Valentine’s Day Traditions to Start With Your Family This Year
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Wait until you see all the fun Valentine’s Day traditions you can start with your family this year. Holiday traditions are one of the easiest things you can do to create lifelong memories with those that mean the most to you. All of these Valentine’s Day activites for kids are simple, affordable and most important…FUN!
Valentine’s Day is a day to celebrate love and who do you love more than your family? Traditionally, Valentine’s Day is for couples, but my parents always made Valentine’s Day extra special for me. Valentine’s Day traditions help add to excitement and wonder for the day dedicated to love. My kids look forward to Valentine’s Day each year thanks to the simple traditions we’ve started as a family.
If you are a long-time reader of the Inspired Holiday you know that family traditions are so important to me and I always want to share fun ideas to help you create your own traditions with your family.
To this day my Dad still buys me a small gift for Valentine’s Day and I knew I wanted to start fun family traditions to help my own family celebrate Valentine’s Day.
This post contains affiliate links which means if you make a purchase through a link on this page I may make a small commission. Read my full disclosure.
Here are some fun Valentine’s Day Traditions You Should Start With Your Family This Year!
14 Days of Love Notes – Each year for the 14 days leading up to Valentine’s Day I write a reason why I love my child on a cut-out heart and paste to their door so it’s the first thing they see when they wake up in the morning. They both love reading what I have to say and now that they can write themselves they starting leaving me notes too. The love notes they write to me are something I’m going to treasure forever! It’s truly one of life’s simple pleasures.
These are the foam hearts I use to decorate my child’s door. They are large enough to write out and come in multiple colors to add some dimension to your display. I adhere them will foam tabs so I don’t damage the paint.
Fancy Breakfast – The morning of Valentine’s Day I always plan a fancy breakfast for my kiddos. In the past, I allowed them to have chocolate-covered strawberries, sprinkle pancakes or some other delectable treat that’s not part of our normal breakfast routine. In addition, I always include special touches to the tablescape including fun paper goods, fancy table cloth, cloth napkins or funky glasses. My kids love all the extra touches when it comes to breakfast on Valentine’s Day.
Some tools you can use to create delicious and festive Valentine’s Day Breakfast:
This heart waffle iron is what I personally use every year. I love multi use items so we use this same waffle iron for VDay, Mothers/Father’s Day, Anniversary and everyone’s birthday. Can ya tell we love waffles in our home?
Heart Waffle Iron
Love Jars – Gather a bunch of mason jars, one for each person in your family, a pile of popsicle sticks or post-it notes then get to work. Have each person write what they love about each member of your family and put those notes into that person’s love jar. Once you are done writing each other notes have someone read their jar aloud. Wait until you see your child’s reaction reading what people love about them – it will make for a memory you will never forget!
Festive Outfits – Every year I always buy my kids a fun Valentine’s Day-themed T-Shirt they can wear to help them celebrate.
For the last few years my daughther and I always a get a fun matching Mommy & Me Valentine’s Day outfit. Here are the ones we have narrowed down for this year.
Option 3 {my daughter picked out this set}
Decorate and Make Your House Festive – Decorating for the holidays is easily my favorite traditions and Valentine’s Day is no exception. My Christmas stuff comes down and my Valentine’s Day decor goes up!
RELATED POST: Valentine’s Day Decor Ideas To Try This Year
Movie Night – Give movie night a Valentine’s Day spin by watching a family-friendly movie about love such as Beauty and the Beast, Tangled or whatever movie you like watching together. Make it extra special by making a special Valentine’s Day-themed snack to enjoy during the movie.
RELATED POST: Movie Night Ideas For Your Family
Love or Red Themed Dinner – Nothing says I Love You quite like a home-cooked meal. Each year I make my family a love-themed dinner as a special Valentine’s Day tradition. This year I plan to make everyone’s favorite – heart-shaped pepperoni pizzas. My kids love eating a meal they know was created with love. After all our secret ingredient when cooking anything is – love.
Bake a Special Treat – End the day of love with a delicious treat. Maybe you like sugar cookies, or cupcakes or even specialty doughnuts. Whatever you decide I’m sure your family will love to end the day with something sweet!
Box of Chocolates – What’s Valentine’s Day without a box of chocolates? Just like Forrest Gump says – Life is Like a Box of Chocolates – You Never Know What You’re Gonna Get. My kids know that when they wake up on Valentine’s Day a box of chocolates with their name will be waiting for them on the kitchen counter.
Read Valentine’s Day Themed Book – As a reader of The Inspired Holiday you know I love reading holiday-themed books with my children and Valentine’s Day is no exception! There are so many great books for kids all about Valentine’s Day.
This year I was having a tough time finding a Valentine’s Day themed book for my ten year old son but when researching new material to update this post it appears I found the perfect one …
Small Gift or Experience – Each Valentine’s Day my husband and I asked out kids to be our Valentine’s then we make it our mission to get them a thoughtful gift or take them out for a fun experience together. This year my husband is buying my daughter a charm for her bracelet, something he does every year. His philosophy is by the time she graduates high school she will have a bracelet filled with a lifetime of Daddy/Daughter memories. I love their special traditions. It’s something that my daughter will have forever. My son prefers experiences so I always plan a fun day out for us. This year we are going into the city to see a show I know he’s been wanting to see for a long time. Your gifts don’t need to be extravagant. Last year I gave my son a red fidget spinner because that’s what he really wanted. It’s the thought that counts.
New for 2022: Valentine’s Day Cookie House. Target has these adorable holiday houses for Valentine’s Day and I surprised my kids with it for the long weekend. It was a hit! My Target was well stocked so you should be able to snag one with ease.
No matter how you decide to celebrate Valentine’s Day as a family your kids are going to enjoy the extra affirmations of love. Kids thrive in a loving environment so making a day all about love even more special is something they will remember forever. Valentine’s Day traditions can be as simple or as elaborate as you want them to be!
