Valentine’s Day is a day to share with the ones that you love. If you’re like many people,
this includes your children. There are many ways to celebrate Valentine’s Day with the
whole family…this ideas gives you plenty of ideas to do just that.
Valentine’s Ideas for Families
1. Start Valentine’s Day for your family with a big surprise for each family member.
Everyone likes to get little gifts through out the day on Valentine’s Day. Make
small mailboxes to place on the back of each family member’s chair. This is a
craft that can be done the day before Valentine’s Day with your children. Use half
of a cereal box to make each mailbox. Cover the outside of the mailbox in either
red or pink construction paper. Decorate each mailbox with the person’s name and
cut out hearts and glitter to make it special for each person. Use a hole punch to
place two holes on the back of the mailbox. Use these holes to attach the mailbox
to the back of each person’s chair at the kitchen table with ribbon.
2. Before everyone gets up Valentine’s Day morning place a card and a small gift
into each person’s Valentine’s Day mailbox. The gift can be a small stuffed animal
or even a little bit of chocolate. The idea is to give each family member a small
surprise gift to start their Valentine’s Day off right. A great way to build on this
idea is to have each child place a special card from them in your spouse’s
mailbox.
3. Prepare a special Valentine’s Day breakfast for your family. This should be a big
meal that includes all of your family’s favorite breakfast foods. You will want to
make heart shaped pancakes for this event. You can attempt to make these by
hand or use stencils that they sell in cooking stores. You can place chocolate chips
in some of the pancakes for those in your family that enjoy chocolate. Make sure
to include fresh fruit like strawberries to place on the pancakes. You can also
make heart shaped toast. Once the toast is out of the toaster and buttered use a
heart shaped cookie cutter on them. Make eggs, bacon, and any other breakfast
favorites of your family.
4. Pack each family member their favorite lunch for the day. If Valentine’s Day falls
during the week, this is a great way to show your family members how much you
love them when they are away from you. Include a small desert to finish off your
loved one’s favorite lunch. A special thing to add to this Valentine’s lunch is a
little note from you that tells them that you love them and miss them. You can
pack this special lunch in their usual lunch bag so that is a surprise or use a brown
paper lunch bag that is decorated for Valentine’s Day.
5. If Valentine’s Day falls on a weekend, it is a good idea to do a family fun day.
One of the best things to do is to take your family to the park if the weather is
good. Even on a brisk day, a day out at the park can be a day for your family to
bond and explore nature. This is a fun and great exercise for you and your family.
Many parks have playgrounds for the younger children to play on. You can pack a
lunch or a special treat to have on your outing.
6. You could also have each family member choose an activity to do on Valentine’s
Day. This would give your family a fun way to try new things. It also helps you to
get to know your family members even better. Let your children choose whatever
they would like to do from the zoo to a movie. Make the only rule that the family
needs to follow is that you must do at least one thing that each family member
suggests. It is a good idea to plan this type of Valentine’s Day celebration in
advance so that you are sure to get to everyone’s ideas.
7. Finish your family’s Valentine’s Day fun with a special sit down dinner. Use your
best dishes to set the table and even place a centerpiece on the table to make the
dinner special. You can even go so far as to request each family member dress up
for the dinner. Make a homemade meal for your entire family to enjoy. You can go
around the table and share everyone’s favorite part of their Valentine’s Day. This
is one of the best things to do if you hand to spend Valentine’s Day away from
each day because it is a work and school day.
Couples Valentine’s Ideas
1. Once the children go to bed, it is time for you and your loved one to celebrate
Valentine’s Day. Prepare a special Valentine’s dessert for you and your Valentine.
Focus your attention on what your loved one’s favorite desert is. If they are a fan
of chocolate, you can make a molten chocolate mini cake for each of you.
Tiramisu is another easy desert option for you to make for your loved one. If you
are not the baking type, you can make a fruit parfait. Create layers with pound
cake, vanilla pudding, and fresh fruit to make the parfait. You can finish the
parfait with whipped topping.
2. Lay out a blanket pm the floor of your living room to make it a special picnic
desert for Valentine’s Day. Light candles around your living room to set the mood
in the room for your special desert. You want the lighting to be dim, if you can do
this with your lights that will work too. Place some pillows around the edges of
the blanket that you laid out to give you something to lean on. You can also turn
on soft romantic music to keep the theme of romance going.
