How many times have we heard complaints, “Valentines Day is too commercialised”, “its just a money-making scheme”, “its only for couples”. Out of all the special occasion holidays, Valentines has to be my favourite, because of what it stands for. I wrote a blog last year on why I choose love (and always will), because in a world filled with so much hate and judgement, let’s be honest, we all need to love a little more!
This Valentines I have focused on a few, inexpensive things you can do to celebrate with the kids. Since having kids I go all out on the day of love, I think it’s so important to create a sense of excitement for our children and educate them on the importance of loving one another and being kind.
It doesn’t have to be an expensive day. Trust me, I despise red roses, and yes I’ll jump on the “money making scheme” band wagon here. I have never expected to receive roses, there are so many other ways. As parents we also don’t have the luxury of being able to go out and enjoy a fancy dinner (well we could but that would involve getting in a babysitter and to be honest when valentines falls mid-week I am often too tired by dinner time to think about going anywhere :))
My perfect Valentines Dinner would involve dinner (ideally not made by me), or a picnic under the stars, followed by an evening of our favourite Netflix shows 🙂 When we lived in Cape Town one year we had the most amazing evening at Galileo open air cinemas, and watched Casablanca under the stars at a wine farm! It was such a great evening.
But I digress from the reason of this post.
Here are a few, inexpensive activities and things you can do to make this Valentines a bit more special for your family.
- Breakfast – Flapjacks are our thing for valentines breakfasts, if it falls on a weekend they are homemade and a little more adventurous and if it’s on a school day, Woolworth’s comes to the rescue. Take a heart-shaped cookie cutter to shape them into a heart. I also cut strawberries into a heart shape to add to the romance 🙂 Another super quick and easy option is a fruit parfait, layers of red fruit, yoghurt and muesli placed in a pretty jar.
- Lunches/packed lunches – the boys have been in school for the past few valentines so I like to do cute treats in their lunch bags. A personalised note, a heart shaped sandwich, watermelon or fruit cut into hearts. Anything I have time for really, but always a bit of a treat.
- Baked goods – For teachers, or friends at school, we always make our treats at home to save a little money. It also gets the boys involved and they adore baking so it’s a win win. We have made sugar cookies and heart-shaped brownies to give out as treats.
- Homemade presents – Not only are they a money saver, but while the boys are younger, I really do believe you don’t get better than a homemade gift. Last year we made “salt dough” jewellery, pressing out hearts in small heart shapes to thread onto a necklace or a bracelet, that they boys gave out. We dyed the salt dough pink and red and pressed in patterns and words like “loved”. For cards we have experimented with different mediums over the years, from puffy paint, to “blowing paint” and marbling the cards with shaving foam and food colouring.
- Activities – I always do a bit of a “build up” to valentines day, from sensory trays, chocolate soap foam, “melting hearts” (up on the blog later today) to cardboard crafts, I love theming the activities.
- Family Picnic – Whether it’s under the stars or in your lounge, the best way to spend the day/night with sharing love filled food with friends and family.
So there are a few ideas for you to do with the kids this valentines. I don’t believe we can ever show our kids “to much love” and I think Valentines is the perfect day to show them, and let them show others how kindness and love can make a difference!
