Ughhh. I have 2 kids (one preschool, one elementary) and thought I was doing OK today: managed to pull together VDay cards with a small candy for all kids in both classes and even did a bunch of work for my oldest's classroom party today which I'll help chaperone. I felt good: I've been travelling like mad for work and have a zillion overdue deadlines so that seemed like a fantastic accomplishment. Put one kid on the bus and got the other in the car, where he proceeded to demand the Hershey's kisses we had taped to each Valentine for his classmates. Thinking quick, I pretended that I only had the striped strawberry version left, which he hates - gave him the bag to keep him from screaming in traffic and he proceeded to unwrap them all "to check" and then happily lob them at me and toss the wrappers all around the car... Personally I was very proud of myself yet again since at least I didn't managed to avoid bringing him to daycare smeared with chocolate and hey, it was probably good for his fine motor skills, right? Then I got there and found that (the parents of) each of my 3yo's classmates had made homemade cards, like a Martha Stewart craft contest gone mad - the winner, complete with stenciled names for each kid, paper cutout that could be hung in a museum, also individualized and hand signed by the brilliant 3yo. Meanwhile I was distributing the cheesiest plasticky cards (you know with the irridescent effect, so the race car appears to be moving?) complete with an evil dose of sugar (hershey kiss) attached. I felt like I had BAD MOTHER stamped on my forehead. And these other mothers must work, since their kids are in daycare... now I'm shuddering to think what the millionaire momzillas at my older child's school will have prepared. The only saving grace is that my kids don't care so long as there is a (chocolate) Hershey kiss somewhere in their future.

I got a balloon for each of my boys and made and decorated some heart-shaped cookies for them.

We're also having a heart-shaped pizza from Papa John's for dinner tonight.

Eh, I'm not a huge fan of this holiday. DD, who's 2, is bringing heart-shaped cookies (homemade) and napkins (purchased, obviously) to her class party and is wearing socks with hearts. The cookies are half pink, half yellow because she loves yellow -- so that's her idea of celebrating love.

http://nationalzoo.si.edu/Support/CritterCupids/

i named a cute little animal for my daughter... and she's wearing a special valentine's outfit today. she's 8 months, too young to do anything else.

uh. Does dressing DS in a red sweater count?

I did buy a cute card and a 3 dollar bag of chocolates for his DCP.....

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm 33 and just got a valentines day care package in the mail today (stuff for DH and DD too) from my mom. She's always sends me stuff on valentines day. Nothing fancy: a red shirt, themed pjs, vday candies, etc. I love it! Funny though, I rarely get anything for my birthday from my parents anymore. I guess vday is more fun to shop for...

What do you do with all the stuff after V-day is over? I'm not making fun, I'm genuinely curious. I find that kind of holiday-themed stuff just clutters my house and then I end up throwing it away.

This is how I feel. It seems so wasteful.

We live in a small townhouse, but I still find the room to have bins for holiday decorations. The valentines stuff comes out the week before, gets put away the day after. Same with Easter, halloween, etc. It's definately not wasteful - I think it's saving in the long run, we bought a big pack of heart stickers 3 years ago and used them again this year for class cards! I try to get stuff that will withstand the test of time -- fridge magnets over window clings for example

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm 33 and just got a valentines day care package in the mail today (stuff for DH and DD too) from my mom. She's always sends me stuff on valentines day. Nothing fancy: a red shirt, themed pjs, vday candies, etc. I love it! Funny though, I rarely get anything for my birthday from my parents anymore. I guess vday is more fun to shop for...

What do you do with all the stuff after V-day is over? I'm not making fun, I'm genuinely curious. I find that kind of holiday-themed stuff just clutters my house and then I end up throwing it away.

This is how I feel. It seems so wasteful.

Anonymous wrote:We are ordering heart shaped pizza from papa johns. How cutesy is that?

Us Too! I thought that covered my entire obligation for the day!?

We are ordering heart shaped pizza from papa johns. How cutesy is that?

Our "tradition" started when my husband and I were dating and wanted to spend Vday together, but my stepdaughter- then 6 was with him. Rather than get a babysitter, we had a pink/red meal together- my husband gets us candy or flowers and maybe the kids get a book or other small item. Mostly it's about celebrating and making it a special family night. (We still do this 6 years later with step daughter and dd)

We already made valentines to mail to classmates and grandparents (Cards are easy: cut cardstock, themed stickers, and some doilies and glue).

Tomorrow for breakfast, we are having pink (strawberry) pancakes and these:
http://www.annathered.com/2010/09/29/how-to-make-a-heart-shaped-egg/

we do stuff like that sometimes but not necessarily for v-day. we made a gingerbread house and sugar cookies before Christmas. The other day we made a bead necklace.

For valentine's day, I'm taking her out to dinner and I have some little treats for her - heart socks, candy, etc. I also bought her little pink plastic champagne flutes for her juice because she's fascinated by my wineglasses.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm 33 and just got a valentines day care package in the mail today (stuff for DH and DD too) from my mom. She's always sends me stuff on valentines day. Nothing fancy: a red shirt, themed pjs, vday candies, etc. I love it! Funny though, I rarely get anything for my birthday from my parents anymore. I guess vday is more fun to shop for...

What do you do with all the stuff after V-day is over? I'm not making fun, I'm genuinely curious. I find that kind of holiday-themed stuff just clutters my house and then I end up throwing it away.

Not the PP but my mom does stuff like this for me at Christmas. I pack up the Christmas socks with all the Christmas stuff. I've bought books for my toddler at each holiday, and then pack them away as well so that at Valentine's Day those 1 or 2 books come out.