The 14 Days of Love- How We Celebrate Valentine’s Day as a Family

This might get some eye rolls, but Valentine’s Day is my favorite day! While I don’t consider it a true holiday, I love love and always enjoy celebrating all of the meaningful relationships in my life, especially on February 14th.

In our house, we spread the love throughout the first fourteen days of February and call it the 14 Days of Love! Ryan and I used to do this when we were first married and now the kids join in. I’ll share how we celebrate in the hopes that you find an idea you like. Also, please enjoy some throwback photos of the kids!

Fourteen Days! Why?

To some, this seems a little silly or excessive. I know a lot of people that really do not like Valentine’s Day, but let me share what I like about it. I have always enjoyed the idea of a whole day dedicated to reminding the people in your life that matter most just how much you care about them. I’m talking friends, partners, parents, siblings, grandparents, children, etc. I do not limit myself to the mushy romantic idea of love that is sold at the store or shoved in your face in the checkout lane. While I do love beautiful flowers and eating chocolate, I do not need or expect that on Valentine’s Day. Gifts are not typically how I receive love, so while it is a nice gesture, a bouquet of roses in February just doesn’t scream love to me. If it does to you, more power to you! I hope you get the best bouquet and share a picture!

I much prefer little reminders over the course of two weeks of just how many people care for me. How we celebrate love has naturally morphed a little from our dating life, to married life, to now as a family of 5. Read on for some other ideas to celebrate all the love in your life.

Love Boxes

This is one of the current ways we celebrate love with the kids. Each person gets a heart shaped box called a Love Box. I have picked them up at Target one at a time, so none of them currently match! You could also grab a few gift bags or decorate a cardboard box if you don’t have a heart shaped one at home.

Every morning from February 1-14 the Love Box will have a small gift inside for each person waiting for them at the dining room table. I’ll give examples of gifts, but we typically keep these gifts small or practical. I try to avoid buying just for the sake of buying, and my aim here isn’t to shower my children with gifts right after Christmas. Instead, I am striving to create a tradition centered around thoughtfulness and cherishing the people in your life.

Here are some ideas from past Love Boxes for the kids:

toothbrush- these are our favorites for the kids
magic washcloths that expand in water
glow sticks/bracelets
stickers
bath toys- we love these pipes, these cogs, this octopus, and this swimming penguin
socks
underwear
matching pajamas for a favorite doll or any set of matching pajamas to mom/dad/siblings
crayons, markers, coloring book, or other craft supplies
pants (this will be included this year because Brinley is growing so fast!)
water bottle
sunglasses
favorite snacks
books
puzzles
Band-Aids/bandages- my kids are obsessed and love these, these, and these
bows/hair ties
coupon to do some Valentine baking together (I use baking very generously here- some years all I can muster is drizzling chocolate and sprinkles on pretzels, other years I can add store bought frosting to cookies, and on a rare occasion we can manage something homemade)

Love Box ideas for your partner:

favorite snacks
favorite or new condiment (for some reason my husband loves to try new sauces and this idea is always a hit)
tea or coffee mug
socks
underwear
lip balm
favorite lotion/shave cream/toiletry item
I’ve even included heart shaped pasta and a note that I’m taking care of dinner
IOU a favorite homemade cocktail, dinner, or dessert

Can you see the theme? Most of these gifts are consumable or things I would have purchased anyway, but so far the kids adore this tradition and can’t wait to see what is in their Love Box every day! Our rule is that every family member must be present before we open the boxes, but you can have different expectations in your house if you choose to try this tradition.

Valentine Mailbox

This idea has kind of fallen by the wayside the last few years, but was how we initially started the 14 Days of Love when we first got married. We had a tiny pink mailbox, similar to this one, on our mantle (you can catch a glimpse in the photo below) and would take turns writing love notes to each other every day leading up to Valentine’s Day. This idea is great for romantic partners, but you could also include the kids in this one and hang a DIY mailbox on the door. We didn’t include Brinley the first year she was born and it was nice to have something special to connect us as a couple.

As we added more people to our family and found new ways to connect as a couple, this tradition slowly faded out. It was so great to get a love note though and I highly recommend it as a low commitment way to participate in the 14 Days of Love.

