GETTING READY FOR VALENTINES DAY!

I'm so excited to be sharing some things I'm doing to make Valentines intentional and extra special for my family. 

I love Valentines Day, and I love making it seem extra for my kids. Sometimes it doesn't take too much!

Gifting

This year I decided to gift my kids a few special items the week before Valentines Day. I usually love giving books to my kids - but opening them on Valentines Day doesn't give them alot of time to enjoy them and get excited. 

So I've put together a few goodies for the kids as an early Vday present. I've included in each gift a book, temporary tattoos (they're so fun!) and some chapstick/nail polish for the girls & oreo pocky (I've never seen these before!) for Ben. Then on Valentines Day, I'll gift them some little treats and a few extra smaller goodies. I've found before that reading books really helps in getting them understand and get into the spirit of different holidays.

I love using printable Valentines as gift tags to attach to gifts and this year I've been loving the ones from The EverCo. They are beautiful, whimsical and super fun. I love that you can tape them onto anything...or attach with string. And I have so many plans to use these for other occasions as well. These printables would be perfect for birthdays, anniversaries, parties and other celebrations also. 

We did do store bought valentines for the kids because it really is so easy. And it makes it fun when we go to the store and they get to pick out what they want to give their friends and classmates. They wrote their names (or Ellie stamped her name because she can't write yet!) and we put them in little baggies with some goodies. 

But I've saved the adorable printables for special gifts and teachers gifts. This year I did $5 gift card from Starbucks as a little treat for those special teachers in our lives. They are appreciated SO much!

Valentines Snack/Dessert board

I started making a few of these dessert/snack boards over the last few months and I loved how quick and festive they were. I usually use a plain board (I like round and a star shaped one I have best) and add a couple of dishes/bowls to hold the treats. Then I add in the other items around the little bowls. For Valentines Day I used some heart bowls I got from Target. I usually start by placing the bowls where I like them best first, and then slowly add the other snacks around them.

For the Valentines one, I used candy (gummie hearts & hard chewable hearts) and raspberries in the bowls. I like to use items that may fall or roll off in the bowls to easily contain them. Then I added some digestive cookies (my kids love these), chocolate wafer sticks, shortbread cookies and caramels onto the board. 

These are so fun and they're perfect for an afternoon snack or for something more special like a movie night. I like using a little mix of salty & sweet, along with some fruits to balance it out. But the Valentines board ended up all sweet...which maybe seemed appropriate for this holiday! They're perfect for munching on. And little hands love getting to pick away slowly at the treats.

Home

I love pink, and it makes me to happy to sprinkle some pinky heart goodness around my home. I don't do too much, but love focusing on a few places where our family spends the most time. That gold heart pillow is my favorite purchase last month and it makes our family room look so sweet.

I put a simple cake stand displaying a few festive items like some little pink bowls, glass vases and gold measuring spoons. I also added a jar of holiday treats. 

A few pink tea towels also adds a bit of valentines charm.

Ever since we moved last summer, I have loved decorating our mantle with banners for the holidays. I think it's such a fun and easy way to change up a small part of your home. I added two hooks on either side of the mantle which makes it really easy to change things up. I"m a big believer that a simple garland (I get my favorites from Homesense, Etsy, Target and Michaels) can really add alot when decorating your home for holidays or seasons.

One of my favorite places these days is our book wall.  I love that the book are all facing outwards and that they can reach them really easily. And the best part is that you can easily rotate the books every few weeks. For Valentines Day, we picked out our favorite books about friendship and love. And any pink-y books may or may not have made it there as well. 

I've loved sharing a few things we've been doing around our home to celebrate Valentines Day. Most of these are simple, but offer a little extra fun and whimsy. Gather as many little pink things as you can and display them!

Thanks for following along! It's been really fun sharing a few things we've been doing at home. I love that with kids especially, its the tiny little things that they love. Those are the things they'll remember as they get older!