Valentine’s Day Inspiration

This week rivals the Christmas season in our household in terms of busyness and celebrating.

Two birthday and Valentine’s Day.

Which is crazy awesome.

Because I am all for anything that celebrates love and some of my favorite people.

So as I am knee-deep in prep work, I thought I would share some of our favorite Valentine’s Day inspiration.

These “out of this world” Valentine’s Day cards was one of my favorite DIYs over the years – totally unique and super simple to make.

I actually just spied this shirt at the bottom of a donate pile the other day. Love Nick’s version, though there’s no way he’d wear that now, as a teenager. Another very simple craft idea, and perfect activity if you want to have a few friends over.

This recipe for Seven Layer Jell-O Squares was a fun one, and gobbled up by the kids. I have been on a Jell-O kick lately – came out of I DON’T KNOW WHERE.

These Chocolate S’mores Cookies look adorable with hearts piped onto the top.

These cards from a few years back were easy and a favorite as well.

Now, for a few gift ideas…

The “If You Give a Mouse a Cookie…” series was one of our favorites when Madeline was a little younger, and this Valentine’s edition still has a stop on our bookshelf > Happy Valentine’s Day, Mouse! (If You Give…)

Did you see the Valentine’s Day movie when it first came out? Loved it. Perfect for a night in. Order take out, pop this in, and relax. Serendipity is another good one, as is The Holiday and 50 First Dates (perfect romantic comedy).

We love stickers and use them regularly, so when I saw this roll of heart stickers, I grabbed them for Madeline.

I am not generally a fan of melamine bowls, but this adorable set from Amazon is pretty hard to resist.

My sister got me a rainbow assortment of these bowls from Anthropologie, and they’re awesome and used daily. A selection of red, white, and pinks would be a beautiful (and practical!) gift.

If I didn’t already have a waffle maker, I would be ALL OVER THIS heart-shaped one from Crate & Barrel. Because, I mean, COME ON, everything is better when it’s shaped like a heart. And it’s on sale!

And lastly, an oldie but a goodie … send a gift basket. The folks at Gourmet Gift Baskets recently sent us their chocolate fondue basket to check out, and we ended up indulging during our mini Super Bowl party this past weekend. It comes with assorted fruit, Bittersweet Chocolate from the Stonewall Kitchen line, and an adorable ceramic fondue pot. It took just minutes from opening the box until we were dipping our chocolate into the fondue. We added marshmallows to our dipping choices, and it was nice that kids can use this fondue station safely without me having to worry about them getting burned (it’s operated by a simple tea light). The gift basket arrived super fast (the next day!), and I totally plan on reusing the basket everything came in.