Family Valentine’s Day Traditions

Written by: Camille

Valentine’s Day is always and forever will be about love, passion, lovers, your main squeeze, the peanut butter to your jelly. As a young mother I have found that a holiday can be even more fun when you take the time to enjoy it as a family too. Here are some of my favorite ideas as well as some of the decorations around our house this time of year.

 Dine Together:Make dining together a special event all month long. I found these heart shaped plates at Tai Pan trading during the summer on clearance and bought a whole stack. I wasn’t sure what I was going to do with them but decided I would use them for our end of January/Beginning of February dishes. So whether you’re enjoying chicken or pizza for dinner you can do it by candlelight to add a little touch of elegance to a regular dinner. Do you love the picture of the baby’s swing in the background? Keeping it real, people. 🙂

Serve Together: Take the opportunity to make a special treat to take to someone who could use a little extra love. We thought this year we would like to make a treat to take to a widows in our area. This treat we made is using Trader Joe’s “Joe Joe’s” and dipping them in peppermint Hershey kisses I bought on clearance after Christmas. I simply microwaved a handful of Hershey kisses and let the kids dip them…and can I tell you, they are sooo good.  Of course another more traditional baking idea would be sugar cookies and decorating them to your hearts delight.

  Show Love Together: One of the cutest ideas I have recently adopted is making a “cut out” heart for each member of the family. Take the opportunity at the beginning of the month to tell each other at least one thing you love about each person in the family and write it down on their paper heart. Hang up the heart in a place where everyone can see and through the month you keep adding to your “love hearts.” You could decided to do this each night at dinner, once a week, or just have spontaneous notes of love through the month. This is such an easy way to express your appreciation and love for those you share your walls with. There is real strength that comes to a family that is willing to express themselves to each other and I really want to create an environment in my home where it is comfortable to say, “I love you.”

 

Be each other’s Valentine: I love the idea of a Mother writing her son a sweet valentine or a Father bringing his daughter a rose every Valentine’s Day. There is something about Valentine’s Day and the relationship that exists between Father and Daughter. Especially as  your little ones grow receiving a valentine from dear ol’ Dad can be something that will be remembered forever. I remember some of the times that I felt most special was when I received a simple rose from my Dad on Valentine’s Day regardless of my current romantic status. A Daddy is forever your Valentine. You could also choose to pick a special treat that you give to your child each year like a pair of socks to wear on the special day or something more practical like new underwear.

Give someone a “heart attack”: This idea is similar to the idea of toilet papering someone, just with the complete opposite affect. Pick someone as a family that you want to spread the love to and cut out a bunch of paper hearts that you can tape to the door. On some of the hearts you can write loving messages or keep it completely anonymous. I think this would be a great idea to do for grandparents or family friends!

Create a Night to Remember: When Valentine’s Day finally rolls around make a night that your children will look forward to. We like to hold a fondue dinner. While the kids are young and an open flame on the table with raw meats isn’t the best idea…we are going to start with a fondue dessert. This is a fun event because making the treats and dipping them as you enjoy the treats is a lot of fun. Buy some of your favorite chocolate and melt it in a small crock pot to put in the middle of the table. The ideas of what you could dip are endless: Bananas, strawberries, rice krispy treats, donuts, graham crackers, or small cookies. This is an easy way to take time as you indulge and would be a fun time to have a game night or share stories!

I hope you all have a Happy Valentine’s Day!