Want to make Valentine's Day special for your kids? Here's some easy Valentine's Day traditions to do with your children! From family service ideas to festive food ideas, celebrating love with your kids can be simple and fun!
SIMPLE VALENTINE'S DAY TRADITIONS
Do you want to make Valentine's Day special for your kids?
Of course Valentine's Day is a great time to celebrate your true love (like with this 12 Days of Valentine's for your husband) , but if you want some sweet and simple family Valentine's Day ideas, this post is for you.
Why you celebrate Valentine's Day with kids
My parents always made Valentine's Day special for us with a festive dinner, love gifts on our pillows, and flowers from my dad.
I was so thankful that I felt so much extra love from them on Valentine's Day, especially on the Valentine's Days that I didn't have a boyfriend.
Seriously, I can't tell you how many friends I knew that absolutely dreaded Valentine's Day because they didn't have a boyfriend. I never felt quite so bad when I didn't because I knew that my family was going to make the day special.
Don't worry- celebrating Valentine's Day with kids can be fun and simple!
Valentine's Day For Kids
Here's some ideas to help your kids feel loved and spread the love this Valentine's Day!
1. LOVE JAR TRADITION
One of our very favorite Valentine traditions for families is what we call the "LOVE Jar."
At the beginning of February, we pull out our "Love Jar." Our love jar is nothing fancy. In fact, any glass jar or container will do! Or have you seen those cute mini mailboxes? Those would be fun, too!
We leave pens and notepaper next to the jar on the mantle or counter where we will see it often. The goal is to fill up the Love Jar with love notes. We have no specific rhyme or reason to it, but the idea is to write things we love about each other and fill up the jar. On Valentine's Day, we sort them out and read them as a family.
Our love jar tradition is so simple, but we all look forward to doing it every year.
2. LOVE GIFT VALENTINE'S DAY TRADITION
Another way to show love on Valentine's Day to your children is to leave a love gift on their bed!
I loved finding a little gift on my bed from my mom each Valentine's Day. The gifts were not elaborate, but it was always a fun surprise to see what she picked out for me.
Love gift ideas:
- Heart balloon and candy bar
- Small toy
- New book
- Coupon for date or activity
- New hair accessory
3. TOP SECRET VALENTINE TRADITION
Having a Top Secret Valentine is so fun with kids! A week before Valentine's Day, write all your family member's name one of these Top Secret Valentine's assignments. Each person will get an envelope with their mission on it.
The goal is to do as many nice things for your "Secret Valentine" as possible before Valentine's Day. On Valentine's Day, everyone reveals who they had.
Secret Valentines Ideas:
- Make their bed
- Hang up their backpack
- Put shoes away
- Do their job
- Scrape the snow off windows
- Leave a note
4. LOVE LUNCH VALENTINE'S DAY TRADITION
Everyone needs to eat lunch, even on Valentine's Day. Make lunch extra special today by making a heart-shaped lunch!
Easy heart-shaped food ideas:
- Cut bread with a heart-shaped cookie cutter to make their favorite sandwich
- Fill heart cupcake liners with fruit
- Get Flipside crackers- they are heart-shaped!
- Yogurt-covered heart prezels (I got these at Winco)
- Mini heart pizzas using English Muffins or Pitas as a crust (cut with heart cookie cutter)
- Best Heart-Shaped Sugar Cookies
5. 14 DAYS OF LOVE VALENTINE'S DAY TRADITION
Our family also looks forward to doing the 14 Days of Love. There seems to be a lot of ways to serve others at Christmastime, but why not the rest of the year?
14 Days of Love (or 12 Days of Valentines if you aren't up for 14) is an easy way to spread love around. Each day we do one simple way to show love to someone else. It includes friends, family members, strangers, God, and ourselves.
Grab the free printable 14 Days of Love cards and service ideas here.
6. VALENTINE'S DAY DESSERT: FAMILY FONDUE NIGHT!
Last but not least, having chocolate fondue is one of our favorite family Valentine's Day ideas! We use this easy 2-ingredient chocolate fondue recipe and have a blast dipping marshmallows, angel food cake, strawberries, bananas, and pretzels in this yummy fondue.
7. HEART ATTACK YOUR KID'S BEDROOM DOORS
For a practically free Valentine's Day tradition that your kids will love, heart attack their bedroom doors! All you need is some paper hearts or use some heart doilies to make it even easier.
Simply write reasons why you love them, favorite memories with them, what they are good at, or any other nice notes to make them feel good!
They will feel so much love waking up to find this surprise!
MORE VALENTINE'S DAY IDEAS
12 Days of Valentines For Your Spouse
Punny Valentine Love Notes To Leave Around the House
The Best Valentine's Day Sugar Cookie Recipe
Let us know what you think!