A Murray company is hoping school children will forgo the traditional red and pink this Valentine's Day in favor of a new color: green.

Green Apple School Supply has introduced a eco-friendly valentine kit, intended to foster kids' creativity while making life easier for busy parents.

The idea for the kit came when owner Jeff Haines was attending a Valentine's Day party at his child's school. One student's mother approached him and, after raving about the company's pre-packaged school-supply kits, asked why Haines didn't offer anything for Valentine's Day.

Haines immediately jumped on the idea, thinking a kit would give children a chance to be creative and make valentines that were thoughtful and meaningful. The kits include banana-paper cards, decorative paper made from grasses, a recycled heart-shaped crayon and a nontoxic almond-based glue stick.

The handmade cards will hold meaning for more than school children, said Thom Benedict, owner of Earth Goods General Store, which is stocking the kits.

"They help people think about not just loving each other, but also loving the planet we live on," Benedict said.

Valentine's Day comes at a resource-intensive time of year, Benedict said, with lots of cards sent out and piles of paper used to prepare income tax returns. Although recycling is a growing trend, tons of virgin paper are used each year.

Other ways to stay green for the holiday, he suggests, are to buy local, sustainable and fair-trade items, and to minimize packaging and wrapping.

While being eco-friendly is important to Beth Levine, she purchased a kit for another reason: convenience. After many years of late-night runs to the supermarket, only to find the valentines her children wanted were all sold out, Levine bought a kit for her daughter Molly, a fourth-grader at Rowland Hall.

Levine liked that not only was the kit delivered to her doorstep, but that it came with everything Molly would need to decorate her cards, including paper, glue and a box for her to collect valentines.

"It saves an errand," Levine said, "and they are really cute."