I’ve always loved Valentine’s Day, but when I was a kid growing up the 90s, it felt limiting and sad. Like, why do only couples get to celebrate “the day of love?!” I always had so much anticipation leading up to the holiday only to be let down that it wasn’t necessarily designed for little 7-year-old me. Sure, we had class parties and passed out Valentine’s cards, but it still always felt like the main focus was on romantic couples rather than ALL the people we love.
Then, there came the anti-Valentine’s Day movement when I was in my early 20’s where people dedicated the day to NOT celebrating romance and instead glorified being single. This also felt sad to me. The intent felt like it was coming from a negative place, so I never felt comfortable going out for a night on the town with my single friends celebrating NOT being in love. Valentine’s is supposed to be about all the positivity of LOVE!
Next came the GALentine’s fad in the mid 2010’s, and I loved this trend then and now! Finally, we’re expanding Valentine’s Day to love beyond romantic couples, and we’re sharing love with friends that matter so much to us! Every year, I do a fun little event with girlfriends to celebrate how much we love each other. Gosh, where would I be without the love and support of my gal pals?!
Then, I had children, and it only seemed right that I share my love of Valentine’s Day with them, too! So, in our house, we’ve made a point to celebrate Valentine’s Day as a day full of love for our family and everybody we love! Our kids still get to watch mommy and daddy go on a date and celebrate Valentine’s Day the old-fashioned way (which I feel is important), but we also make time to say and show how much we love each other as a family. And, we share our love with our friends and teachers, too! In our house, there’s never too much love, and it’s important to tell those who we care about how much we love them!
As part of our family’s Valentine’s Day tradition, I love to get small gifts for the children. I know some of you may be rolling your eyes thinking that I’ve fallen victim to another “Hallmark holiday” and consumer capitalism, but don’t freak out… these gifts are nothing like Christmas! They’re just small gestures that say, “I’m thinking of and love you!”
Another part of our family tradition is taking the time to put together gifts for our children’s friends, family and teachers. It’s so fun to hear what they love about each of their friends and help them pick out gifts for their grandparents and teachers.
I hope you’ll consider joining us in our new way of celebrating Valentine’s Day with everyone! Below, I’ve put together some fun gift ideas for kids, their friends, family and teachers! This year, I’m doing all personalized gifts by purchasing items that can be engraved or monogrammed. There’s just something so much more special about a personalized gift! It feels so thoughtful. Plus, they become keepsakes!
Valentine’s Day Gifts for Kids
Small gift baskets are my go-to for Valentine’s Day. Remember, this is not Christmas, so you don’t need to overdo it! My best recommendation is to stick to a practical theme, so you have a goal in mind and don’t overspend on frivolous toys and candy. For example, if you have a spring break beach vacation coming up, gift your chlid a beach tote filled with beach goodies, like a swimsuit, towel, sand toys, etc. Think of your child’s personality and what they like to do. If you have a budding artist in your house, make them a gift basket filled with art supplies.
For this year’s Valentine’s Day gifts for our kids, I’m turning to Personalization Mall, because they have hundreds of unique gifts you can personalize and use to create theme gift baskets. Here are some of my favorite gift baskets (or in this case, bags and buckets) ideas!
Beach-Goers Gift Bag – Put all these items into the striped beach bag, and you’re all set for your upcoming spring break vacation or summer! For even more fun, add a swimsuit, goggles and beach snacks!
Classic Stripe Personalized Terry Cloth Beach Bag- Large
I Dig You Personalized Beach Pail & Shovel
Classic Stripe Personalized Beach Towel
Vibrant Name Personalized Water Bottle
Sous Chef’s Gift Bucket – If you have a little one who loves helping out in the kitchen, he/she will adore their own personalized chef’s apron, hat and utensils! Add this personalized pizza puzzle for a fun foodie touch! Put everything in an adorable custom treat bucket that can be used year after year!
Chef In Training Personalized Kid’s Apron
Chef In Training Personalized Kid’s Chef Hat
Hearts Personalized Kids Dinnerware
You Have a Pizza My Heart Personalized Round Puzzle
Aspiring Artists Gift Bucket – Your little artist will love coloring and painting crafts personalized with their name while wearing this craft smock!
