5 Creative Ideas to Celebrate Valentine’s Day

I’m a sucker for Valentine’s Day. I love the cards, the candy, the flowers, and all the sweet sentiments that get expressed on this day. Valentine’s Day has been one of my family traditions since I was a little girl handing out Valentine’s to my classmates in elementary school.

I’m always looking for new Valentine’s Day rituals to share with other families and came across some creative ones by my favorite family ritual expert: Meg Cox. Her third book on family rituals, The Book of New Family Traditions: How to Create Great Rituals for Holidays and Every Day, will be out in June. Here are five of Meg’s creative ideas to share with your family.

  1. Create a Valentine’s Garden: get a small planter, fill it with potting soil, then have your children “plant” Valentine seeds (Red Hot candies). Every day, water the seeds. On Valentine’s, surprise the kids with a miracle and put full-sized lollipops in the planter that the kids can harvest.
  2. Make an Affirmation Tree: place a bare branch into a pot filled with sand, stones or marbles. The day before Valentine’s Day, have your children cut out red paper hearts for each of the people they love, write the names of the loved ones on the hearts, then hang the hearts on the tree.
  3. Have a Red Food Dinner: make a meal that consists of only red food such as beets, red cabbage, mashed potatoes with red food coloring, and strawberries or watermelon. Serve pasta with red spaghetti sauce. For dessert, serve a red heart-shaped cake and wash it down with red fruit punch.
  4. Make a Validation Book: decorate a simple notebook with hearts and on the opening page write “Happy Valentine’s Day. This notebook is to help us keep track of all the ways we love you.” Then at the bottom of the page are the words, “We love you because …” and write a little story about a quality you love about the person. Keep the book and every Valentine’s Day bring it out to read the past year’s and write something new for the current year. It becomes a ritual to enjoy and a treasure to keep.
  5. Design a What’s Sweet About You Poster: Buy a large sheet of poster board in white, pink, or red. Cut out 9 to 12 hearts, about 4 inches high and 3 inches wide, from pink or red construction paper. On each heart, write one trait you love about your child’s nature. Make it specific, focusing on positive aspects of their personality. Glue the bottoms and sides of the hearts to the board leaving the top open like a little pocket. Then put a Valentine candy in each pocket.

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