Here are three Valentines Traditions for the whole family to enjoy together throughout the month!
Hi everyone, Sarah’s sister Rachel here. I am here to share three These three Valentines traditions with you for the whole family to enjoy together.
The first Valentines Day that my husband and I were dating, he showed up at my doorstep with a bouquet of flowers and a clue which started me on a scavenger hunt around our college town, leading me to various places where we had shared romantic moments.
Ah, to be young and in love
The first Valentines Day after we became parents, seven years later, he showed up at our doorstep with a toilet plunger—after receiving a frantic text from me while he was at work: “When will you be home?? Can you stop at Home Depot for a plunger? Noah threw something down the toilet, and I need to use it!!!”
This man doesn’t age
Ahh, parenthood. It certainly changes your life. I must say, I think I was even happier to receive that blessed plunger than I was to receive that bouquet of flowers years earlier!
I’m happy to report that even with clogged toilets and other such realities of life with little ones, my husband and I have managed to keep the romance alive over the years. But our expectations for Valentines Day, and even our desires for that day and other holidays, have changed as our family has grown and changed.
Sometimes we still want to ditch our kids and have a night out alone, and sometimes we want to include our little cherubs in the fun. These are the Valentines traditions that we do when we want to include them:
1) Secret Cupid
One of our favorite Valentines traditions is one that my mother started in our family when we were young, and my sister Sarah has written in detail about it here. Basically at the beginning of the week, my mom put the names of everyone in the family on slips of paper in a bowl, and we’d each draw one out. It was then our mission to surprise that family member each day in the week leading up to Valentines Day.
Since we were too young to go to the store by ourselves, she set-up a “Cupid Store” in her bedroom. She spread Dove Promises, York Peppermint Patties, festive Pez dispensers, and small stuffed animals across her bedspread. We went into her bedroom alone and got a certain number of tickets to “spend,” and I remember agonizing over what to buy for my special person. (You could modify your Cupid Store for older children, depending on their interests and the unique hobbies of your family.)
My mom also encouraged us to sneakily serve one another throughout the week, making beds, picking up toys, and hanging up wet towels that had been left on the floor. Finding creative ways to serve each other was often the most fun part!
This tradition remains a highlight memory of my childhood and something I now do with my own little children. For more details, you can read Sarah’s entire post about it here.
2) Love Letters to Your Children
You don’t have to be Shakespeare to write down some sentimental thoughts about your loved ones every once in a while—and what better time than Valentines Day?
Take a few minutes during that special week in February to write your kids “love letters” about all the things that you adore about them. Try to be specific—explaining the qualities that are unique to them and that you admire about them. Share a memory from the past few months that you loved sharing with them.
Make a copy of the letter to give to them and save a copy for yourself. You could keep these letters in your journal or in a binder that you add to each year on Valentines Day.
Even if your children are babies who are too young to read your words now, or they are teenagers who will pretend to be embarrassed by your sappiness, this tradition will create a meaningful, precious keepsake in years to come.
You can read a love letters that I wrote to my son here.
3) Valentines Dinner at Home
If you can’t find a babysitter to get away with your sweetheart, plan a fun Valentines dinner at home for the entire family! A friend of mine has done chocolate and fruit fondue with her little kids, and they loved it. I have another friend who has made heart-shaped pizzas (and I hear that many pizza places deliver heart-shaped pizzas that day, if you aren’t the type to make homemade!)
You could set the table fancy with candles, glitter, and goblets—or even better, you could delegate this responsibility to your children if they are excited about tasks like this!
You could do a game night, with Valentines Bingo and Memory, or a family movie night with a family-friendly romantic comedy, such as Little Manhattan.
You could also do service, such as “heart-attacking” a lonely neighbor by cutting out paper hearts and writing loving messages all over them, then sneakily taping them to their door!
So whether you are celebrating this Valentine’s Day with flowers on the porch and kisses on a college campus tennis court (yes I do remember this happening on that scavenger hunt years ago)—or you are celebrating it with a toddler hanging on your legs while you and your hubby unclog the toilet—remember, Valentine’s Day is about LOVE for the people who matter most to you.
It doesn’t matter exactly what you do the celebrate—just use the Day of Love to bring a little bit more Happiness to the people you adore. I hope that you enjoy these Valentines traditions as much as we do.
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Rachel, what sweet memories! I like your ideas. I wish I had a few of these when ours were small. They are now grown living their own lives. We NEVER had a date night. Everything we did, we did it with our three munchkins and I wouldn’t change a thing about it. We celebrated by exchanging homemade V-Day cards, small inexpensive boxes of chocolates, and Sweethearts. Often times, we’d do it on the weekend and turned it into little party. I like the love letter thing. I really wish I had done that. I did do this sorta thing when I was pregnant. I hope to transcribe my handwritten notes into a Word document or perhaps scan the pages to give to them one day. Anywho, thank you for sharing your Valentine’s Day fabulous, family fun ideas!
Love these ideas, especially the secret cupid tradition! As my kids get older, I definitely want to incorporate that into our family. What a meaningful tradition!
Hi there! I just wanted to drop by and say that these ideas are fantastic! I’m going to be pinning this as a reminder for years to come. This is my first Valentine’s Day with my son, and I adore the idea of writing love letters to your children to give them. I kind of wish I’d seen this post a few days ago so I could gather my thoughts and work on a love letter for my son before tonight! But I might cheat a bit and write it over the next few days since he’s a bit too young to even care just yet.
Also, I love, love, love the secret cupid idea! It’s adorable, and I am a big fan of simple ways to celebrate since we have tight finances. Thank you for sharing such a sweet idea, and happy Valentine’s Day to you!
Great ideas! I love the tip about the “cupid store.” I’ve run across more than one idea in the past about secretly giving to other members of the family but wondered how to make it work with children that couldn’t exactly get out and do their own shopping.
I try to make sure Valentine’s Day is fun for the kids by getting them a gift and making sure their is a fun surprise in their lunchbox. And we always expand it by exchanging treats with my parents and my brother who also get treats for my kids. But I also try to something that is just for myself and the husband – there are never enough reasons to take some one on one time as a couple.
These are such fun ideas, I especially love the Secret Cupid one! Thanks for linking up with Merry Monday this week!
I love the secret cupid, we used to do this at Girl Guide camp. A fun idea!
Thanks for sharing at #bloggerspotlight