Art Time Personalized Kid’s Craft Apron
Valentine’s Day Personalized Coloring Book
Paint It! Personalized Coloring Canvas Prints
Just For Him Personalized Pencil Box
A Little Treat Bucket Metal Bucket-Large
Construction Lovers Bucket – If your little love can’t get enough diggers and bulldozers, consider building him/her a bucket filled with construction toys and gifts.
I Dig You Personalized Bucket-Large
Construction Crew Personalized Kids Hat
Melissa & Doug Personalized Tool Kit
Valentine’s Day Gifts for Kids’ Family
There’s no more precious gift than a photo of your kids, and Shutterbugs Photoshoots in LA has Valentine’s themed set-ups for your little loves! Founded by local mom, Rachel Nomann, Shutterbugs puts a unique spin on classic studio photography by capturing a variety of headshots showcasing your children’s personality in a monochromatic style. Shutterbugs is offering three mini photo shoot dates for special Valentine’s Day themed photos – January 28, January 31 and February 1 – but you can book a session with Rachel year-round, too! The Valentine’s Day Mini Sessions are 10-15 minutes per child for $100, and you’ll receive 5-7 black and white high-resolution images per child. Regular photo sessions are $200 per child and include 15-30+ high-resolution images of your child. I did a regular Shutterbugs photo session last year with my two kiddos, and we have used these photos several times as gifts for grandparents and friends, in addition to printing them for art on our wall at home. For larger wall prints, Rachel recommends using Smallwood Home. For standard prints both large or small, she recommends Shutterfly, Minted, or Artifact Uprising. To book a Valentine’s Mini Session or Regular Session with Shutterbugs Photoshoots, visit the link in Rachel’s Instagram @shutterbugs_photoshoots, or email littleshutterbugs@gmail.com.
Class Valentine’s Day Cards
I get nostalgic every year helping my kids making Valentine’s cards for their classmates. What a fun tradition! This year, I wanted to do something a bit more special! Instead of buying whatever character-themed cards were left on the shelves at Target, we decided to create our own personalized class Valentine’s cards with Minted. I love that Minted has hundreds of cards to choose from, and you can personalize each card with your preferred colors, shapes and messaging. This was a perfect excuse to use our Shutterbugs Photoshoots images, too! If you don’t want to use a photo, there’s so many fun cards with cute Valentine’s Day puns or games, like word searches and mazes. I also love that there’s some cards that encourage giving small toys and snacks rather than candy. We ended up choosing few different cards to give to our friends at school and at other activities, like tee ball and music class. We’re looking forward to giving our friends the cards you see below!
You Color My World Valentine’s Cards
Crayola Crayons Party Favor Pack
Just Another Cheezy Valentine Cards
Just Another Cheezy Valentine Stickers
Cheez-It Cheese Crackers Variety Pack
Happy Heart Day Custom Stickers
Gifts for Kids’ Teachers
Teachers need ALL the love on Valentine’s Day! After all, they take great care into loving and teaching our children every day! Instead of gifting your child’s teacher the typical chocolates or flowers this Valentine’s Day, I recommend giving something personal and useful! The best place for personalized gifts in LA? The Monogrammed Home in San Marino! And, if you don’t live in LA, they ship! This adorable boutique has a large variety of thoughtful upscale gifts that can be engraved or monogrammed. I love the idea of giving teachers tote bags filled with desk supplies and other teacher essentials, like a cosmetics bag, key chain, etc. It’s also fun to make sure all the items are red and pink for Valentine’s Day! Below are some fabulous teacher gift ideas from The Monogrammed Home. Make sure you get all your orders in by February 2, so that you’ll get them monogrammed in time for Valentine’s Day! Shopping from here also means you’ll be supporting a small local mom-owned business! LOVE!
I’d love to hear about how you plan to spend Valentine’s Day in the comments below! For more product recommendations and lifestyle tips, be sure to follow me on Instagram and TikTok!
XO Maggie
Maggie Jackson 