Once you have kids, it’s not always possible to celebrate Valentine’s Day as a couple. Many parents turn to quick and easy family-friendly Valentine’s Day activities to include their little ones. While many general activities can be turned into Valentine’s theme fun, sometimes we all need a little inspiration to make them into affordable and not too time-consuming (preparation wise) family evening.
Here are a few ideas that have been enjoyed by many over the years. Some more traditional, others with a modern or unique twist. But all of them are fast and easy to execute and are bound to provide lots of fun for everyone in the family.
Movie Night at Home
Yes, this one is a classic. But how often to you get into your comfy pj’s, litter your living room floor with blankets and pillow, snuggle together, eat Valentine’s themed snacks and watch a feel-good movie with your family?
To make this one more special, consider making Valentine’s themed popcorn such as chocolate-covered popcorn or pink popcorn to enjoy.
Depending on your children’s age, some family-friendly Valentine’s Day movies you may want to consider include Up, Enchanted, or Princess Bride.
Cookie Baking or Cupcake Decorating
Valentine’s cookies are always a hit, and some don’t take all that much time to make. This mom of six has you covered with a fast and easy Valentine’s Day Cookies that your kids will enjoy making and savoring.
Cupcakes are fun too! And these lazy cupcakes topped up with your favorite icing will make the entire family drool. To make them even more special use Valentine’s themed wrappers and toppers and let your kids decorate them with some pink and red candy.
If baking is not your thing, you can always buy freshly baked cupcakes and let your kids decorate them.
Spend the Day Twinning
Prep the night before and get all the family members to dress in similar outfits. A red top and jeans will do, but if you’d like to be more creative you may consider ‘mommy and me’ shirts to enjoy for the day or cosy-up for your movie night in a Valentine’s themed pj’s
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At Home Valentine’s Day Family Photo Shoot
Hiring a photographer can be expensive but with a budget and family-friendly Valentine’s photo shoot can be easily done at home. All you need is your camera on a stand, a nice Valentine’s backdrop (or just a wall space) and some Valentine’s props, balloons or confetti.
The possibilities for this photos shoot are endless. Here are a few ideas for poses that will help your photo shoot go nice and smooth.
Valentine’s Themed Board Game Night
For the board game aficionados there are several unique games that you can play as a family. Many old fashioned board games have Valentine’s edition. But if you’re looking for something unique, you may want to consider family-friendly Valentine’s games such as Love Letter, Roll the Dice Game or Cupid Escape.
Valentine’s Scavenger Hunt for Kids
Create a list of tasks or riddles related to love and Valentine’s Day, and hide them around the house. For example, you can hide a heart-shaped candy with a clue that leads to the next task or location.
As a busy mom, I know, that sometimes we simply don’t have much time to created interesting riddles and tasks. Do not worry! There are many wonderful bloggers, like this one, who are happy to share their beautifully created family-friendly Valentine’s Day scavenger hunt cards.
Another, even more engaging idea is to add physical challenges to the hunt, such as balloon pop or a bean bag toss to make it more interactive.
If you want to add an extra layer of fun, you can have the kids work in teams or make it a competition to see who can complete the scavenger hunt first. And at the end, make sure to include prizes for the winners, like small treats or toys.
Puzzle-Palooza Valentine’s Style
To make this puzzle-palooza exciting, you can challenge kids to complete a small puzzle, like this one in a certain amount of time, or work together to solve it as a team on a bigger puzzle, like this Cupcakes of Love 1000 pieces puzzle. You could also make it a competition of kids against adults with the children completing a 300 piece Family puzzle and adults working on a 500 pieces My Valentine puzzle.
If you have a few days before Valentine’s, you may consider ordering a custom puzzle with a picture unique to your family. What’s great about this is that not only will this puzzle be more meaningful, but you can choose from 35, 300, 500 or 1000 pieces depending on your family’s preference.
Once completed, the puzzle can be displayed as a unique piece of Valentine’s Day art. You can also take a photo of the finished puzzle and give it as a special gift to someone special in your child’s life.
