Creative Valentine's Day Ideas

A variety of creative ways to celebrate Valentine's Day with your kids and love!

However you feel about Valentine’s Day, it’s coming this Sunday! While there were, admittedly, periods of my life (hello, 20’s!) that the day sparked a bit of anxiety, it’s been a fun holiday for me as a mom whether I’m celebrating with my littles or stealing away for a night with my love. Kids overwhelmingly love the valentine’s cards at school, the chocolate and treats, and hearts that mark the day. While I am far from Pinterest ready, I’ve pulled together a list that can hopefully make the day approachable, memorable and fun for everyone!

For the kids:

1. Make Fondue: Kids love fondue, and whether you choose cheese, broth, or chocolate (or all), fondue helps facilitate family conversation while you dip and cook. This is a fun activity especially if it’s too cold or rainy for an outdoor firepit for s’mores, hot dogs, etc.
2. Go for a Picnic – outdoors or indoors: Depending on the weather, creating a picnic with your littles is easy and fun. Head to the grocery in advance and grab red apples, cranberry juice, and other festive, colorful, and kid-friendly bites.
3. Find or create a heart in nature: My kids love to find heart shaped leaves and depending on where you live, you can too. If the leaves in your area have disappeared by February, creating hearts with a stick in snow, winter berries, and or even dirt is fun and super simple. If you can’t seem to find a heart, get some construction paper and let your kids collect things in nature to decorate it with.
4. Paint “love rocks:” My kids love painting rocks and then giving them to me as presents. With some eco-friendly red or glitter paint, they’re occupied and happy for a while. For a twist, hide the rocks outside somewhere “hidden” for others to find.
5. Decorate a bird feeder: I’ve found very simple, cheap wooden bird feeders that my kids have loved painting and hanging in the backyard. A bonus last year was the nest and baby birds that soon occupied one of them.
6. Have a family “meeting” and talk about love: Talk about the different kinds of love, what it looks and feels like to love one another, and then ask each family member what they love about everyone around the table. We’ve recorded the girls’ answers and they are priceless to reflect on over the years.
7. Pick flowers: Taking your kids to pick out flowers for your significant other is both fun for the kids and thoughtful for your partner/spouse….a double win!

For your date night:

1. Watch the sunset (or sunrise!): There’s still something so promising about the close or dawn of a new day. The close brings me a mindset of gratitude while the dawn feels so hopeful. Experiencing it with the one you love enhances it even more so.
2. Go on a romantic hike: Wherever you live, there’s likely a hike with a great view, an off the beaten path trail where you know you are likely not to find too many folks. If you are lucky enough to have snow, it can be magical.
3. Have a picnic with takeout at home: If you are like me and missed the window on a dinner reservation or just aren't dining out, getting takeout from your favorite place and picnicking at home by the fire can be just as delightful. Bonus that it doesn’t require a babysitter once your kids are in bed.
4. Go stargazing: Regardless of it’s in your backyard or not, taking time to really look at the stars can make the world feel so beautiful and big and full of wonder.
5. Get on the water: Whether via kayak or canoe or even ice skates if it’s frozen water, heading out with the one you love creates quiet, calm, and an escape that can ignite wonderful conversation and memories.
6. Do something you did ‘pre-kids’ but don’t do that much anymore: If you haven’t cooked a ‘fancy’ meal or taken that bike ride together, take a trip down memory lane and enjoy yourselves.

Happy Valentine’s Day! Sending so much LOVE.

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