{"id":586,"date":"2019-02-02T09:00:29","date_gmt":"2019-02-02T17:00:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.destinationsitters.com\/blog\/?p=586"},"modified":"2023-01-29T11:53:22","modified_gmt":"2023-01-29T19:53:22","slug":"celebrate-valentines","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.destinationsitters.com\/blog\/celebrate-valentines\/","title":{"rendered":"Ways to Celebrate Valentine’s Day as a Family"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Oh, the ways to celebrate Valentines Day\u2026 gifts, romantic candlelit dinners, walks under the stars\u2026 and hyped-up kids with stomach aches from too much sugar school. <\/h3>\n\n\n\n

For many parents, Valentine\u2019s Day will look a little different\u2013 but that doesn’t stop it from being meaningful or fun! Valentine\u2019s Day is a perfect holiday to celebrate as a family, and help kids learn how to show the people they care about that they love them.  <\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Here are some activities you can do as a family to help create a positive, simple, and meaningful Valentine\u2019s Day! <\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Make \u201cLove Jars\u201d to fill with Valentines:<\/em><\/strong> Get a mason jar (or a paper bag!) for each person in the family. Designate a jar for each person, and decorate them.\u00a0 Make a little station with a stash of crayons, markers, and small pieces of paper near the jars.\u00a0 Each day, have everyone in the family write a few little \u2018notes\u2019 to others in the family, and put them in their jar.\u00a0 Fill in the blank notes may be easier for younger children, or you can type up questions for prompts.\u00a0 Write compliments, favorite memories, anything positive!\u00a0 It can be as simple as \u201cI like when we read stories together\u201d, or little drawings, or longer letters. Be creative, and think about what will be simple, easy, and fun for your kids to do. On Valentine\u2019s Day, everyone gets to open their jars to see their love notes!<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Cookie Decorating Contest:<\/em><\/strong> Make some oversized, heart-shaped cookies. Have sprinkles, icing, and candies available for decorating.\u00a0 Make sure you have lots of wax or parchment paper as well to keep your decorating space (somewhat) clean.\u00a0 Each person in the family decorates a cookie for a decorating \u2018contest\u2019! This activity also works great with pancakes!<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Put together care packages for a nursing home or local homeless, women\u2019s, or animal shelter:<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0 For many non-profits, February can be a bit of donation \u2018dry spell\u2019.\u00a0 Consider donating time or supplies to a cause that is close to your family\u2019s heart \u2013 an animal shelter that you adopted a pet from, the nursing home of a relative, or a homeless shelter in your community. It\u2019s a great reminder to your kids that showing love to others can help make the world a more positive place!<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Spoil your kid\u2019s teacher:<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0 It is NEVER a bad time to spoil your kid\u2019s teachers.\u00a0 February in \u2018teacher world\u2019 is often one of the most difficult months \u2013 post-Christmas break unmotivated kids, very little sunlight, Spring break is several weeks away, crunch time for annual testing begins, and the anticipation of Valentine\u2019s Day can heighten student emotions. \u00a0In the first or second week of February, pick up some small baskets or bins for your kid\u2019s teachers.\u00a0 Have your kids think about some little gifts for the teachers for their classrooms or for their own enjoyment (the dollar store is a great way to start!). \u00a0Include little treats, $5 gift cards, appreciation notes, a mug, etc, to help your kid\u2019s teacher\u2019s feel loved and appreciated!<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Play an archery game, or take a family archery lesson or class<\/em><\/strong>:<\/em>\u00a0 Is there a better way to celebrate the day of Cupid than archery?! \u00a0For little kids, there are age appropriate archery toys with foam or suction cup arrows.\u00a0 If it\u2019s warm outside, set up some targets outside.\u00a0 If it\u2019s too cold, use a foam or suction cup bow and arrow set with a target in a low-damage-risk area of the house, such as a garage, or hallway.\u00a0 For older kids (usually 7+), try looking for an age appropriate archery lesson or class.<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Family date:<\/em><\/strong> Valentine\u2019s Day can be a wild day at restaurants or entertainment places, so you may choose to do this in the week leading up to Valentine\u2019s Day. Go bowling, a paint-your own pottery studio, roller skating, or a movie (look for dollar or matinee theaters if money is tight!)<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Game or movie night:<\/em><\/strong> This is a great family stay-in date night.\u00a0 Bust out the boardgames or some favorite movies, make some fun treats (like our Old Fashioned Pink Popcorn<\/a>, or an Ice Cream Sunday Bar<\/a>!)<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

We hope you have a wonderful Valentine\u2019s Day with you family! <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Oh, the ways to celebrate Valentines Day\u2026 gifts, romantic candlelit […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":583,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[553,532,570,549],"class_list":["post-586","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-celebrations","tag-activity","tag-christmas","tag-family","tag-valentines-day"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.destinationsitters.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/586","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.destinationsitters.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.destinationsitters.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.destinationsitters.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.destinationsitters.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=586"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/www.destinationsitters.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/586\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3281,"href":"https:\/\/www.destinationsitters.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/586\/revisions\/3281"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.destinationsitters.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/583"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.destinationsitters.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=586"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.destinationsitters.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=586"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.destinationsitters.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=586"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}