Before kids, Valentine’s Day was a bit more romantic. Plans made well in advance, thoughtful gifts, gourmet dinner. Now? Well, we do still try to do a little something for Valentine’s Day, but with three kids, busy babysitters and work in the morning, we are all about a family night–but we try to make it a bit out of the ordinary for Valentine’s Day. Here are a few tips to make Valentine’s Day dinner fun and budget-friendly for your family.
1. Head Out. We generally eat our dinners at home. Dinners our are expensive and not always convenient with everyone’s various schedules. Here is an idea for going out, ordering in or cooking yourself! For the past few years our family has gone to QDoba for dinner on Valentine’s Day for their QDoba for a Kiss special. It’s Buy One Entree, Get One Free if you kiss someone in line (My kids are generally happy to give me a smooch:) Do plan on a line–it’s hard to resist such a great deal!
2. Order In. Take the night off cooking, but still have a special Valentine’s meal. Papa Murphy’s makes a super cute heart-shaped pizza that you can take and bake at your own convenience. Add a salad and some chocolate chip cookie dough and you’re all set for a fun meal!
3. Change it up. If it works best for you to cook at home, think about some fun ways to change up dinner for Valentine’s Day! Think Belgian waffles with strawberries on top (add some beet juice to the waffle mix for pink waffles). Use heart shaped cookie cutters to make fun shaped fruit slices or to cut a heart shape out of a pot pie crust. Our local butcher sells some amazing heart-shaped steaks that would be perfect to grill up for a Valentine’s Day feast! It can still be special {and simple} when you’re cooking at home!
My kids look forward to Valentine’s Day for weeks and I really don’t do that much. Keep it simple and it’s not too late to plan something special for tonight!
