Valentine’s Day is often associated with romantic love. But this holiday is the perfect opportunity to make your loved ones feel extra special…and that includes your entire family!
There are many ways to celebrate love and togetherness with your whole family on Valentine’s Day, even if you’re staying home this year.
Bring the whole family together and try these fun ideas that show your children and family just how much they mean to you.
1. MAKE A LOVE JAR AND FILL IT WITH LOVELY MESSAGES
Grab a Mason jar or an empty jelly jar for every family member in the house and have the kids decorate them with stickers, glitter, paint, or red tissue paper.
Once you have a jar for everyone, choose a theme for each jar. It could be anything like “Reasons why I love mommy” or “Why my dad is the best dad in the world” or even “10 things brother does that makes us happy”. You can even do one for the family pet. Now that you decided who’s going to get each jar, label them.
Have everyone sit down and write little handwritten notes about the reasons you all love each other. Once the love notes have been written, have everyone stash them inside each jar. Lastly, gather around the dinner table or sit on the living room floor and take turns opening your jars. It’s the perfect Valentine’s Day gift everyone will want to keep forever!
2. BAKE HEART-SHAPED PANCAKES, COOKIES, OR COOK SOMETHING TOGETHER
We bake Halloween and Christmas cookies like a family every year. So, why should Valentine’s Day be any different? Find a Valentine’s Day recipe you love and spend a few hours baking heart-shaped cookies, pancakes, muffins, Rice Krispie treats, or even Love Letter cookies, and surprise everyone with the sweetest breakfast ever. If you want help, tell your sweeties to get involved and give them different tasks, such as decorating the cookies, adding sprinkles and toppings, or setting the table. Run out of ideas? Here are a few of my favorite V-Day recipes:
- Love Letter Valentine’s Day Cookies
- Valentine’s Day Brownies
- Valentine’s Day Heart-Shaped Pancakes (No special tools required!)
- Easy Valentine’s Day Chocolate and Strawberries Dessert
3. CREATE A FAMILY MEMORIES BOX
Go to the nearest arts and crafts store and get a decorative box or refurbish an old shoebox with some wrapping paper. Then get the whole family involved and ask them to find something that represents the special memories you’ve had together through the years. This could be anything from some old baby socks that mom and dad keep in a box, to a souvenir one of the kids bought during a family trip. Place the sweetest mementos of your life together as a family inside the box. When February 14 rolls around, sit down on the living room and go through the box of memories and reminisce about the amazing things you’ve shared as a family.
4. MAKE AND EXCHANGE VALENTINE’S DAY CARDS FOR EACH OTHER
The great thing about having kids is that there’s always construction paper and arts and crafts supplies somewhere around the house. So, grab some paper along with some markers or crayons and start making some adorable Valentine’s Day cards. Use scissors to create a heart to attach to the card. Try adding stickers or some glitter glue to give it some pizazz. Then exchange Valentine’s Day cards together as a family.
5. SHARE A LOVE STORY
Kids are too young to have a love story of their own but parents and grandparents aren’t. So, have grandma share how she met grandpa or vice-versa. The same goes for the parents. How did they meet? When did they know they were meant for each other? Was it love at first sight? Even if you’re not currently together, you can still tell the kids why you fell in love with their parent. You can talk about a cousin, an aunt, or anyone in your family.
