Valentine’s Day is almost here! I’m always trying to come up with creative (& inexpensive) ways to celebrate and show John that I think he’s a great husband and father. I thought I’d share a couple of the ideas to help inspire you this Valentine’s Day.
A few years ago I decided to surprise John with hearts all over the house. I cut a heart out of construction paper for each of the 154 months we had been together. It took a LONG time, especially since I couldn’t do it when he was around.
On each heart I wrote a month and a year, and on some of them I wrote major events – our wedding, our son’s birth – and then I taped curling ribbon to each heart, and attached each one to a strand of curling ribbon long enough to stretch across a room. They crisscrossed through all the rooms on the first floor of the house. It was a great surprise and a bit overwhelming to each of us to realize how many wonderful months we’d spent together.
Last year I decided to do a similar project with the kids. I cut out construction paper hearts. Dexter was only a year old, but loved to scribble, so I just turned him loose on the hearts with some crayons. Cooper and I talked a lot about Valentine’s Day and how it’s about thinking about the people you love and showing them you love them. We talked about all the things he loves to do with his dad and then I asked him draw a picture of something he did with his dad on each of the hearts.
He drew pictures of his dad coming home, “shaving” with dad, having dad tuck him in, and lots more. As he drew them he told me what he was drawing so I could write a description on the heart. We took the hearts and taped them up throughout the house where they belonged – “going on adventures” went on the back door, “taking a bath” went in the bathroom, and “playing monsters and listening to music” went in the living room. We taped Dexter’s up throughout the house too.
John was greeted by hearts at the door when he got home and then searched through the house for the rest. He found most of them right away, but throughout the evening he would sometimes discover a new one as we went through his normal evening routine.
We kept the hearts up long past Valentine’s Day as a reminder of all the great things John and the boys did together every day and when it did finally come time to take them down we bought a small photo album to keep them in.
Have you done any special Valentine’s Day surprises in the past, or have a great one planned for this year? How do you get your kids involved in Valentine’s Day?
I remember my mom always did special things when I was little for valentines day.
It is nice to get the kids involved so they can see the love you have for your husband.