Feel-Good Family Story Book
The Book Creator App is a great tool to use to create a silly, family friendly Valentine’s book that your family will cherish for years.
You can write a story together, where the children find relevant pictures and the adults write the story, or perhaps each member of the family can write and illustrate their own chapter.
What’s great about it is that you can then read it together, print it into an actual book or save it as an ebook or in pdf format and cherish as a keepsake.
Valentine’s Day Book-a-Mania
Gathering a handful of short Valentine’s themed books does not have to be time consuming or expensive. If you already visit your local library on a regular basis, then picking a few books off the shelves won’t be an issue.
On the other hand, if going to your local library is not all that convenient, you could reserve a whole bunch of age appropriate books online for this family-friendly Valentine’s Day activity and just pick them all up at the same time.
Another way to enjoy some Valentine’s Day themed books is to get the eBooks through OverDrive / Libby or another app that connects to your library and download them onto your device. You can then read the books together on the device or, if it is compatible with your TV, you could mirror it on your TV and read it on the big screen.
Living Room Picnic
A living room picnic is a fun and unique way to celebrate Valentine’s Day with kids, especially if you live in a cold climate.
Set up a cozy picnic area by laying down a blanket, pillows and cushions. Add some ambiance with fairy lights or electric candles. Turning on a fireplace, if you have one, may also be a great idea. You can decorate the space with pink and red balloon and sprinkle heart shaped confetti on the blanket. Adding some soft instrumental music that’s familiar to your kids will add to this festive atmosphere.
Make it real by using your actual picnic basket with plastic plates and cutlery. Small, healthy snacks like fruit skewers, heart-shaped sandwiches or fruit, and Valentine’s cookies are perfect for this family-friendly Valentine’s picnic. Consider serving finger foods that are easy for kids to eat without making a mess. Mini pizzas, fruit kabobs, and chicken nuggets are bound to be a hit with your kids.
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‘Would You Rather’ – Family-Friendly Valentine’s Edition
There are many date-oriented Valentine’s themed questions or ‘Would You Rather’ Games like this one, but as a family, you may want to take a look at this cute “Would You Rather” family-friendly Valentine’s edition with 90 questions.
Some questions are geared more towards adults and others are great for the kids, but all of them will help enjoy the evening together.
Valentine’s BINGO
This is one of the most family-friendly Valentine’s games. The best part about Valentine’s BINGO is that there are so many versions of it. You can buy pre-made one on Amazon or print one from many kids friendly blogs like this one. All you need is a color printer and some Hershey’s Kisses or Smarties to use as your markers to get this game of BINGO going.
BONUS
Every adult has played “21 Questions” game at some point. And like most games, it too can be modified to fit a family-friendly Valentine’s evening. Here are some questions that your family can use this Valentine’s Day. And as a bonus, feel free to print the colourful “21 Questions Family-Friendly Valentine’s Edition” graphic to enjoy with your family.
- What is your favorite Valentine’s Day candy?
- What is your favorite way to show love to your family?
- What is the most thoughtful gift you have ever received from your family on Valentine’s Day?
- What is your favorite Valentine’s Day song?
- What is your favorite Valentine’s Day movie or TV show?
- What is the most memorable Valentine’s Day you have ever had with your family?
- If you could give a Valentine’s Day gift to any character from a book or movie, who would it be and why?
- What is your favorite Valentine’s Day tradition?
- What is your favorite Valentine’s Day craft or activity to do with your family?
- If you could have a Valentine’s Day dinner with any fictional family, who would it be and why?
- What is the most creative Valentine’s Day card you have ever made or received?
- What is the most unique way your family has ever told each other “I love you”?
- What is your favorite Valentine’s Day story?
- What is the most memorable Valentine’s Day gift you have ever given or received from a family member?
- What is your favorite love story in history or literature that is appropriate for kids?
- Who is your favorite cartoon or animated character that represents love?
- What is your favorite Valentine’s Day color and why?
- What is your favorite Valentine’s Day flower?
- What is your favorite Valentine’s Day food?
- What is your favorite Valentine’s Day activity you do with your family?
- What is your favorite Valentine’s Day picture book or comic?
