Valentine’s Day is possibly my favorite holiday. Not in the romantic way, but only in the childhood precious memories way: decorating shoe boxes, making and exchanging valentines or more (relatively) recently our family’s annual tea party with homemade sugar and chocolate cookies. For whatever reason, I have always loved Valentine’s Day. The holiday gives reason to celebrate love between friends and family.

Wanting to make Valentine’s Day special for our boys and Gary, it was necessary to plan. Time, money and energy resources were sometimes limited. To instill a fond Valentine’s memory in our children, management of all resources was imperative.

In scarcity be resourceful, not discouraged. Use some of these ideas to get through this holiday:

• For Valentine’s mailboxes (at home or in school), transform laundry detergent boxes, tin cans, paint cans, tissue boxes
• For cards, make scrap paper designs, draw or write with white crayon and use water color to paint over, purchase dollar store cards
• For family fun, have a movie night and dinner. Our favorite – Lady and the Tramp and spaghetti dinner. OR use an old lipstick to put hearts on the mirror, windows; using heart-shaped cookie cutters, cut frozen waffles into hearts and serve with vanilla yogurt and strawberries OR put heart-shaped sandwiches in lunchboxes with a ‘love note’; frost some cookies and have a tea party
• Bible scriptures about love are numerous. Type them out on strips of paper. Include them in lunchboxes, put under pillows or hide in backpacks

Enjoy the day – but keep it simple. Concentrate on the beauty of loving others, especially your family.