Fun Valentine's Day Ideas For Kids

by Lisa Logan

Valentine's Day is a fun way to boost the post-holiday blahs and provides a special opportunity to let your child(ren) know how special they are!

Here are some ideas for making a fun-filled day:

1. Start off with a surprise! Tie red and white balloons to your child's bed or desk chair while they sleep, so it's the first thing they notice upon waking.

2. Valentine's Breakfast: Make sweetheart pancakes. Mix batter as usual and grease your skillet or griddle. Dip a chopstick or the end of a wooden spoon handle into the batter, then "draw" a heart shape onto the grill. Wait about 30 seconds, then carefully spoon batter over the heart (it should cover it completely). Cook as usual. When done, the pancakes will have a darker heart in the center!

3. Special Valentines to give to friends: instead of the typical boxed Valentines given out each year, have your child do something that stands out. Bake sugar cookies (either with a heart shaped cookie cutter or buy the slice-and-bake kind sold around Valentine's Day with a red heart in the center). Send to school in a bag to hand out as is, or go a step further and pipe each classmate's name in icing on the cookies first!

4. Lunch box Valentine: slip a note, Valentine's card, or special sweet inside your child's lunch.

5. After school: Have a Valentine's tea party or special dinner. Decorate the table, serve red and white foods ("I Love U Spaghetti", salad with radish "hearts"), and have heart shaped cake for dessert. Have any goodies you give out (like stuffed animals or boxes of candy) sitting at each child's place when they come to the table.

6. Don't have a heart shaped pan? No problem! Bake your cake according to package directions using one round and one square pan. When done, position the square cake on a platter with a corner facing you(for the lower point of the heart); for the upper end cut the round cake in half and place each semicircle with the flat side against the uppermost two sides of the square. Frost as usual and voila'! Heart shaped cake.

7. No time to run out and buy decorations (or wanting to save money)? An easy instant decoration is to grab that deck of playing cards tucked away in a drawer, pull out all the heart cards, and scatter them face up on the table.

8. Surprise them at bath time by drawing heart shapes, cupids, and "I Love You's" on the bathtub walls with soap crayons.

9. Offer a hotel-like turn down service at bedtime, placing a special treat on their pillow…or tuck a good night Valentine under their pillow for the final touch on a fun-filled day!