By Jill Morgenstern

Although it may be true that Valentine’s Day is often thought of as a holiday for adult couples, what could be sweeter than Valentine’s Day with your kids? This year school parties may be back in the classrooms, but you can make the day extra special at home, too. Here are 14 ideas to put you in the mood to celebrate.

1. Make a Valentine’s Day charcuterie board. While a simple cheese plate used to suffice, the popularity of the charcuterie board is still going strong. Technically a charcuterie board means a board of prepared meats, but these days anything goes! Why not make a board with cheese or salami cut into heart shapes?

2. Email or snail mail Valentines. Sites such as Blue Mountain Cards (bluemountain.com), American Greetings (americangreetings.com), or Punchbowl (punchbowl.com) allow you to email fun cards for free. Or for a small charge the Touchnote app lets you send a postcard with your own picture. They do the printing and mailing for you.

You can also go the old-fashioned route and make your own valentines (see page 22 for DIY glitter), or shop for special cards, and mail them. Children love picking out their own stamps at the post office. Depending on your children’s ages, you can address the envelopes for them, or use this as an opportunity to teach the finer points of letter writing.

3. Decorate with hearts. So many items can be found in heart shapes these days. Heart-shaped balloons or simple pink and red balloons will make your child’s day.

4. Create a Valentine’s Day scavenger hunt. Put clues around the house and let your kids search high and low for a box of candy hearts or similar treat.

5. Have a Valentine’s Day photo shoot. Dress the kids in red and, for props, cut out hearts from red and pink construction paper. Then grab your phone and snap away. 

6. Surprise your kids with love notes. Leave Post-it notes of love or encouragement on the fridge, the bathroom mirror, or other places around the house where the kids will see them. For extra V-Day fun, use pink Post-it notes, and/or put the notes together into the shape of a heart.

7. Put up a Valentine’s Day tree. Haven’t taken down that Christmas tree yet? Don’t despair! Just switch the decor from ornaments to hearts.

8. Break a heart-shaped piñata. (If only actual heartbreak was this fun.) Kids love smashing piñatas. If you can’t find a heart-shaped one in a local store, they are available online.

9. Play Tic-Tac-Toe. Nothing says Valentine’s Day quite like the “x”s and “o”s in this game that kids already love. Winner gets the number of kisses and hugs on the board.

10. Bake sweets for your sweeties. Pink-frosted cupcakes or heart-shaped sugar cookies are sure to be a big hit. When frosting cookies, use icing to add messages like “Forget me not” and “Number one daughter” to your confections. 

11. Make heart-shaped pizza. Whether you make the dough yourself or buy prepared dough, kids will love creating their own personal heart-shaped pizzas. Sound like too much work? Make heart-shaped sandwiches instead. Just use a heart cookie cutter to shape the bread.

12. Whip up pink smoothies or milkshakes. Recipes for strawberry smoothies or milkshakes are plentiful online.

13. Read aloud a Valentine’s Day–themed picture book. There are many, many great picture books that complement Valentine’s Day. Try Mama, Do You Love Me? by Barbara M. Joosse (Chronicle Books, 1998) or Henry in Love by Peter McCarty (Balzer & Bray, 2009).

14. Make chocolate-covered strawberries. These are actually very easy to churn out. Just melt chocolate chips in the microwave, dip the strawberries in the melted chocolate, and then place on wax paper. Voilà! You have a beautiful and delectable treat.  

Freelance writer Jill Morgenstern has 13 years teaching experience and a master’s degree in teaching reading.