If you'd like to celebrate the day with your children, there's no reason you have to buy expensive banners, presents or store-made cards and toys.
Take 10-15 minutes with a few inexpensive items and you've got a festive place to mark the day of love with the kids you love so much!
Here are my suggestions, just pick and choose as you'd like!
1. Bend red and white pipe cleaners in the shape of the letters in your child's name and put them on a placemat before breakfast or dinner that day.
2. Cut out foil or construction paper hearts and glue them on full sheets of construction paper to make a homemade banner that you can hang from the light over your kitchen table.
3. Blow up balloons from a bag you buy at the dollar store and hang them around the room. I did this to decorate our kitchen this year.
4. Make miniature cupcakes and put red food coloring in the icing of 3-4 of them. Freeze the other cupcakes un-iced and have them on the child's birthday (with a different color food coloring).
5. Write "clues" for a treasure hunt on red construction paper and ask your child to do a scavenger hunt for two pieces of their favorite candy at the end. (or gum, pencils, a notepad, etc.) I do this for all kinds of occasions: birthdays, Christmas, anytime.
6. Write one Valentine's Day I.O.U. for every child promising them: one backrub, a day/week with no chores, a free pass when they would normally get a time out for a small infraction. Let them "redeem" the I.O.U. whenever they want in the next month.
7. Get a brown or white paper lunch bag and fill it with bubble gum or regular gum, put a red ribbon around the top and attach a homemade note telling them you love them!
8. Make pancakes before school on Valentine's Day and drip the batter in the shape of the first letter of their name. I've been doing this for my older son for years.
These are just a handful of ideas but they may inspire you to come up with your own.
Don't break the bank this Valentine's Day but certainly don't let the day go by without a big, warm hug and a small treat for your loved one!
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