head” of your flamingo and CAREFULLY glue your googly eye on top as shown.

7: Eat some candy Put your candy in a bag or pouch, tie it, and glue it to the back of your beautiful flamingo. Done!

I had some light pink and gray pipe cleaners along with green, in honor of POLYWOOD, so I made a couple of other versions.

The color combos are endless and you could get even more creative with patterned/textured papers. If you have any other bird-themed sayings we’d love to hear them!

From all of us at POLYWOOD, Happy Valentine’s Day!

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This post was modeled after an existing tutorial from the National Wildlife Federation, thanks for the great idea!