Valentine?s traditions to start with your kids

Posted by Natasha on January 25th, 2019

Valentine’s Day can be a bright spot of fun in the middle of winter. The amount of candy and store-bought Valentine’s with licensed characters can become overwhelming, but you can keep the joy and family focus with these Valentine’s Day traditions to start with your kids.

Many schools have Valentine’s exchanges. Instead of shopping for Valentines and risking ending up with the same cards as everyone else, turn making Valentines with your children into a family tradition! Valentines are fairly easy to make with construction paper, glitter, and glue sticks. Simply find a heart template to trace onto colored paper, cut it out, and add glitter! To make things fancier, you can add doilies or ribbons. Write on your Valentine’s with a Sharpie marker or gel pen to make sure they’re easy to read.

Going on a family date is another fun tradition to start with your kids. There are a few different ways to set up a family date night and it doesn’t need to be expensive. You can make your family date about dinner, an activity, or combine them into a “dinner and a movie” style date night for an all-out experience! Any of these options can be done at home or out. 

If you decide to have a family date night out, make it special by allowing your children to have a say in where you go out to eat or what activity you do, even if that means they pick something you wouldn’t normally see as date-worthy. 

If you want to host a family date night in, get your kids involved by helping them plan the menu or activities. Invite them to write up a menu to hand to the “guests” or a program detailing the night’s entertainments! 

Another fun thing to do for Valentine’s Day is take family photos. A lot of families take photos in the fall for Christmas cards, but it’s easy to get so caught up in the holiday hustle and bustle that you don’t have time. Make a family tradition that Valentine’s Day is when you all get pictures together, whether or not you hire a professional photographer. Just like having a home date night, you can have a lot of fun setting up your own “photoshoot!” Get dressed up and enjoy yourselves! Grab free heart overlays and use a free photo editing program to add more love to your family photos.

To really celebrate the spirit of Valentine’s Day, play a game of appreciation tag. Try to keep it going all week long! To play appreciation tag, tell a family member something you appreciate about them. Tell them how much you appreciate it when they make their bed or that you appreciate how they always smile when you pick them up at school. Once you share you’re appreciation with someone, they’re “It” and have to appreciate someone else! If your children are young and aren’t sure what “appreciate” means, you can change this to “I love you because…” or “I love it when…”

To share the love and appreciation with a wider community, make up a bunch of little love notes. Write affirmations on stickie notes or on a stack of homemade Valentines, head to the park, and hand them out! Affirmations like “You are special,” “You are loved,” and “You are kind” can work, but you could also go with single words like joy, love, peace, kindness, etc. Handing out these appreciation notes will help your children see the positive impact that kind words and a smile can have on other people.

Valentine’s Day doesn’t have to be all about candy and buying things at the store. These Valentine’s traditions to start with your kids can help teach them love and appreciation while providing fun, meaningful family time!