Is Valentines Day for family and friends?

Every year I celebrate Valentine’s Day with friends, family, AND my husband. Valentine’s Day is a celebration of love, but it isn’t for romantic lovers only. Valentine’s Day is also a day to remember ALL the love you have in your life, which includes your wonderful family and friends. For this reason, Valentine’s Day is my favorite holiday. I just love that here is a day devoted solely to the expression of love. (Not to mention I’m a sucker for all the cute store displays.)

I make a big deal out of Valentine’s Day every year and celebrate with almost everyone in my life that means something to me. Here are a few of my favorite ideas that I’ve done over the years. I hope it will inspire you to start your own fun traditions to celebrate Valentine’s Day with friends, family, your significant other, and all the loved ones in your life! 

1. Pack a Valentine’s lunch

When my sister and I lived together, we used to pack each other a Valentine’s lunch to take to work or school. We’d compete with each other to see who can pack the cutest and yummiest meal along with a sweet and mushy note. This would be a really fun way to celebrate Valentine’s day with friends, especially if your friend was your roommate, your coworker, or lived nearby.

Some ideas of things to pack:

• heart-shaped sandwich (just a sandwich cutter or a cookie cutter)
• peanut butter apple sandwiches with a little heart cut into the apple slices
• strawberries cut into little hearts
• X and O shaped pretzels
• red pepper strips cut into X’s and O’s
• heart shaped gummy candy
• your friend’s favorite sweet treat

2. Host a Valentine’s Day with Friends Party

Every single year I host a party to celebrate Valentine’s Day with my friends and family. My favorite type of Valentine’s party to host is a Valentine’s Day tea party. All the food is Valentine’s inspired and each person gets a little party favor.

If your family and friends aren’t into tea, you can host a wine tasting party or a classy dinner party. To get the cheesy factor, have each person go around the dining table and say something that they love about each person in attendance. Also include as many heart shaped and red and pink things as possible to make it Valentine’s themed.

3. Marathon chick flick and junk food night

This is the typical single way to spend Valentine’s Day with friends, but it’s popular for a reason! Even if you aren’t single, pick a night during “Valentine’s Week” and gather up all your favorite cheesy romantic movies, tons of snacks, and of course tissues. What better excuse to re-watch The Notebook for the millionth time?

Valentine’s Day with Friends Movie Ideas:

• Valentine’s Day
• The Notebook
•  Casablanca
• To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before
• Runaway Bride
• Pretty Woman
• You’ve Got Mail
• Say Anything
• Dirty Dancing
• Sleepless in Seattle
• My Best Friend’s Wedding
• Sweet Home Alabama

Valentine’s Day with Friends Movie Ideas That Aren’t Cheesy:

• Blue Valentine
• Amelie
• Call Me By Your Name
• Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
• 50 First Dates
• Bridesmaids

4. Valentine’s Day with Friends Activity date

My favorite kinds of date night are activity dates, where you learn something new or are participating in some sort of activity. You don’t need to be coupled up to go on a Valentine’s Day activity date. Here are some ideas you can do with a group of friends or with just one friend.

• Escape room or scavenger hunt {ideal for groups}
• Macaron baking class
• Gnocchi making class or any type of pasta making class!
• Flower bar
• Succulent making
• Wine tasting class

5. Valentine’s tasting party

Valentine’s Day is a sweet tooth’s dream holiday! Take advantage of all the yummy goodness that is around by hosting a tasting party. Make a small amount of lots of different desserts and invite your family and friends to sample all the yummies you create. This is a great way to celebrate Valentine’s Day with friends who have a sweet tooth!

Ideas of desserts to include on your tasting menu:

• Chocolate covered strawberries
• All the Valentine’s candy you see in stores
• Mini strawberry shortcakes
• Raspberry chocolate mousse
• Cake pops
• Heart shaped cookies with red and pink sprinkles

Any dessert can be Valentine’s Day themed when you bake it into heart shaped ramekins or use heart shaped cookie cutters.

6. Valentine’s game night

Do a spin on a typical game night by playing Valentine’s Day themed games! I absolutely love celebrating Valentine’s Day with friends with a game night!

One of my favorite Valentine’s Day games to play is Valentine’s Family Fued. You can find the questions to make your own version here. If Family Fued isn’t your thing, you can turn almost any game into a Valentine’s Day game! Here are a few ideas:

• Valentine love song trivia
• Valentine’s scavenger hunt
• Valentine’s charades
• Valentine’s jeopardy
• Valentine’s murder mystery (this would be really cool in a large group or with a group of couple friends! I found one a ready made one you can purchase here)

7. White Cupid dinner with friends

This was one of my favorite Valentine’s Day friends dinner. We did a spin on the classic “White Elephant” game and played White Cupid. Play it the same way you would play White Elephant, except with really cheesy Valentine’s inspired presents. Give an award to the person who brings the craziest present. You could also do “Secret Cupid” as a spin-off of “Secret Santa”.

8. Old school kid’s Valentines

Remember how much fun it was in elementary school when you got a ton of Valentines from each of your classmates every year? I do! I work with kids so I’m constantly reminded of how much fun this was.  Every year I buy a couple packs of cheesy kid’s Valentines featuring my favorite characters and give one to almost every single person I know. It’s really fun to give them out throughout the day; it really puts a huge smile on people’s faces! Plus writing them out the night before is really fun. This will be a great Valentine’s Day with friends idea to put a smile on all your friends’ faces!

9. Go on a weekend getaway

Why should couples have all the fun with Valentine’s weekend getaway trips? The best Valentine’s I’ve ever had wasn’t a romantic one, it was a girl’s road trip filled with wine tasting, dancing, fun brunches, and of course lots of chocolate. We had a really cheesy trip celebrating LOVE, but you can have any kind of trip you want. Just get your friends together and spend the weekend doing all of your favorite things. Who needs cupid when you have great friends?

10. Give back

Valentine’s is all about love and warm feelings. What better way to celebrate Valentine’s Day with friends than by spreading warm feelings? This is a great day to get out there and volunteer. Pick your favorite cause and think of something to do, like visit kids at a children’s hospital. If you don’t have much time, just try to put a smile on the faces of the people you encounter all day. Many people spend the day feeling depressed over the state of their love life, so a simple compliment or smile will go a long way.

What’s your favorite way to spend Valentine’s Day with friends and family?

Other Valentine’s Day Posts You Might Like:

How to Host a Valentine’s Day Tea Party

6 DIY Valentine’s Gift Ideas for Any Loved One

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