Valentine's Day: 2013

Valentine’s Day is a day to share with the ones that you love. If you’re like many people, this includes your children. There are many ways to celebrate Valentine’s Day with the whole family…this ideas gives you plenty of ideas to do just that.

7 Ideas for Kids

1. Children love to celebrate Valentine’s Day with their friends. This is the day of the year that they can show their friends how much they mean to them. One of the best crafts that your children can do is to make homemade Valentine’s Day cards to hand out at school. There is no need to spend money on the boring store bought cards when your children can make cards.

Start out by helping your children to cut out card sized hearts for the cards. The hearts can be cut from red and pink construction paper. The front of the heart can decorated with stickers, glitter and even ribbon to make each homemade Valentine card special. A personal note written on the back and signed by your child finishes the back of the card.

2. Your children will need a way to carry their homemade Valentine’s Day cards to school. A special Valentine’s Day tote bag will be the best thing to carry cards to school and bring all of their cards back home. Start this simple craft with a paper grocery bag. Attach ribbons to the top of the bag to make handles for the Valentine’s Day tote bag. The tote bag it self can be decorated with cut out hearts, markers, ribbons, glitter and stickers.

3. Your children can make special treat bags to go with each of the Valentine’s cards that they hand out. Start by choosing either chocolate candies or conversation hearts to fill the treat bags. You can get pink and red color tulle from your local craft store that can be cut into squares to make the treat bags. Place the square of tulle on the table. In the center of the square, you can help your children to place a small pile of candy. Finish off the treat bags by pulling up the sides and tying them together with ribbon.

4. Create homemade chocolate candies for friends. The school may not let you bring these treats because they are homemade but your child can take them to a Valentine’s Day party at a friend’s house or a church gathering. Many stores offer kits that include the candy molds and instructions for melting the chocolate. Another idea is to create chocolate spoons. They can be used as stirrers in hot chocolate since February is technically still the winter season.

5. Many children like to give Valentine’s Day gifts to their teachers. There are a few gifts that your children can make for the many teachers that they have. The first gift idea is to give the teacher her own special candy stash. This usually works best with small chocolate candies but can be done with any type. Start with a clean dry mayonnaise jar with the label removed. Fill the jar with the candy that you have chosen to use. Cover the lid with a square piece of fabric in colors that remind you of Valentine’s Day. Tie the cloth onto the lid with a ribbon. You can help your children to print up labels for the jar saving a special message for the teacher.

6. The second gift that you can help your children make for their teachers is cookie bouquets. Start by helping your children to bake heart shaped sugar cookies. Before you bake the cookies you will want to place a wooden dowel into them to make the stem for the heart flowers. Ice the cookies with red and pink icing and allow the icing to set. Place a piece of floral foam in the bottom of a container to set your flower cookies in. Arrange your heart cookie flowers to finish this gift with your children.

7. A final gift option for your children to give their teacher is a Valentine’s Day apron. Start out by getting a plain apron from a craft store or cooking store. You will want to make sure that the fabric that you choose for the aprons will take paint. Have your children use paint pens to decorate the Valentine’s Day apron for their teacher. This is a great craft to let your children’s creativity flow on.

Valentine’s Ideas for Families

1. Start Valentine’s Day for your family with a big surprise for each family member. Everyone likes to get little gifts through out the day on Valentine’s Day. Make small mailboxes to place on the back of each family member’s chair. This is a craft that can be done the day before Valentine’s Day with your children. Use half of a cereal box to make each mailbox. Cover the outside of the mailbox in either red or pink construction paper. Decorate each mailbox with the person’s name and cut out hearts and glitter to make it special for each person. Use a hole punch to place two holes on the back of the mailbox. Use these holes to attach the mailbox to the back of each person’s chair at the kitchen table with ribbon.

2. Before everyone gets up Valentine’s Day morning place a card and a small gift into each person’s Valentine’s Day mailbox. The gift can be a small stuffed animal or even a little bit of chocolate. The idea is to give each family member a small surprise gift to start their Valentine’s Day off right. A great way to build on this idea is to have each child place a special card from them in your spouse’s mailbox.

