Valentine’s Day 2023

I have always loved Valentine’s Day. Not necessarily for the traditional romantic reasons, but because each February I look forward to the bright and cheery reds and pinks to pull us out of the post-Christmas winter blues. It is a small reminder that Spring will be coming!

I like to give my kids a small gift on each holiday, so for this Valentine’s Day, I chose 11×14 stretched canvases and heart Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups, plus a set of acrylic paints to share. My kids know I’m a huge fan of the holiday shapes of Reese’s PB Cups, more peanut butter to chocolate ratio for the win!

On Friday, I wrapped their gifts while they were at school and will keep them hidden until Tuesday. And if you’ve been following me on Instagram, you know that this year I committed to decluttering and simplifying our home, as well as doing a #onebuyamonth shopping challenge. This is where I am only buying one item for myself each month, for financial reasons as well as learning to be creative with what I already own. It seems there is no use in decluttering, if I’m just going to continue to buy more and bring more things back into our home! So I chose gifts intentionally for my kids, making sure that their gift wouldn’t go against the new habits I’m trying to form.

This past Saturday, my kids assembled their class valentines.

I bought a value sized bag of assorted candy for all of the kids to split, as well as a pack of Mad Libs valentine cards. My younger three have small class sizes (12 or less), while my oldest in high school just wanted to get gifts for her closest friends.

I took zero part in this whole process, other than picking up and buying the supplies!

All dressed and ready for this Valentine’s Day!

Before my kids woke up, I decorated the breakfast table, laid out their gifts, and prepped breakfast…assorted bagels from a new local shop, DePaulo’s Bagel & Brunch. If you saw my Stories this morning, you’ll know that while I was picking up these bagels yesterday, someone backed up into my van and hit and run!

My younger three were excited to eat a rare treat for breakfast! My teenager (who would rather skip breakfast most days) had to eat her bagel in the car, because she was hurrying to take care of her horse responsibilities.

Here’s the little touches of Valentine’s around our house…

…my office/piano room.

I love the little typewriter that says “You’re my type.” Makes me smile.

Can we please take a moment to look at the bright pink bubble gum that somehow got stuck to the top of this bookshelf? We have 11-foot ceilings in this room, how in the world do these things happen?!

Keeping it simple in our main floor powder room.

Minimalistic, but bright and cheery in our kitchen!

We had friends come for dinner over the weekend and my sweet friend brought these flowers!

Our dining room buffet.

Our living room.

Mudroom entrance.

I love pulling out my heart jogger pajamas each year!

That’s a little peek into how we do Valentine’s Day! It may seem insignificant, but it brings me so much joy to celebrate the holidays throughout the year for my kids. I love the tradition of decorating our home and giving them small gifts to make it special and fun. What are your favorite ways of celebrating or decorating for Valentine’s Day? I’d love to hear in the comments below!

Now I’m off to go cheer for Noah’s last middle school basketball game! Hope you enjoy your Valentine’s Day! xoxo