When you’re dating someone, Valentine’s Day is exciting and filled with surprises, romantic dinners, and special gifts.  Before my husband and I had children, we used to spend Valentine’s Day having dinner at some of our favorite restaurants in Manhattan enjoying some delicious food and wine.  Now, that we have three young children, it’s hard for us to find time for romantic dates.  If you find yourself in a similar situation, here are some ways to celebrate Valentine’s Day with kids and make it a special day for everyone in your family.

Make Cards and Love Notes

Tell your kids and have your kids tell their siblings how special they are and how much they are appreciated.  Make it a family project to create and decorate cards with stickers, crayons, markers, and if you are daring, glitter.

Make Love Themed Food

For breakfast, you can make pink pancakes, heart shaped waffles, and heart shaped french toast and decorate them with red colored fruit like strawberries and raspberries.  For lunch, you can serve sandwiches cut into hearts.  Another one of my favorite things to serve for Valentine’s Day is chocolate fondue.  You can dip heart shaped rice krispie treats and brownies into the chocolate for a delicious dessert.

Bake Cookies Together

Baking cookies together is typically done around Christmas time but there is no reason why cookie decorating can’t be done for other holidays!  Make some sugar cookies with red, pink, and white frosting and decorate with different colored frosting, sprinkles, m&ms, marshmallows, or any other fun treats that you and your family love.

Go Out To Dinner As A Family

A few years ago, my husband and I received an email from California Pizza Kitchen about their Valentine’s Day dinner special.  We love going to CPK because our kids love pizza and pasta.  The first time we went to CPK for Valentine’s Day, my husband and I and the twins dressed up in red and went out to eat.  It was fun and we all devoured the dessert.  We continued the tradition once Nathan came along and plan to go again this year.

Sometimes I miss the days when we had the “freedom” to go anywhere and do whatever we want.  Being able to go out to fancy dinners is something we don’t get to do as often as we would like but our love created our fabulous family and it is something to be celebrated.  It just might be a little different.

I hope your Valentine’s Day is filled with fun, love, and appreciation for those that you love and care for and that you are able to start or continue with some of your own Valentine’s Day family traditions.  What are your Valentine’s Day plans?