3. Prepare a special Valentine’s Day breakfast for your family. This should be a big meal that includes all of your family’s favorite breakfast foods. You will want to make heart shaped pancakes for this event. You can attempt to make these by hand or use stencils that they sell in cooking stores. You can place chocolate chips in some of the pancakes for those in your family that enjoy chocolate. Make sure to include fresh fruit like strawberries to place on the pancakes. You can also make heart shaped toast. Once the toast is out of the toaster and buttered use a heart shaped cookie cutter on them. Make eggs, bacon, and any other breakfast favorites of your family.

4. Pack each family member their favorite lunch for the day. If Valentine’s Day falls during the week, this is a great way to show your family members how much you love them when they are away from you. Include a small desert to finish off your loved one’s favorite lunch. A special thing to add to this Valentine’s lunch is a little note from you that tells them that you love them and miss them. You can pack this special lunch in their usual lunch bag so that is a surprise or use a brown paper lunch bag that is decorated for Valentine’s Day.

5. If Valentine’s Day falls on a weekend, it is a good idea to do a family fun day. One of the best things to do is to take your family to the park if the weather is good. Even on a brisk day, a day out at the park can be a day for your family to bond and explore nature. This is a fun and great exercise for you and your family. Many parks have playgrounds for the younger children to play on. You can pack a lunch or a special treat to have on your outing.

6. You could also have each family member choose an activity to do on Valentine’s Day. This would give your family a fun way to try new things. It also helps you to get to know your family members even better. Let your children choose whatever they would like to do from the zoo to a movie. Make the only rule that the family needs to follow is that you must do at least one thing that each family member suggests. It is a good idea to plan this type of Valentine’s Day celebration in advance so that you are sure to get to everyone’s ideas.

7. Finish your family’s Valentine’s Day fun with a special sit down dinner. Use your best dishes to set the table and even place a centerpiece on the table to make the dinner special. You can even go so far as to request each family member dress up for the dinner. Make a homemade meal for your entire family to enjoy. You can go around the table and share everyone’s favorite part of their Valentine’s Day. This is one of the best things to do if you hand to spend Valentine’s Day away from each day because it is a work and school day.

Couples Valentine’s Ideas

1. Once the children go to bed, it is time for you and your loved one to celebrate Valentine’s Day. Prepare a special Valentine’s dessert for you and your Valentine. Focus your attention on what your loved one’s favorite desert is. If they are a fan of chocolate, you can make a molten chocolate mini cake for each of you. Tiramisu is another easy desert option for you to make for your loved one. If you are not the baking type, you can make a fruit parfait. Create layers with pound cake, vanilla pudding, and fresh fruit to make the parfait. You can finish the parfait with whipped topping.

2. Lay out a blanket pm the floor of your living room to make it a special picnic desert for Valentine’s Day. Light candles around your living room to set the mood in the room for your special desert. You want the lighting to be dim, if you can do this with your lights that will work too. Place some pillows around the edges of the blanket that you laid out to give you something to lean on. You can also turn on soft romantic music to keep the theme of romance going.

3. Watch a romantic dinner on your picnic blanket after you have enjoyed your Valentine’s Day desert. Open a bottle of wine and relax as you watch a movie that you would not normally get to watch with the children around. Some of the best movies to use for this special evening are the old romantic movies that you can get on DVD. Plan a movie marathon based around one of your favorite actors to make the evening last even longer.

4. Slow dance with your Valentine after the movie is over. This is a traditional way to celebrate Valentine’s Day that is often forgotten. You do not need to be out in a fancy restaurant to be able to slow dance with the one that you love. Place a couple of slow romantic CD’s on repeat so that you do not have to end your special slow dance.

5. Finish your romantic Valentine’s Day by giving each other a sensual massage. You can get massage oil at any drug store and use the blanket that you laid out for your picnic as the place to give each other the massage. If you do not want to stay out in the living room, you can move into the bedroom to finish off your Valentine’s Day.

Share the love with your family this Valentine’s Day. Although this special day has become alarmingly commercial over the past few years, there’s no need to break the family budget. After all family bonding is always free.

Have fun!

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