We may not celebrate or decorate for every single seasonal holiday around here, but there’s one night a year that we always look forward to – Valentine’s Day! Our tradition started out of necessity. We were young and broke, and we had a gifted bottle of wine leftover from our wedding. So what do two twenty-somethings do when they’ve got a nice bottle of wine and only change to spare? They have a candlelit dinner over Big Macs and shared french fries!
We’ve been dining on McDonald’s every year on February 14th for over a decade, and it’s hard to imagine doing anything else now. As the years went on, our goal was to splurge on a bottle of wine that cost more than our value meals. We pair our food with cloth napkins and light every candle in the house. We take turns choosing records, and we leisurely dine under dim lighting and goofy conversation. And now that Lucy is old enough to stay up past 7pm, she’ll be joining in, choosing records and snacking on fries, right alongside us.
This is another round of Collective Q+A, a blog series focused on sharing voices other than our own to promote new ideas and encourage outside-of-the-box thinking. Today we’re asking: What is your favorite Valentine’s Day tradition?
Valentine’s Day typically commercializes romantic love, but it’s also a nice reminder to be intentional about showing love to the ones who mean the most to us. — Yuni Min
Yuni Min, Love Your Abode | To be honest, Jimmy and I have never really been into celebrating Valentine’s Day. His parents owned a flower shop for over a decade which spanned most of our dating period and the first few years into our marriage. For Valentine’s week, we took time off our jobs and worked at their flower shop making arrangements, taking phone calls, cleaning stems, delivering flowers, and everything in between. Fast forward to when my in-laws retired from their floral shop and we were actually free! It was strange at first because we were never used to celebrating that holiday as we were busy making sure it was special for everyone else. I will say that having that as part of our history has made it a low-pressure holiday and one we just love celebrating with our kids. Jimmy is usually in charge of dinner which may entail a delicious steak and maybe some scallops. I make a simple dessert with the kids and we set the table so we can enjoy a nice fancy dinner at home. There’s something special about setting a beautiful tablescape that elevates our whole dining experience! Valentine’s Day typically commercializes romantic love, but it’s also a nice reminder to be intentional about showing love to the ones who mean the most to us.
Follow along with Yuni on her blog, Love Your Abode, and on Instagram @loveyourabode.
Since my husband and I are such homebodies, we don’t ever trek outside to sludge through the crowds of couples fighting for reservations and poring over specially curated menus. — Yami
Yami, The Grounded Home | We like to take a laid back approach to Valentine’s Day. Since my husband and I are such homebodies, we don’t ever trek outside to sludge through the crowds of couples fighting for reservations and poring over specially curated menus. Instead, we spend a bit more on all the ingredients required to create an extra special dinner right at home. Last year it was salmon topped with crab imperial and the year prior lobster and shrimp(we lean towards seafood as you can see). We do exchange small gifts (some years just a card!) and get small treats for the kids as well. My middle child requested a Valentine’s Day themed hot cocoa bar so that will be a new addition this year. Overall, it’s a low-key, no fuss day for us.
Follow along with Yami on her blog, The Grounded Home, and on Instagram @thegroundedhome.
I’m a huge dork, so we always go really hard for holidays and valentines day is no different. — Molly Madfis
Molly Madfis, Almost Makes Perfect | my favorite v-day tradition is just being cozy at home with my boys! i’m a huge dork, so we always go really hard for holidays and valentines day is no different. i have us all wear pink and go a little overboard all day, like heart shaped breakfast (last year i went heart shaped EVERYTHING hahah), a romantic dinner, and some sort of pink dessert. we love making heart shaped pizza and strawberry jam cake! my husband and i used to go out on valentines day at 5pm to avoid the crowds, but decided to just stay in forever because its way cozier (and cheaper lol). also i’ll be really sad when a fun valentines balloon from the grocery store doesn’t excite my son!
Follow along with Molly on her blog, Almost Makes Perfect, and on Instagram @almostmakesperfect.
Something my husband always does is he gets me some grocery store flowers and chocolate. — Ryia Jose
Ryia Jose, Kin & Kasa | We don’t have elaborate plans for Valentine’s Day. If it was a weekend we would’ve made plans to go out but, this year we plan to watch a movie on our patio (sans kids), which was a labour of love and we love hanging out there. The weather looks promising so that’s great too! Something my husband always does is he gets me some grocery store flowers and chocolate. I love the thought and I love putting it in a pretty vase or compote bowl!
Follow along with Ryia on her blog, Kin & Kasa, and on Instagram @kinandkasa.
My husband and I don’t really do anything for each other but I love creating special moments for our kids. — Xin Lu
Xin Lu, @athomewithxin | My husband and I don’t really do anything for each other but I love creating special moments for our kids. One tradition I’ve started is Valentine’s Day pajamas! The PJs aren’t Valentine’s Day themed so they can be worn year round but giving it to them ON Valentine’s Day makes an everyday item feel extra special.
Follow along with Xin on Instagram @athomewithxin.
Your Valentine’s Day Traditions
We also asked you what some of your traditions are, and I quickly picked up: Most of you are still doing the same thing this year, as you have since your very first Valentine’s Day together. I couldn’t love this more, and I’m sharing a few of them here, in case it inspires a new tradition for you!
Thank you for supporting the creators that inspire us every day! Do you celebrate Valentine’s Day with traditions? Or maybe you’re starting new traditions this year?
I actually love Valentine’s Day more for the less-romantic stuff (though I love hearing about other people’s traditions!): the funny little cards and candy. For years, I was single, but I never felt left out – my dad would, without fail, drop a card and chocolate on my front porch for me to discover when I got home from work. My grandmother always called me to remind me to prune my roses. In fact, first thing this morning, I went out and pruned them and thought of her. My husband is a musician and frequently plays somewhere on this day, but I love trying to do little things to make the people in my life feel special.
This is so heartwarming. Thank you for sharing, made my day!
It was so interesting to read and learn about other traditions. We are pretty lite as well on this holiday and other hallmark ones. But, we do step it up a tad and enjoy chocolates for breakfast. I set them out for the family to enjoy in hopes that they have a sweet day! ????
Aww, cutest! I will use that as my own personal excuse from now on, haha.
Adorable and looks so yummy!!
I love this collective series! It’s so fun! We don’t normally celebrate much as our dating anniversary was always the end of January (but our wedding anniversary is now October). But today we snuck in a brunch at our favourite local breakfast spot, as our son was in day home and we both work from home and it was so great! Day dates are amazing, childcare is already secured, it’s easy, low expectation!
This is wonderful! I love “heart-shaped things” so I usually bake something festive. My husband and I don’t do TOO much – one year we went for a lunch date to our favorite “fancy” restaurant, which was awesome, but this year, we’re exchanging chocolates and eating burgers at home with the fam. For our boys, we give them each a Valentine’s balloon + a cheap box of chocolates. They LOVE it.
This was a fun read! So many good ideas! I think we may give heart shaped pizza a try next year! Thanks for sharing our tradition. We enjoyed our dinner at home on the wedding china.❤️ I hope you enjoyed your fancy wine & McDonalds.????