Favorite Valentine's Day Activities

Happy February! 💕♥️

This month can feel like a long one for many people, with the holidays over but a long stretch until spring. For many of us the weather is cold and dreary. Here in the Pacific Northwest we’ve been under a cloud of cold rain and drizzles for months. 

Maybe this is why I love Valentine’s Day so much! It’s a fun and lighthearted holiday that breaks up the winter blues. There are endless crafts and treats and activities to go along with the holiday. And it offers an easy opportunity to share community with Valentine card exchanges, date nights out, Galantine’s day get-togethers, etc. Here are some details for several of the activities that I have enjoyed with my kiddos over the years. 

1) Homemade Valentine’s Cards. The sky is the limit here! Some of my kids love drawing and have sketched Pokemon Valentine cards for friends; some years we just use construction paper we have on hand, and some years we’ve purchased special supplies from the craft store. We also love to use heart stamps and inkpads we’ve collected over the years. Hobby Lobby tends to have a great collection on sale this time of year. Just be creative!

2) Donut Pegboard Party. A few years ago I set up a fun Donut pegboard display for Valentine’s Day with our school co-op. I just bought a white pegboard from our local hardware store, and hung up the doughnuts. Pretty quick and easy for a big visual impact!  

3) Embroider Heart Ornaments. My amazing Mother-in-Law set up this activity for our kids. We just used heart cookie cutters to outline hearts on felt, the girls embroidered them with some floral embroidery, stuffed them with batting, included a little satin string to hang them on, and whipstitched it closed with embroidery thread. My girls have been practicing embroidery for years, mainly using books from the library to teach them how. 

4) Decorate heart sugar cookies. A classic for a reason! We’ve had fun with gold luster dust, which can be purchased on Amazon. Mix it with just a bit of water, use a clean water-color brush to flick it onto the frosted cookies, and it takes the frosting game up a notch! This is the simple sugar cookie recipe my friend Sara gave me years ago, and they always turn out just right. This recipe makes 5 dozen, so if you don't want that many you can just half the recipe. 

5) Watercolor Valentine Gnomes. This is a quick and easy activity that any age can do. We used @emjlefebvre as our inspiration with her Christmas gnome tutorial, and made it our own! Also check out @andrea.nelson.art and @watercolorsbybree for some other fun painting inspiration!

6) Copycat Starbucks Cake pops. My daughter loves making cake pops, and we’ve tried a variety of recipes and methods. But one year we made a huge batch for our co-op for Valentine’s day, and discovered that the copycat Starbucks cake pop recipe by @cookingwithkarli is our favorite!! Hop over to her blog for the recipe!