How to make Valentine’s Day a family celebration
Valentine’s Day normally means date night with our other halves; with the kids at home with a babysitter and a whole evening to wine, dine and not to have to think about homework, bath time, or cooking your own dinner.
But, if you're spending Valentine's Day 2023 with your children rather than just your partner, you can still have a lovely time. Not the romantic day you probably had in mind, but lean in to it, and use it to have some fun with your entire household!
Here are our ideas for family Valentine’s Day with the children...
Valentine’s Day meals
First off, the food. Put some calls in to your local restaurants to see if they are doing deliveries or home dinner kits (when the food arrives part prepared). Homeslice is offering nationwide delivery on their 'take and make' pizza at home kit, as sometimes host live virtual masterclass on how to make pizza (and cocktails for the adults). The Restaurant Kits UK website lists all the places doing deliveries this year, including cult spots such as Flesh & Buns and Kricket. If you’re feeling brave, you could also suggest that your family makes their own pizza. Pizza dough is easy to make and kids love slathering on tomato sauce and adding toppings of their choice. Here’s a straightforward recipe from Sainsbury’s.
Valentine’s Day games
Kids love a treasure hunt, so why not use our Foiled Heart Treasure Hunt kit for an extra special one? Set up clues around the house or in the garden or your local park. You could add some chocolates or sweets to the clue envelopes for little treats along the way. For an appropriately heart-felt activity, you could make your own 'Why I Love You' jar. Simply get a clean, empty jam jar and decorate with red ribbon or stickers. Then gather the family together and write down reasons why you love each other on scraps of paper, and pop into the jar for you all to pick out and read to each other. You could include lovely notes about family members that aren’t with you, such as aunties, uncles and grandparents, and ask them to join you on Zoom to hear them read out.
Virtual family activities
If you fancy doing something a bit different with your family, you could book a virtual experience for them as a Valentine’s Day surprise. There's plenty to choose from: Airbnb hosts are offering live music sessions and virtual city tours (Paris would be a good one for the day of love), or go wild with Exotic Explorers’s ‘zoo by zoom’ sessions where you can watch and learn about your choice of their exotic birds and mammals.
At-home cinema night
A film night is a great way to round off Valentine’s Day, and you could even make it a family tradition in the years ahead. The kids could create cosy cinema with blankets and cushions, and some Hollywood-themed decorations from Party Pieces. Get creative by asking the children to make cinema entry tickets, then they can show you to your seats before the film starts. Picking a film you all agree on might be the tricky part, but choose a family classic like Lady and The Tramp, Shrek or Princess and The Frog and you won’t go far wrong. You can’t have film night without some snacks, of course. Get some popcorn in and some of our popcorn or party treat boxes for that proper cinema experience. For more ideas for planning an ultimate at-home cinema experience, go here.
Valentine’s decorations
As we all know, home is where the heart is, and when it comes to celebrating Valentine’s with your household, you can make that abundantly clear by brightening up your four walls with a selection of bold and sparkly decorations. Balloons are a must, so go for this super-fun heart-strewn balloon arch kit or these gorgeous rose gold, red and pink background streamers. Heart-shaped confetti for the dining table will be a sweet touch, as will this rose gold sequin table runner. A gold heart backdrop will add a glitzy flourish - and it will be perfect for a photo booth backdrop if you want to set that up too!
Bake heart-shaped biscuits
Baking is a great way for everyone to get stuck in to an activity together, and with delicious results! Go here for our easy recipe for heart-shaped Valentine’s biscuits. Once you have baked your biccies, why not share the love by packaging some up and delivering them to people in your street, particularly those shielding or living alone?
For our top tips on having a romantic Valentine’s night at home, go here
Explore our full range of balloons, decorations and personalised products at the Party Pieces website