Love is in the air and couples are proclaiming their love for each other on social media. Parents are getting notes about parties and decorating boxes to bring to school. All this can only mean one thing; Valentine’s Day is upon us!
Valentine’s Day was always one of my favorite holidays. I remember growing up and my parents sending my sister and me balloons to the school for the holiday. It just made your whole year when you got something special delivered to school. As I grew up, Valentine’s Day continued to be one of my favorites. My husband always treated me to a nice dinner out, flowers, and a gift. Who doesn’t want to be doted on!
After we adopted our daughter in 2020, Valentine’s Day started to look a little different for us. Don’t get me wrong, I still love this holiday, but it became special in a different kind of way. Now the holiday doesn’t just focus on my relationship and the love my husband and I have, but the love we share for our daughter and our family. My daughter has learned to love the holiday as well and starts counting down the days starting in January. The last couple of years we picked up a few traditions during Feburary that we focus on with our daughter.
Hearts with Messages
Starting on Feburary 1st, I start putting hearts with reasons why we love our daugher on her bedroom door. She gets so excited to wake up every morining and see what each heart says. You can cut out hearts for this or I bought my cutout hearts on Amazon. This is such a fun and easy way to start your child’s day full of love.
Floral Arrangements
Each Valentine’s Day my husband gets me the most beautiful flowers. Now, he loves to get either a small flower arrangement or a single rose for my daughter to show her how much he loves and appreciates her as well. Every girl loves to get flowers!
Love Notes
This activity I started doing when I first started teaching ages ago. I would cut out a huge red heart out of paper. Every day we would add someone or something we love to the heart. I use the same concept at home with my daughter. Each of us adds one thing each day to our heart and by the end of the month our heart is filled with the people and things we love!
Children’s Books About Love
I always get my girl a small gift for Valentine’s Day. Usually, it includes a children’s book about love or affirming feelings. There are so many good books out there. Here are a couple of my favorite children’s books I’ve given over the past few years: In My Heart: A Book of Feelings by Jo Wietek, Somebody Loves You, Mr. Hatch by Eileen Spinelli, Beautiful by Stacy McAnuity, and I’ve Loved You Since Forever by Hoda Kotb.
Family Date Night
Instead of my husband finding a sitter and taking me out on a date for Valentine’s Day, we take our daughter out on a family date. We’ve tried to mix up the things that we take her to do, but she always wants to go back to that first family date we took her on, bowling. So, we usually take her to our local bowling alley and then out to eat to the place of her choice. The great thing is usually her choice of resaurant is not crowded on Valentine’s like my choice would be!
Maybe you’ve read all this and your thinking, Valentine’s is the holiday that is special for you and your spouse or it’s your anniversary and you don’t want to spend the evening with the kids. Well, then pick another night to dote on your kiddos and make them feel even more special than they already feel.
Do you have any traditions or ideas for Valentine’s Day or any books for me to add to my list? I would love to hear about them.