3. Watch a romantic dinner on your picnic blanket after you have enjoyed your
Valentine’s Day desert. Open a bottle of wine and relax as you watch a movie that
you would not normally get to watch with the children around. Some of the best
movies to use for this special evening are the old romantic movies that you can
get on DVD. Plan a movie marathon based around one of your favorite actors to
make the evening last even longer.
4. Slow dance with your Valentine after the movie is over. This is a traditional way
to celebrate Valentine’s Day that is often forgotten. You do not need to be out in a
fancy restaurant to be able to slow dance with the one that you love. Place a
couple of slow romantic CD’s on repeat so that you do not have to end your
special slow dance.
5. Finish your romantic Valentine’s Day by giving each other a sensual massage.
You can get massage oil at any drug store and use the blanket that you laid out for
your picnic as the place to give each other the massage. If you do not want to stay
out in the living room, you can move into the bedroom to finish off your
Valentine’s Day.
Share the love with your family this Valentine’s Day. Although this special day has
become alarmingly commercial over the past few years, there’s no need to break the
family budget. After all family bonding is always free.
7 Ideas for Kids
1. Children love to celebrate Valentine’s Day with their friends. This is the day of the
year that they can show their friends how much they mean to them. One of the
best crafts that your children can do is to make homemade Valentine’s Day cards
to hand out at school. There is no need to spend money on the boring store bought
cards when your children can make cards.
Start out by helping your children to cut out card sized hearts for the cards. The
hearts can be cut from red and pink construction paper. The front of the heart can
decorated with stickers, glitter and even ribbon to make each homemade Valentine
card special. A personal note written on the back and signed by your child finishes
the back of the card.
2. Your children will need a way to carry their homemade Valentine’s Day cards to
school. A special Valentine’s Day tote bag will be the best thing to carry cards to
school and bring all of their cards back home. Start this simple craft with a paper
grocery bag. Attach ribbons to the top of the bag to make handles for the
Valentine’s Day tote bag. The tote bag it self can be decorated with cut out hearts,
markers, ribbons, glitter and stickers.
3. Your children can make special treat bags to go with each of the Valentine’s cards
that they hand out. Start by choosing either chocolate candies or conversation
hearts to fill the treat bags. You can get pink and red color tulle from your local
craft store that can be cut into squares to make the treat bags. Place the square of
tulle on the table. In the center of the square, you can help your children to place a
small pile of candy. Finish off the treat bags by pulling up the sides and tying
them together with ribbon.
4. Create homemade chocolate candies for friends. The school may not let you bring
these treats because they are homemade but your child can take them to a
Valentine’s Day party at a friend’s house or a church gathering. Many stores offer
kits that include the candy molds and instructions for melting the chocolate.
Another idea is to create chocolate spoons. They can be used as stirrers in hot
chocolate since February is technically still the winter season.
5. Many children like to give Valentine’s Day gifts to their teachers. There are a few
gifts that your children can make for the many teachers that they have. The first
gift idea is to give the teacher her own special candy stash. This usually works
best with small chocolate candies but can be done with any type. Start with a
clean dry mayonnaise jar with the label removed. Fill the jar with the candy that
you have chosen to use. Cover the lid with a square piece of fabric in colors that
remind you of Valentine’s Day. Tie the cloth onto the lid with a ribbon. You can
help your children to print up labels for the jar saving a special message for the
teacher.
6. The second gift that you can help your children make for their teachers is cookie
bouquets. Start by helping your children to bake heart shaped sugar cookies.
Before you bake the cookies you will want to place a wooden dowel into them to
make the stem for the heart flowers. Ice the cookies with red and pink icing and
allow the icing to set. Place a piece of floral foam in the bottom of a container to
set your flower cookies in. Arrange your heart cookie flowers to finish this gift
with your children.
7. A final gift option for your children to give their teacher is a Valentine’s Day
apron. Start out by getting a plain apron from a craft store or cooking store. You
will want to make sure that the fabric that you choose for the aprons will take
paint. Have your children use paint pens to decorate the Valentine’s Day apron for
their teacher. This is a great craft to let your children’s creativity flow on.
