This is the second post on celebrating Valentine’s Day. Today I have some ideas on how to celebrate the day in your family. One of these I looked forward to every year and am excited to do with my daughter this year.
Secret Pals
Valentine’s morning, draw names in your family to be a secret pal. You then get to (sneakily):
- Do acts of service for them: – Make their bed – Do their chore – Clean their car – etc
- Give little gifts: – Draw a picture – Write a note – Leave a favorite candy bar on their chair
That evening before bed, everyone can reveal their secret pal. Even assuming that everyone has already figured it out, it’s still a good time to reminisce and share stories and thanks.
Treasure Hunt
This is one of my favorite Valentine’s memories growing up. Each year my mom would come up with a series of clues. She handed us the first clue and off we went. Each clue would lead to a piece of candy with another clue taped onto it. We went to six different places to find our treasures. We didn’t want it to end.
- Pre-Reading/Toddler: This is actually easier with younger kids. All you have to do is draw a picture to send them on their way. For instance, draw a picture of their toy box. They walk to their toy box and find a piece of candy with a picture of their pillow pet on it. The next piece will be on the pillow pet. You get the idea!
- Reading Kids: Write a riddle. Here’s where you have to get a little more creative. Adjust the difficulty of the clues based on age. For a little older pre-reading kids you can read the clues aloud.
To begin, go to whereof a visitor you are made aware.In the bedroom, you will seeUnder your pillow, something from me!Next to your chair, you will findAnother treat of a different kind!You got to that one very fast,Run to the bookshelf to get the last!
Valentine’s Food
Be creative. I’m sure you can come up with so many options.
- Form food into a heart – last year we did this with homemade pizza – heart shaped sugar cookies – heart shaped pancakes – cut brownies with a heart cookie cutter
- Make dishes with lots of red – spaghetti – lasagna – soup
- Eat by candlelight and turn your normal fare into something special or make a fancy dinner even more over the top.
How do you celebrate Valentine’s Day in your house? Do you have any of the same traditions you did as a kid?
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Cute ideas! My kids would love to do the scavenger hunt. Thanks for the inspiring ideas! Pinning this now 🙂
Love that you guys do this! Kinda like the Cupid equivalent of Secret Santa. 🙂
Ha ha, very true! That’s a fun way to look at it. Our oldest just turned 3, so Valentine’s Days will be getting more fun with her.
Great ideas! Love the scavenger hunt. And I think maybe I might get out my good china for the 1st time ever!
Thanks! The hunt really was our favorite thing every Valentine’s Day, I can’t wait to do it with my daughter. Yay! Hope you have fun getting your china out!
Deanna, your ideas here are fabulous! Ok, so I honestly do have a heart pizza to go up next Friday, so don’t think I stole your idea, heehee. I do love all your fun poems and such also. You do a great job with your site my friend, keep it up!!!
Thank you so much, Carrie! I’m looking forward to doing the scavenger hunt with my daughter this year. Ha ha, that’s awesome you are doing a heart pizza. I can’t wait to see it! I hope you have a fabulous time and I can’t wait to hear about it.
Great ideas Deanna! Thanks for sharing them with our Let’s Get Real readers. I’m sharing this post on my FB page right now. I like the secret pal idea. How cute will it be to see everyone sneaking around and trying to do nice things………inestead of picking on each other. LOL! I like to get out the good dishes and light candles and make Valentine’s dinner seem special, even if it’s the same thing we eat every week. I have found that it’s these small gestures that make the most lasting impression on my kids.
Thanks and thanks for sharing! Ha ha, yeah, it’s easy to pick on each other! Good dishes and candles are fun! We did a nice dinner like that on Christmas Eve growing up and thought it was the coolest thing ever. you are right, kids really do like the small things. A lot of times we as parents put a lot of undue pressure on ourselves. 🙂
I just love the idea for secret pals. My kids would love that! The heart pizza is cute too.
Thanks! It is a fun idea. My daughter thought the heart pizza was pretty cool last year. We are making it again. 🙂
what awesome ideas!! we love our daddy-mommy date time, but we also always try to “romance” our kiddos, too… thank you for sharing! -angela at dancing with my father
It is fun to do things with the kids. The love it and feel so special. Thanks for stopping by and commenting.
Thanks for sharing at the Happiness Is Homemade Link Party! Pinning to the party board and can’t wait to see what happiness posts you share next week! Have a terrific week!
Cathy
APeekIntoMyParadise.com
Thanks for hosting and for pinning! You have a great week as well!
These are some fabulous ideas! My mom used to pack a small box of chocolates in our lunch bags on Valentine’s Day 🙂 We don’t usually do much – my husband isn’t a big fan of the hoopla – but this year my girls are readers – and I think I might try the clues & hidden treats or treasures during our homeschool day – I love that!
Thank you for sharing! I found you through the Living Proverbs 31 link-up 🙂
I’m sure you guys love the chocolate surprise growing up! We’ve always kept it simple too as did my mom but we had fun with the little things. Especially the clues. What a fun way to make your homeschool day a little more exciting. 🙂 My daughter just turned 3 so I think I’m making picture clues. Now I just need to figure out what to hide along the way.
Love the scavenger hunt idea!
Thanks for stopping by and commenting! We loved the scavenger hunt growing up – our favorite part of the day.
These are so so awesome! I love the scavenger hunt ideas, and can’t wait to put some into practice with my son. 🙂
Thanks! They are pretty fun ideas. The scavenger hunt was the favorite of all of growing up. I can’t wait to do it with my daughter tomorrow. I hope your son enjoys it too.
Featuring at Family Fun Friday and Pinned!
Monica
http://www.happyandblessedhome.com/2014/02/family-fun-friday-week-56.html
Thanks you so much for featuring, hosting, and pinning! I hope you have a great weekend.
I love these ideas! We celebrate most holidays as a family anyway so these are great!
Thanks for sharing with us on Good Tip Tuesday – http://www.sherrylwilson.com/good-tips-tuesday-6/
Glad you like the ideas! Yeah, we do family holidays around here too. This year was a fun one with a just turned 3 year old. She LOVED following the clues. Thanks for hosting!
Such cute ideas! I love the scavenger hunt idea! Thanks for linking up at The Pin It Party!
We did the scavenger hunt/clues with our just turned 3 year old this year and it took her a couple of clues to figure out what was happening and then she loved it!
I love these ideas. The treasure hunt is great. I think I may do that for my daughter’s birthday this year. We made heart shaped pizza on Friday. They loved it!
Thanks for your loyalty to the Mommy Brain Mixer 🙂
I bet your daughter would really like the treasure hunt! It’s so much fun. Heart shaped pizzas are pretty cool, we did it again this year as well.
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Thank you for the awesome ideas. I’ve just created a roundup of 20 Epic Valentine’s Day Ideas for Family Fun and your post is featured. Happy Valentine’s Day! https://www.happyandblessedhome.com/20-epic-valentines-day-ideas-for-family-fun/