Valentine’s Day ~ The celebration of romance and love! My dad always said it was another Hallmark holiday…😂! As a child, it is such a fun day to share Valentine’s cards and specialty candies with your friends. But it can be so much more than that. Being the hopeless romantic that I am, I have always loved this holiday and I still do. For us it evolved into a special time to have some Valentine’s Day family fun!
If your children are of school age, you are probably already working ahead with them to create their decorated box or bag to collect their precious valentines in. IF, due to Covid this year, you don’t get to do this at school, take the time to still make one for home. Ask family members to send valentines to fill their goody box! While in the planning process, why not make a special breakfast to start their day out right?
Valentine’s Day Breakfast ~
Mornings are hectic, I know! But with just a little planning, it doesn’t take much to make breakfast special for this day! Over the years, we have added food coloring to different food dishes to match the theme of the holiday…some have been great…and some not so much! For example, I urge you to NOT make green oatmeal on St. Patrick’s Day…I promise…it does not go over well!
Last year, Lauren got pretty creative with her breakfast ideas for the kids. Suffice it to say that they LOVED it! It consisted of red, heart shaped pancakes with whipped cream and fresh strawberries.
They also had some festive strawberry milk. She made a batch of strawberry milk ahead of time and poured it into heart-shaped ice cube trays. When it was time for breakfast, they popped those ice cubes into a plain glass of milk….and voila!
There was a little planning ahead time. Not too time consuming but oh so fun! Next, let’s get to work on how we are going to present their Valentine goodies! Need those fun ice cube trays….Get this 24-cube silicone heart mold by Wilton! The trays can be used for ice cubes, gelatin, baking and candy molds!
Some other fun food ideas are:
Valentine Fruit Wands by afewshortcuts.com ~ This is an oh so easy yet festive snack recipe the kids will definitely love!
Valentine Grazing Board by ediblecrafts.craftgossip.com ~ Shove the diet aside for one day because you are going to love this Valentine’s Day grazing board! yum!
Valentine Candy Poster ~
For many years, I would make a valentine candy poster for the kids. It is such a fun way to give them their Valentine goodies. It warms my heart that Lauren has continued this tradition. They are so much fun to make and even more fun to receive.
I think it is easiest if you buy your candy first before making your Valentine poem. Of course, you will want to try to work in their favorites. This way you know what candy names you are working with to create the clever wording needed to make your poem work.
Types of Candy with Sample Sayings ~
Please don’t 
You are 
special
I love you to
I wouldn’t trade you for
You are the best kid in the 
Sending you hugs & 
This Valentine’s Day is going to be a of a day!
To my
You are A--zing!
You’re no!
You an A!
These are just a few examples of how you can create your own personalized Valentine’s poem. There are so many clever sayings you can create with the names of the candy in it. In fact, it is not only fun to make one for the kids but have fun and make one for your honey too!
Valentine’s Day Family Fun Continues ~
Now you weren’t planning on just handing these works of art to the kiddos, were you???? Of course not! They need to work to get their special treats! After all, you put a lot of time into making that Valentine poster for them. So how do you suggest we do that? Glad you asked! Have you ever played the Yarn Scavenger Hunt game?
Items Needed for the Yarn Scavenger Hunt ~
1 color of yarn for each person playing
A room that has items to crawl under and over
Not too bad, right? You will start off by choosing one color for each child and tying one end of each ball of yarn to something in the room. This will be the starting point. You can start everyone off at the same point or in different areas. Weave the yarn over couches, under chairs, around tables. Safety is key, but you want them crawling over and under as much as possible….even over each other at times when their yarns cross each other.
They will collect the yarn as they go in an effort to get to the end and ultimately to their Valentine candy! For such a simple game, you will enjoy watching the children laugh hysterically as they race to get to the end.
Of course, once they get to the end of their yarn, they will be gifted with their candy poem poster.
You can also have fun decorating cookies in fun Valentine’s Day shapes. Although the cookie and icing recipe I shared in an earlier post was for Christmas, you can still refer back to it for the recipes. Click here to find the cookie recipe and icing for your Valentine’s Day cookies! Making cookies is always a fun festive idea!
Whatever you choose to do to make this day special….be sure to have a full day of Valentine’s Day Family Fun!!!!
Love ~ Shelly
