Friday, February 12, 2010

Valentine's Day ~ Family Fun Ideas

I LOVE Valentine's Day! Always have! Not because of the "romance" of the day ~ mostly I just love the opportunity to celebrate the special people in my life. One year (when I was in college) I even mailed all my Valentine's to Valentine, VA for a special postmark. I know ~ I'm weird. What can I say?? :)

Please know Valentine's Day hasn't always been a happy day for me ~ in fact, some years it's been downright painful. In 1999, Valentine's Day was extremely difficult for me. My fiance David had just been tragically killed 2 months prior (recap here).

The thought of all of the happy couples and roses and date nights nearly had me running for my sheets for the day. Instead, my dear aunt Debbie came to stay with me, and we spent the day making Valentine's for all of the singles I could think of. Thinking of others and focusing on blessing them helped make a hard day much less painful.

To this day, I love trying to think of creative ways to bless my friends and family ~ and remind them that they are dearly loved!! :)

So what are we doing this year??

Here are some things we do to celebrate Valentine's Day in an inexpensive, simple Family Friendly way:

Books ~ I have a special heart basket with Valentine's Day books I pull out on February 1st. My kids LOVE reading from the heart book basket, and I usually add a new book or two to our collection each year. Today we picked up, "Roses are Pink, Your Feet Really Stink". Too cute! :)


Decorations ~ Our city has a Dollar Tree store where you can purchase cheap plastic table cloths for $1. I always have an assortment of colors on hand. Of course, on Valentine's Day, the family will wake up to a red table cloth and heart paper products. (I stock up at Party City right after Valentine's Day each year). It's amazing how a $1 table cloth can make it look festive already. Oh, and don't forget the confetti! :)


Food ~ I'll make heart shaped pancakes for breakfast, pink milk, and have fresh strawberrries.

For dinner, we always have heart shaped pizzas. In my city, Papa Murphy's Take & Bake Pizza is a great resource. The kids love it ~ and I am grateful it is so easy (and not too expensive).


Sometimes we make desserts, but this year I picked up cute cupcakes. And I hope to make heart shaped finger jello! :)

Games & Activities ~ Some years we've invited friends over for the festivities. This year, since it will be on Sunday, it'll probably just be family, so I won't need as many games and activities, but we'll still have...

Color sheets, word searches, etc... (Many to choose from here)

It wouldn't be a holiday celebration without BINGO. Of course we use conversation hearts or pink and red M & M's for markers.
Even Great Grandma enjoys Valentine's Day BINGO at our house!

And for fun, we'll make sure we reflect on the origin of Valentine's Day. Easy kid version here.

We'll probably end our Valentine's Day all snuggled up together watching Charlie Brown Valentine's Day. Simple, but fun :)


What about for you?? Do you have any special Valentine's Day traditions?? How does your family celebrate this day of Love?? Please share with us ~ I'd love to hear your ideas!!

Happy Valentine's Day to you!!
Warmly,

P.S. The greatest Valentine anyone could ever receive came in the form of a tiny baby - His name was Jesus, and his LOVE for us - went to the cross, died and rose again, so we might have life - full, abundant, and eternal life!

Make this Valentines Day the best of all - and give your HEART to JESUS! :)

P.S.S. Is there anyone you know who you could bless this Valentine's Day?? A single friend, co-worker, grandma, restaurant worker. Maybe you could make some homemade Valentine's and make someone's day. I'd love to hear all about it! :)

13 comments:

kristi said...

We love our Dollar Tree. Following you back, please check out my other blog about raising my autistic son. It is listed on my profile pg.

Beth in NC said...

Oh girl. I don't do much at all. This year I actually made handmade Valentine's for my daughter's class. It was a lot of fun for her to glue, write, and tape. Ha. I did actually decorate my house this year ... and we did make heart shaped cookies, but compared to you, that is NOTHING. Ha.

Happy Valentine's Day. I'm glad you can celebrate with full abandon now. :o)

Beth

Wylie @ Shout A Joyful Noise! said...

I just love that you have pink milk with your heart shaped pancakes! That's awesome! Happy Valentine's to you & yours!
Blessings...
Wylie

Andrea said...

We keep it simple...not to go overboard with "stuff" we do not need. We always want to remember that Christ in us is the reason we are able to love.
Blessings, andrea

Unknown said...

Those are some great ideas! I am going to try and make the heart shaped pancakes with pink milk!!!

Julie said...

I think I should come to your house for Valentine's Day. :) My sweet hubby surprised me with a night away together, enjoying some of my favorite places and scenes and snacks and ... oh, so sweet. I feel loved.

I think V Day is often very hard for single friends, and it's a good day to make sure they feel loved.

Michelle said...

We don't really celebrate Valentines at my home. However, I did try to make heart pancakes on Pancake Saturday. They looked like weird triangles.:)

Judd Corizan said...

Hi Cindy-
I'm Judd Corizan from the meme Sunday Stealing. (http://sundaystealing.blogspot.com) I thought I'd take the time to invite you and all Random Dozen players to join us this and every Sunday. We have a group of great players who participate. We usually post by 3PM Eastern time on Saturdays.

Thanks!
Judd

Julie@comehaveapeace said...

Hi, friend ~
You won! You won! :) Send me your mailing address, and I'll send you Lysa's new book. I know you'll love it.

I did buy a copy of the new Beth book, but I gave it away at our women's Bible study last week. It's ok .. I'll get a new one, and as happens so often ... the Lord gave it to exactly the right lady. :)

Will look forward to sending you the book to bless and inspire. And ... God has been moving here in our home. One outcome of our weekend is that I am registered to be at SS this summer! I am praising the Lord. Will you be there, too?

Alleluiabelle said...

Hi Cindy,

I just came across your blog when visiting another friend. Love it here and love your Valentines Day ideas. I have four little grandchildren who would love some of the great things that you have done here.

I wanted to formally introduce myself and have become a follower of yours today. Please come on over and visit my site and if you feel led, I would be honored if you became a follower of mine.

Blessings,
Alleluiabelle

Wendy Blight said...

Cindy,

I LOVE your enthusiasm. Your words today about the Proverbs study brought a smile to my face. I am so thankful you are joining us. I look forward to getting to know you better. Your blog name is PERFECT for you!!! Even your words "sparkle" and leave a bright spot. :-)

Blessings to you,

Wendy

Lisa Smith said...

I just stopped by to add a little sparkle to my day! I'll be back to read your story. I just love how God has redeemed this day of love in your life!!

The lady of the house... said...

what a LOVELY blog! It was a pleasure "finding" you out here in blog land! Thank you for the wonderful Valentine's ideas!
It's so wonderful to LOVE ON THE ONES YOU LIVE LIFE WITH!!

Strength for today!
Janelle at Three Men and Their Ladies

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