I love holidays. An extra excuse to plan family traditions and create special rituals? Sign me up.

And, shockingly, I actually used to not like Valentine’s Day. But when I realized it was another day I could show my favorite people how much I love them? I then loved Valentine’s Day.

So I did what I do with any holiday: I asked myself, “What could we do that would make me so excited for this day? What would be such an enjoyable for us to celebrate this holiday? What do I want our children to remember as traditions?”

Weeee! I love dreaming about traditions.

And I decided this: I wanted to eat heart-shaped food and I wanted to make gift baskets. That combo would really excite me for Valentine’s Day. So I took this epiphany and my Yearly Tasks and Expenses list - and from there, I made a tangible plan on how we’d love to celebrate Valentine’s Day:

Special Books

We’d display our favorite books about love, Valentine’s Day, family, and kindness in KK’s bookshelf in our den. See more about this - as well as our favorite books! - here.

Heart-shaped Cake

I’d make a special cake for Brett the day before in this heart-shaped pan. I rarely bake cake, so this would be a super special thing to do. (And a fun excuse to try a new recipe!) Heart sprinkles encouraged. This is to be enjoyed after Valentine’s Day Dinner - I just want to make it ahead of time, ideally.
And I do like to bake once a week anyway thanks to this routine, but I just make sure the week of Valentine’s I choose a fun cake to bake in a heart shape.

Waffle Bar

For Valentine’s Day Breakfast, we have this heart-shaped waffle iron for waffles (but I may upgrade at some point to a larger heart-shaped waffle iron) and I set up a fun waffle bar with all sorts of toppings. Pinterest has a ton of great ideas for potential toppings!

Holiday Bows

KK has a relatively simplified closet - some might even say a capsule-ish wardrobe - but I do love to get a few seasonal bows or hair clips on Etsy. They’re a fun way to celebrate the season, but they also turn her solid-colored shirts and dresses into seasonal outfits instantly. But this time of year, our ample collection of pink bows and hair clips comes especially in handy, so I really don’t invest in too many Valentine’s specific things. We have a few red pieces from Christmas/July Fourth that work, too.

Seasonal Play

See this post for alllllllll our favorite ways to play in February! Our Sensory Bin, our Playdough Tray, our Rice Bin, our Play Kitchen items, our Art Activities - it’s another fun themed month of play!

Mr. Valentine

Mr. Valentine visits!!!! When my sisters and I were growing up, Mr. Valentine would deliver a small gift basket for each of us by our front door while we were at school…or while my mom took the trash out. ;) We LOVED it and I want to continue this with KK and her siblings.
We do set aside a little money all year long for this tradition. (Same with our Easter baskets.)
I love when holiday gifts aren’t just clutter, but instead are things they can actually use all year. (I also love following a formula for all my gifts.) This year I’m focusing KK’s basket more on consumables - like art supplies and craft projects for our beloved Evening Quiet Family Time
We also use our Mr. Valentine basket as our yearly reminder to prioritize new socks, undies, bras, and/or toiletries, if needed. Because really, Mom and Dad deserve to have, say, underwear we love or good face soap, and I love the Mr. Valentine basket as an annual excuse to indulge in these fun - yet practical! - things. (And like I said - I like to give holiday gifts that we actually use. And there are lots of fun options of these particular items this time of year.)

ALSO! Mr. Valentine brings a gift basket for both Brett and me, too! It’s more fun that way. ;) Just because, again, I love an excuse to make a small, holiday-themed gift basket to show someone I love them.
- faq: Brett really enjoys that I buy my own gifts, and I enjoy it, too. This works really well for us.
I bought plenty of white baskets - enough for Brett, me, KK, and future siblings - at Target to be used year after year for Mr. Valentine, Easter baskets, etc.

2021: Here’s KK’s first Mr. Valentine basket!

2022: Here’s what we did for all three of our baskets! I hadn’t fully decided yet at the time of publication, so I listed out a few possibilities…aka more inspiration for you!

2023: Here!

“I Love You” Aunt Gift Baskets

KK and I will make something small for my sisters. Because Valentine’s Day is an excuse to show people you love them, however that looks for you! KK and I have the best time making small baskets of a few of their favorite things and things we think they would love.

Galentine Gifts + Other Gifts

I won’t spoil the surprise here, but there are a few other people I really enjoy giving small gifts to for Valentine’s. And for them, I give the same thing every year - aka one of Our Decide Once Gifts.

Special Dinner

We’ll use heart shaped pasta to make one of our favorite pasta dishes. We loveeee this recipe so much, but I never make it because I’m usually too daunted to make it on a weeknight for whatever reason. So I was like, “This would make the perfect Valentine’s dish!” If I remember correctly, we like to double the sauce, and eat the chicken + sauce over pasta. YUM.
- this is why during the month of February, we keep this pretend pasta set in our play kitchen as apart of our February Month of Play. food traditions make the best play inspiration!

And, when Valentine’s Day is over, I’ll put away any of our heart-shaped tools and Valentine’s Day-specific books into our Winter box, ready for next year. See my Instagram post for a peek this simple organization trick.

Did you enjoy this post? I’d love if you said hi on Instagram! I share allll the innerworkings of my routine-and-tradition-loving heart there. (Along with quite a bit of dinner ideas. Woo!)

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