Fun and Easy Valentine’s Day Ideas for families during Lockdown.It’s traditionally about romance – but Valentine’s Day is a GREAT opportunity to shower the whole family with love!
These days, Valentine’s Day is less fancy dinner by candlelight and more being covered in tomato sauce by the three other objects of my affections. It’s still the perfect excuse to indulge in some nice food and good, heart-shaped fun though, and our kids always really enjoy the decorations and sentiments.
Here are some ideas to help you celebrate Valentine’s Day at home, with all the loves of your life.
Heart-shaped love notes – write what you love about your children on a bunch of heart-shaped sticky notes, then stick them on their bedroom door for them to find when they wake up. You could do a theme like, “reasons why I love being your mummy” or “my most fun memories with you this year”. They’ll go to school – or home school! – knowing they’re amazing and it’s good reading practice too!
Enjoy a Valentine’s Breakfast – Anything red (strawberries, raspberries, watermelon, jam, etc) or heart-shaped (cut pancakes, toast or fruit with cookie cutters) will look fab, then bring out the squirty cream or chocolate chips for a special treat!
If you have some small oranges, draw emoji faces onto them with black marker, and use red marker to draw love heart eyes!
Do a good turn – Spread the love by asking your children to do a good turn. It may be taking flowers or chocolates to a neighbour, donating pocket money to charity, taking old toys to a charity shop, anything they like.
Make a card – And ask them to make you one too! Have a family crafting session where you all make each other cards, or Valentine’s crafts such as salt dough hearts, heart-shaped sun catchers, sensory bottles, etc. (there are lots of other ideas on Pinterest).
Bake – Let them help you bake a heart-shaped cake (pink batter!) or heart cookies with lots of sprinkles. Heart rice crispy treats would be an easy one with very small children. Red velvet is an obvious choice, but use gel to colour the batter, as liquid colourings don’t show up against the cocoa powder very well.
Heart-shaped pizza for tea – make your own dough (we like this one) and shape it into hearts, then let everyone pile on their own sauce, cheese and toppings. You could decorate the table with Valentine’s Day decorations, and make paper chains for the walls.
Write a love note – with a twist! Doodle on a banana, write a love note with invisible ink, or make up a code for them to crack (a big favourite with my six-year-old this Christmas!)
Have a family games night! No one’s going out this year, but you can still have fun at home. Gather your favourite games and play them together as a family. You could dress up as if you were going out, make everyone’s favourite drinks and snacks.
Start a reusable Valentine’s card – Buy a card for each child and bring it out every year with a new line written in it describing what you love about them. I started this tradition a few years ago and love re-reading and adding to them every year. I sometimes have a job remembering where I put them all, so you might want to keep them somewhere easy!
Make a special Valentine’s Day snack board – Cover a large board or tray with delicious Valentine’s-themed treats. You could include Candy love hearts, red sweets (red laces, gummy love hearts, cherry lips…), Jammy Dodgers, chocolate, pots of whipped cream and Nutella, popcorn, anything you like. It would be perfect to nibble on while watching a family movie!
Give love coupons – This is definitely something the children could reciprocate. Make little vouchers for special treats or activities for your kids. Movie nights, takeaway tea, anything you know they would love and you’re willing to do! They could do some for you too, promising to help with the chores, make you breakfast in bed, sit and snuggle while watching TV….
Have a party! So this year you can’t invite any friends, but it would still be lots of fun to do as a family. Decorate with red balloons and set up some Valentine’s-themed crafts – if you can face it! Or, play some party games. My friend used to do this when we lived in Canada (where it’s often celebrated with children). We got the sweetest photos of the little ones dressed in red and posing with hearts and we all had a great time too (red wine, right on point with the theme).
Make Valentines to give out: My oldest was once given a handmade card from a girlfriend, with a glow stick reading “You Make Me Glow!”. It was very sweet, and she loved the sentiment. There are lots of ideas on Pinterest, such as giving the ingredients for a science experiment volcano in a bag (because I Lava You), a pack of sweets (I Chews You), a candle (You Light Up My Life) and much more.
Happy Valentine’s Day!
Looking for more ways to entertain kids during lockdown? You can find LOADS here, plus local family-friendly walks and homeschooling resources. We’re updating it all the time, so do check back soon.
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