9 Ways to Make Valentine's Day Special for Your Tweens and Teens - Sweet Shoppe Mom

Valentine’s Day is more than just a holiday to celebrate with your significant other and your kids may have outgrown the classroom valentines. Your teens may be focused on picking a Valentine’s Day gift for their girlfriend/boyfriend and planning their special date especially if this is their first Valentine.

It’s a day to show your family and friends that you love them and appreciate that they are a part of your life. It’s become quite a commercialized holiday but there are many ways to show your love for your family without spending a lot of money.

When my son was younger, I always made cute Valentine’s Day-themed school lunches. Now that he’s 15 those days are passed and he would be mortified if I sent him to school with a cute lunch. So now we keep the celebrations at home. Teens like to keep up with their childhood traditions (even if they don’t show it) and anything involving food is always a hit.

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9 Ways to Celebrate Valentine’s Day with Tweens and Teens

One: Small gift – You don’t need to spend a lot of money for Valentine’s Day. A favorite candy or a fun small gift is perfect. I shared a few ideas for Valentine’s Day gifts for teen boys – it doesn’t need to be anything big but I still enjoy surprising my son with small gifts for holidays throughout the year.

Two: Valentine’s Day countdown – Doing a ’14 reasons I love you countdown’ is one of my favorites – teen years are hard and I think this is a great way to remind kids that they’re special and loved.

Three: Heart Attack – Cut out paper hearts and cover their bedroom door for a Valentine’s Day Heart Attack. Easy and inexpensive.

Four – Decorate – This isn’t a holiday to go all out, be adding a few Valentine’s themed decor to your home makes it fun and festive.

Five – Breakfast – Make a special breakfast like heart-shaped pancakes or pick up Valentine’s Day donuts. My kid will never say “No” to donuts.

Use a pancake dispenser to make easy heart-shaped pancakes. For an extra touch, tint the batter pink with red food coloring. Add whipped cream and heart-shaped sprinkles on top along with red berries. Or use a heart-shaped waffle-maker if you have one. Waffles or pancakes…which tastes better? Depends on the day for me, lol.

Add an extra touch to donuts with pink and red donut glaze icing. Add sprinkles for even more fun. Same technique as the graduation donuts I made, just change up the colors in this tutorial. Or make your donuts at home with a donut maker.

Six – Heart-shaped pizza dinner – We love to make pizza together as a family. For Valentine’s Day, it’s fun and super easy to make a heart-shaped pizza. We buy pre-made pizza dough from Trader Joe’s and all of our favorite toppings and we’re all set for a fun evening. Have each person make their own personal-sized pizza and judge who did it best with a fun prize. Teens can be competitive especially when there’s a reward involved.

Seven: History and Meaning behind Valentine’s Day – Holidays have become so commercialized as it’s easy to just get wrapped up in buying gifts for holidays. But there’s much more to a holiday than what gift you are getting someone. Ask your kids to research the history and meaning behind Valentine’s Day. Find out how the holiday is celebrated in other countries. Have everyone share while the family is together at dinner – teens will love it if you give them a reason to use their phones during dinner.

Eight: Dessert. Again, a way to win over teens is with food. Chocolate fondue, a heart-shaped pazookie, or Valentine’s Day s’mores are a few fun options.

Nine: Help your teen host their date for a fancy Valentine’s Day dinner. Does your teenager have someone they’ve been dating for a while? Help them to host their date for a fancy dinner at home. Set the dining table with fancy linens, china, and candles. Help your kid cook dinner for two (and then disappear so you’re not in the way).

What are you doing for your tweens and teens this year? We’d love to hear. Leave a comment or post a photo to social and tag @sweetshoppemom. We might even share it.