Valentine Notes on Doors

I’m sure you have seen this idea before, but I’ll repeat it here. Cut out hearts from pink/purple/red/white paper and write something you love about each person on a new heart. Tape a new one to the door for everyone to find in the morning. I love this idea, but just cannot seem to make it happen every year. I’m much better about it when I don’t have a newborn, so that has meant every other year is a bust!

Tips to make this more successful for me:

cut out all of the hearts the last week of January
write on all of the hearts for every person before February 1 and store them somewhere for you to grab easily after bedime
keep the tape handy so you don’t have to trek downstairs at midnight (can you tell I’m speaking from experience?)
set a reminder on your phone if necessary

I’m passing on this very sweet idea this year to avoid burning myself out, but I love this idea all the same.

Special Messages to Friends

This isn’t so much for the family, but is still a fantastic idea if you ask me. Starting on February 1, the texting group I have with my college girlfriends is filled with messages of support, encouragement, and compliments. We have a large group of friends, so each day we focus on one person and lavish them with reminders of all the things we adore about them.

Maybe you have 1-3 close friends and take this idea and rotate through or focus on one person a week during February. The messages can be as straightforward or elaborate as you want, but the sentiment will be treasured by the recipient no matter what. I can only speak for myself, but I don’t think we gush about our friends enough and this is such an uplifting tradition.

Mail Out Valentines

I had a streak of several years of mailing out Valentines to all my friends and family members that ended the year I had our second child. While I do love love and all things stationary, I had to prioritize myself and get more selective on how I was spending my time. This tradition is taking a hiatus for a few years, but I hope to bring it back once I can string together a few moments of solitude.

Opening the mailbox to find a handwritten note is still so exciting for me! Am I alone in this? Maybe you don’t have time to send out a massive quantity of Valentines, but you can commit to sending one. That one person or family will feel so valued and you will feel all warm and fuzzy after spending time to focus on the relationships that mean the most.

Family Photo Albums

This idea is one of my absolute favorites! This is only my third year including this idea into our 14 Days of Love, but I think it is one of the best things I’ve done. Let me explain.

February 2021 we decided to make a photo book for each of our 2 children. I realized we hardly ever have hard copies of pictures and the kids loved looking at pictures of themselves, so this was my solution! We even asked family members to send us photos and messages to the girls. On the last page of the book, we shared that another family member would soon be here to love them- we were having another baby!

Fast foward to February 2022, and I made a new book for each of the kids. I include photos from January-December from the year prior, which works out nicely if you want to organize or label by year. Once the girls opened their books, Brinley very seriously asked, “where is the page that says we are having another baby?” Clearly I set the bar too high the year before and she was slightly disappointed by the lack of another ultrasound picture in her book.

I give these photo books inside the Love Boxes on February 14 and the kids can’t get enough of them. They are great keepsakes and get looked at weekly, if not daily. It is the perfect way to highlight all of the great moments from the year before and actually get to look at hard copies of the photos.

If you don’t have the capacity to make a photo book for each child, I do encourage you to make one for the whole family each year. Your kids will love seeing pictures of themselves and of the whole family year after year. I make a photo album on my phone for each child that I add to. Ideally, I would add to the appropriate album all year, but in reality, I scroll back to the previous January and start sorting through the keepers at the start of the New Year. I order the hardcover 8x8 photo books from Shutterfly, so they are small enough to fit on a shelf or in our book bin. The hardcover helps protect the pages and will hopefully increase the lifespan of these books.

Even if you don’t gift these in a Love Box, I really do encourage you to make a family photo album of some sort. My kids recently asked me what I would grab in case of a fire, and after thinking for a minute my answer was these books! They are that special to me and I know the kids will be so thankful for them as they get older.

Now can you see why I love Valentine’s Day so much? To me it is about so much more than chocolates and romantic snuggles, although I would sign up for that in an instant! We have love all around us and I feel it is important to share that love and model how to celebrate it with my children.

Are you planning to celebrate the 14 Days of Love? Comment below which idea was your favorite! Don’t forget to share this post with a friend who has little ones at home. Check back in the next few weeks to see some fun Valentine’s day ideas.