I love Valentine's Day. It's so romantic and I just love the colors or red and pink and all the lace. Growing up, my parents didn't celebrate holidays much, but I always loved them. I really didn't have any traditions for the holidays until I got married and started having my children. Over the years we have begun our own Valentine's traditions. I'm also going to share traditions that have been shared with me. As you are reading decide the traditions you like and incorporate them into your holiday celebrations.

I always go to Target and get the Valentine's window clings for my windows. Every year, I buy 2-3 more Valentine's decorations to put out too. This always gets us into the Valentine's Spirit.

As a family we bake Valentine's treats like heart-shaped cookies or cakes and give them to our friends. We usually start "The Bucket of Love" to pass around to our neighbors. Fill the bucket of love with treats and ring and run them!

On Valentine's evening we always go out on a date and I usually dress in red. My husband always gets me a rose. Sometimes our church will have a dance so we'll go to that after dinner.

-Shiloah Baker

Our tradition is to celebrate our anniversary!! It's actually on the 15th but we usually end up celebrating a different day. Other than that, not much. I did give the house a *'heart attack' once. That was a lot of fun!

Contributed by: Jane

*A "Heart Attack" is when you cut out paper hearts of different colors and put them all over someone's house. It's fun!

Along with the traditional exchange of valentines I try to do as much with our food, throughout the day, to remind the children what day it is. Pink milk, heart shaped pancakes, heart shaped sandwiches, heart shaped sugar cookies, maybe a love note in their school lunches and DH lunch. Decorations through out the house. Simple things like that.

Contributed by: Shari

My tradition is to get a small tree out of the woods and put it up and hang white paper hearts on it. On each heart is the name of someone we all love. It's great to see how many hearts we have on the tree.

This started when there was an ice storm that broke crowns off all the trees. It was a good use for a lovely spruce top.

Contributed by: Nancy

I am making special pillowcases for my grandchildren for Valentines day. I am hoping to add other special events to this idea.

Also I will make a valentine shape quote jar, the quotes will be on a small valentine--giving it to those that need an uplifting thought.

Contributed by: Joan

We have a valentine box, which we decorate every year with last years valentines. Then we put all our valentines to each other inside. We always tie the box up so there is no peeking. Then Valentines night Daddy opens the box and passes out all the cards and candy.

Also, every year my sisters and I get together for a Valentine luncheon. We exchange gifts with each other, like cookies, candy, candles, lotions or perfume or even Christmas ornaments if they are red or hearts. We also send valentines home with each sister for their families, so they can put them in their Valentine box.

Contributed by: Kirsten Jones

My husband and I don't really have a lot of money. I mean we can afford the necessities for the most part and a few "luxuries" here and there, but for the most part we don't have money to go out. But one thing we have made a commitment to do is to treat each other well *at least* four times a year -- our birthdays, our anniversary, and Valentine's Day. On these four occasions, we take care of each other, but that doesn't always mean buying presents. Birthdays are the usual time we actually buy presents for each other, but on our anniversary and Valentines Day it is a different story. It is our tradition on our anniversary and Valentines Day we either go out to dinner and a movie or we do it at home -- we have done this every year for the past 10 years. If the dinner is prepared at home, we don't eat it until the children are asleep in bed and we always make the atmosphere nice and romantic....candles, soft music....you know! One of the other ways we make our night nice, without spending any money, is with massages. My husband loves foot massages, so I give him one, complete with a pedicure (minus the polish). My favorite massage is on my back, so he returns the favor by giving me a great back massage.

I have to add that recently a friend expressed "sadness" over the fact that my husband and I don't usually buy each other Valentines Day (or other holiday) gifts...but I never have and still don't feel like we are missing out on something. My husband is my absolute best friend and I feel that we each have things we can give or do for each other that money can never buy.

Contributed by: Brandie who runs the Family First Website

One thing that we always do for our kids for Valentine's Day is that we tie a little draw string bag to their doorknobs (outside their bedrooms) starting the week before Valentine's Day. Each morning we place a "mystery" gift inside the bag with a note saying something sweet about that child. The kids wake up each morning excited to see what is in there. We just put little tiny gifts or treats, nothing big. The main emphasis is on the special notes telling our children how much we love them, and how we appreciate and admire their strengths. They are still young, but I think a child is never too young to hear how much you love them. We always lead up to a neat gift on Valentine's Day- one that they can all share, like a special book or game. We also make all of our foods pink on Valentine's Day (pancakes, mashed potatoes, etc...) and I make a special cake that I let them help me decorate.

Last year we made homemade Valentines and I asked the kids to tell me loving things about each person we were going to give one to. I wrote down their exact words (which were darling!), and the recipients really got a kick out of it. This year they can write down their own, with some help.

Contributed by: Marie Greene

One of my families traditions is making valentines or sugar cookies with pink icing. We then take them to a neighbors home ring the doorbell and run. This way they never find out who it was, it's really fun to watch from a distance as they open their door.

Contributed by: Kristal Beckstrand

Something fun we did when I was a child was have a "This is Your Life" party for my mom. Her maiden name is Valentine. We would pick stories she had told us from her life or things we had seen in her yearbooks and act them out and make her guess which story it was. We had a great time.

Contributed by: Dawn

On the night before Valentine's day while my children and husband are sleeping I hang rows of different lengths of curling ribbon from the tops of their door frames and at the end of each ribbon is a paper valentine that I had cut out.  On each heart is something written like I love you, you are QT, and things that are special just to that child.  Then when the wake up in the morning and open their bedroom doors they walk through the streamers hanging down and read the hearts.  My family really loves it.  

-Contributed by: Mrs. Esgaroth

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