Our Valentine’s Day with Tweens and Teens was originally written in 2018 and continues to be ones of our most popular posts. We have most recently updated in 01/2023. We hope you find some festive inspiration
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 17 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 tweens and teens – 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 Things I Love About You countdown is one of my favorites – the teen years are hard and I think this is a great way to remind kids that they’re special and loved.
Three: Give your teens a Heart Attack – Cut out paper hearts and cover their bedroom door for a Valentine’s Day Heart Attack. Easy and inexpensive.
Want to take it to the next level?
• Print out a bunch of photos of your teens and cut them into heart shapes
• Make it a theme. When my son was younger and was all about baseball, I used baseball-themed scrapbook paper for the hearts. I also printed out a few white hearts and added the baseball stitching. He loved it so much that he kept the hearts on his door for months. More recently his obsession has changed to Nike and designer clothes. I printed about a bunch of logos from his favorite brands and cut them into hearts – a year later, his door is still covered in these hearts. Love it!
Four – Decorate your home – This isn’t a holiday to go all out, be adding a few Valentine’s Day-themed decor to your home makes it fun and festive.
Five – Special 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 a few red berries. Or use a heart-shaped waffle maker. for easy heart waffles.
Donuts instead? Check your local donut shops for Valentine’s Day-themed donuts. If they only have plain, it’s easy to add an extra touch to donuts with pink and red donut glaze icing. Add sprinkles for even more fun. Use the same recipe from my graduation donut tutorial but change up the colors to pink and red. 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.
Want something instead of pizza? How about making heart-shaped sushi with your teens? It’s really easy with this sushi kit.
Or how about heart-shaped quesadillas? So many dishes can easily be turned into a special Valentine’s Day meal
Seven: Explore the History and Meaning behind Valentine’s Day – Holidays have become so commercialized as it’s easy just to 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 their quick research 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 Chocolate dipped strawberries are a few fun options.
Nine: Help your teen host their Valentine for a fancy Valentine’s Day dinner date at home. 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 to another room 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.
Don’t miss our other Valentine’s Day posts
- Give your kids a (paper) Heart Attack
- 14 Valentine’s Day Gifts for Teen Boys
- Valentine’s Home Decor Home Tour
- Valentine’s Day school bento lunches
- ’14 Things I love about you’ Valentine’s Day Countdown for kids
