Ideas for Spending Valentine’s Day at Home
Posted by Shana Albert on February 11th 2009 in Blog, Kids Activities
No babysitter for Valentine’s Day? No problem. I’m going to show you how you can have a wonderful Family Valentine’s Day that leads into a very romantic evening for you and your sweetheart.
Valentine’s Day falls on Saturday this year. Which means Valentine’s Day for many will be uninterrupted by school or work and it is a rare chance to spend the entire holiday with our family. And, there is no reason why even without a sitter you can’t continue your romantic holiday celebration once the kids go to bed.
The idea is to not only spend some wonderful quality time with your children on Valentine’s Day, but to also exhaust them with valentine’s activities so that you can have a romantic evening at home with your special someone.
The day will be fun packed, with tons of love and celebration for all. So, let’s get started…
Valentine’s Day for Kids
Valentine’s Breakfast – With a simple heart shaped cookie cutter you can have an amazing Valentine’s Breakfast with the entire family. Make the perfect Valentine’s Breakfast consisting of heart shaped pancakes, heart shaped eggs, and even heart shaped toast. Add a bit of red food coloring to the pancake batter and you will have yourself pink pancakes. You can even purchase strawberry cream cheese to spread on the toast. What a perfectly love-ly breakfast that will sure to be remembered by everyone in the family.
Mid Morning Valentine’s Day Activity – Grab the Craft box and bring it out to the dining room table. Call the entire family in for a family project. Everyone sits down and hand makes Valentine Cards for everyone in the family. Make sure there are plenty of crayons, markers, glitter, glue, buttons, construction paper, safety scissors and anything else you would like to make the Valentine’s Cards with. See how creative everyone (including the adults) can be.
Valentine’s Lunch – Everything Red and Pink. How about a lunch that you and the family creates together that is in Valentine’s Day colors. Make a meal out of everything that is Red, Pink and White. You can even be creative and add some red food coloring to pretty much anything to make it a pink or red. Here are some red and pink food ideas
Red and Pink Foods perfect for Valentine’s Day
- Strawberries
- Cherries
- Tomatoes
- Shrimp Cocktail
- Strawberry Yogurt
- Apples
- Strawberry Cream Cheese
- Spaghetti with Sauce
- Red potatoes
- Red Jelly
- pepperoni
- Sweet Bologna
- Red peppers
- Red Beans
- Smoked Salmon
- Hot Dogs
- Fruit Punch
Afternoon Valentine’s Activity – Little Pink Notes of Love.
Hand out plenty of pink, red or white note papers to each family member. Each family member is going to write something they love about each of the other family members. So, if there are 5 members in the family every member will get 4 note papers to write about each family member. For the younger kids that can’t write an older family member can help them. Fold each note paper and put into a jar. Place the jar aside. You will pass the jar around the dining room table after dinner and all members of the family will reach in and pull out a slip of paper. Family members will read the notes out loud so that the entire family can hear.
Valentine’s Dinner – Heart Shaped Pizzas. These pizzas are so festive for Valentine’s Day. Plus, they are extremely yummy and perfect for the entire family to get involved with. They aren’t complicated at all which means this meal is perfect for even the youngest family member to get involved with. And, what child doesn’t love pizza.
When you have completed dinner pass around the Little Pink Notes of Love and read them out loud. If you are still feeling like you want a bit of fun how about bringing out a deck of cards for a game of Hearts. That’s a great table family activity.
After Dinner Valentine Activity – Decorate for Valentine’s Dance
Dancing has been a way to celebrate Love for hundreds of years. Even your youngest family member will enjoy dancing around all dressed up under Valentines decorations such as balloons and streamers. So, get out some red, pink and white streamers and red, white and pink balloons and have everyone decorate for the big event. Pick out some great music and let everyone, even the kids, get dressed up for the big event. The great part is once it is time for the kids bedtime they should be plenty tired. And, that’s when the real romance can begin.
And, this is why I said, “No sitter – No problem.”
After a full day of Valentine’s fun your kids are sure to fall asleep fast. Once they are asleep your romantic night can begin. There is no need for an expensive night out on the town when you can have a beautiful night at home full of love.
Valentine’s Day for Mom and Dad
Using your 5 senses to express your love for one another.
Communication is key to keeping a relationship going. But, communication doesn’t have to be only verbal. Try telling your sweetheart you love him using all of your senses. Here are some ideas.
Sense of Smell
- Put on some sweet smelling perfume. Maybe even buy a new one for the special night.
- Scented Candles. Just make sure you don’t get a bunch of them that done’t smell well together. Make sure to smell them all before purchasing. There is nothing worse than nausea to bring down the romance quickly.
- Sweet Desert in the Oven. Right before the evening begins put something in the oven that will smell amazing. Even store bought cookie dough will smell great cooking. However, don’t forget to remove it once the evening gets started. You want the fire between you to heat up….. not a fire in the stove.
- Flowers. It is very possible that your special man will bring you flowers, but have some flowers in a vase as well. They not only look beautiful, but they smell lovely as well. Even place your favorite flower in your hair.
Sense of Sight
- Special Outfit - Pick an outfit that he is sure to like.
- Make-up – Maybe a touch of highlighter or glitter in special areas such as the cheekbones and shoulders.
- Decorate the House or just a room perhaps for the special evening – You guys already decorated the place where you were having your Valentine’s Dance, but maybe another special room like the bedroom.
- Dim the lights – Dimming the lights adds a very romantic touch.
- Videos or Pictures of past experiences – Videos and pictures of past romantic events such as vacations will bring back some sweet memories.
Sense of Touch
- Massages – Take turns giving each other massages.
- Holding hands – As we get older and have children sometimes this little act of love is forgotten. Make sure to spend some time holding hands. Remember how wonderful this was when you two first got together.
- Kisses – Kisses is another one of those simple expression that can easily be taken for granted as our lives become busy.
- Slow Dancing – Put one some of your favorite romantic music and instead of talking how about some close dancing.
Sense of Hearing
- Music – Pick out some romantic music and have it play softly in the background.
- Past romantic stories – Each of you take turns saying favorite romantic memories you two have shared.
- romantic future stories – Each of you take turns talking about some memories you would like to share with one another in the future.
- Sweet Nothings (or somethings) in the ears – There is something about sweet things being whispered in your ear. Take turns whispering lovely things to each other.
Sense of Taste
- Cook a special desert – Such as chocolate covered strawberries.
- Feed each other- Feed the entire desert to each other. Savor each bite. This can be very romantic.
So, there you go a wonderful valentine’s day with Kids from beginning of the day to the end of the day. The day was filled with fun family activities as well as plenty of romantic activities. As you can see it doesn’t take a babysitter and a hot night on the town to have a romantic evening. Even with no sitter and being stuck in the house with the kids you can find time to have a wonderful romantic Valentine’s Day with your sweetheart.
Top image by ButterflySha
