The Best Valentine’s Gifts For Your Kids
Every Mother’s Day I’d watch my mother open her cards and gifts from my siblings and me with small jolts of envy when she’d get candy. I’d ask, “When is it Kid’s Day?”
She’d reply, “Every day is Kid’s Day.” Then she’d take a big bite of chocolate. As a kid, I obviously hated that answer. Except now that I’m a mother, it’s true. Every day is Kid’s Day.
Still every once in a while my parents would get us a little trinket or small box of candy for Valentine’s Day and I loved it. It made me feel incredibly grown up and also a little special. I’ve decided although every day is Kid’s Day and Valentine’s Day is really a Greeting Card Store Holiday, to do something small each year to mark the day with my kids.
Valentine’s Day Ground Rules
No toys; my son’s birthday is a month after and Christmas is always a little extravagant for my taste despite my best intentions.
No clutter-creating plastic pieces of garbage; I just don’t have the patience for it cluttering up the house and it’s a waste of money to buy any of it (since the thrill wears out for my kids about 10 minutes after arrival).
Nothing complicated: It has to be something easy or I will never do it and I certainly won’t make a tradition out of it.
The keywords here are: small, meaningful, useful, edible and simple. They don’t have to be all those things but this way of marking Valentine’s Day with my kids has to be one of them.
Here are a few ideas I’ve come across so far.
Cupcakes are always a fun treat and these Valentine’s Day cupcakes mark the occasion with simple x’s and o’s. I’ll be skipping the recipe, using a box and container of frosting, skipping right to the inspiring decorations.
Another idea is an individual cake, like this one made to look like a conversation heart. No special pan required just a sheet cake and heart shaped cookie cutter. You could of course make a delicious homemade cake with lovely frosting, but remember your audience. You could frost a tin can and my kids would eat it with joy.
Small kids would love to get a small package with homemade heart shaped crayons inside. These are so fun to make and can be customized with shaped muffin pans for many holidays. This is so easy and a great way to use up all those broken crayons….giving you an excuse to buy a whole new box of fresh crayons. There’s nothing like that thrill for kids.
These Fun Paper Fortune Cookies would be fun to slip into your kid’s lunchbox. These aren’t actually cookies, but what makes them sweet are the hand written messages you will write and place inside them.
My husband likes to buy our daughter a few small roses for Valentine’s Day. He leaves them in a little vase on her dresser before he leaves for work in the morning so she wakes up to them. It’s such a sweet tradition between the two of them it makes my heart ache just a little.
