Like the 2009 Mom Fuse Valentine’s Day Gift Guide, we will be adding jewelry pieces to the gift guide but we’d like to also include non-jewelry gifts, creative and unique gifts, food and beverage and anything else (we especially like items that are different and non-traditional). Categories will include: for mom, for dad, for son, for daughter, for husband, for wife, for best friend, etc.

If you would like to include your product in the 2010 Mom Fuse Valentine’s Day Gift Guide, please submit product info, description, price, image, etc to Jessica at info @ momfuse.com.  Please also let us know if you would like to send a non-returnable sample for review and or giveaway to be included as well.

*Please note that we receive hundreds of gift submissions for our gift guides so if you don’t hear back from us immediately, don’t worry.. we will get back to you as soon as we can to let you know if your product(s) will be included or not.

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Take a family portrait. Remember each Valentine’s Day with a picture to commemorate the moment. Choose to wear clothes that reflect the day. Everyone’s outfit can include red, white, and pink in some fashion. Each year you will see how the family grows and changes from the year before. Also each year, family members can take turns finding the perfect picture frame to hold the photo.

What about a story? Valentine’s Day is named after St. Valentine. No one knows for sure if he was real or a work of fiction, but it is fun to tell the variations of the story to lend meaning to the day. Whether real or imagined, St. Valentine championed the cause of love. The story of Cupid comes from Roman mythology as he was the son of Aphrodite who was the goddess of love.

Give your kids something that is real - the story of your love. Parents can retell the story of how they met and fell in love. There is nothing more intriguing than a story of true love. Other family members can share their stories of love as well. This is a way of passing stories down through the generations – an ancient practice that started before there were written records.

Watch a touching movie. The movies don’t have to be sappy chick flicks. Once the kids become teenagers, especially the boys, they will want out of this tradition, especially if the movies are too mushy. The movie can have aspects of love whether it is friendship, family bonds, or the boy-girl kind of love. Stories of love give kids a strong sense of its meaning so that they are prepared to show and receive love from others as they grow up.

Play a game that tells what each person in the family loves about each of the other family members? Each person will get a chance to write down on a piece of paper what they love about one another. Anonymously, every family member writes their thoughts on a separate slip for mom, dad, brother, sister, and so on.

The papers are put in a basket or a small box that is owned by each person. Family members take turns reading aloud what has been written about them. It’ll feel good to know that you are loved and respected by your family.

Valentine’s Day traditions help us teach our kids about love. We grow closer as a family and learn to depend on each other no matter what when we create Valentine’s Day traditions such as the ones mentioned here.

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Plan ahead. To avoid a rush, gather all of the party supplies a week in advance. Let everyone brainstorm ideas until the big shopping day arrives. With list in hand, find games and items for everyone.

Dress each guest to celebrate at the party. For the girls, give them a candy necklace. Once the party is over, she can nibble at her necklace for a sweet treat. For the boys, try candy whistles. It’ll be the most delicious sound they’ve ever made.

Start with some games. How about a game of hearts for the card players in the group? Go online and Google card games to find a simple version of the game for kids and adults to play at parties.

Word games are fun at a party. Using the words, Happy Valentine’s Day, give kids two or three minutes to write down as many words as they can using those letters. The one with the most words wins a prize.

Prizes for games can be as simple as paper hearts that function as coupons. For example, create a coupon that can be traded in for a day with no chores or a five dollar gift from the store. The more prizes a person wins, the more coupons they can cash in. If you have invited people outside the family, have a separate prize basket with small prizes like teddy bears and candy.

Teach a craft. Kids love to make things so give them an opportunity to learn something new. Since spring comes right on the heels of winter, show them how to plant seeds in a flower pot. They can start their own herb garden that will grow indoors. Decorate the pots with hearts so kids will always remember the fun they had on Valentine’s Day.

If the weather is nice, the kids can take turns whacking a Valentine’s Day piñata. The piñata can be a cupid, a heart, or something else related to Valentine’s Day. Each child gets three chances to bust it open. After that, the older party guests get a crack at it.

Even if it is just the family, a Valentine’s Day party can bring lots of laughs and quality together time. Encourage old and young alike to participate for the most fun.

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“Hey, mom, I need $60.00 and the car keys to take my girlfriend out for Valentine’s Day.”
It wasn’t that long ago that the only thing your child wanted was a package of 30 action-figure Valentines to give to everyone in his class.

But he’s a teen now. What did you expect? “There’s nothing to do in this town,” he mumbles from underneath his hoodie. Though we know that is far from the truth, looking at it through his eyes can be enlightening. He isn’t old enough to drink, he can’t take his sweetie to the bar to go dancing and he doesn’t have enough money to buy her a diamond…so what’s left? Borrow money from you and take her out to dinner and a movie, right?

Valentines Day comes with high expectations when you’re “in love.” (Whether you agree with the “love” part or not, we’ll save that for another day.) The point here is that our teens are in a rut when it comes to dating – particularly on special occasions. The lack of imagination is only second to the lack of resources. Dating is expensive; dinner out can leave a guy broke in less than an hour with an entire evening left to kill. Oh yea, I forgot about the movies where they can sit in the dark together unsupervised for the next two hours and not learn anything except that she likes butter on her popcorn.

So, how do we help these teens find a better, less expensive way to date where they will actually spend time getting to know each other and not go broke?

Here is a “date” that my daughter had with her boyfriend that made an ordinary date well worth the time and the money.

First, they went online together and looked up recipes. They read through the ingredients and talked about what foods they liked and didn’t like. After choosing a recipe, they went to the store together and purchased the ingredients. They came back to the house and made the meal together from scratch, set the table and invited another couple to come over and eat with them.

After the meal, they washed dishes together, played “Go Fish,” looked through my daughter’s photo albums and had a lot of laughs. They spent only $16.00 and almost 4 hours together and here are 15 things they learned about each other:
1. Food preferences
2. Self-centeredness
3. Eating habits
4. Helpfulness
5. Spending money
6. Compromise
7. Math skills
8. Ability to multi-task
9. Decision making
10. Social skills
11. Cooperation
12. Manners
13. Patience
14. Sportsmanship
15. Sense of Humor

So what did I learn from the date? One of the best places for kids to spend time together in a healthy way is in the kitchen. The benefits? They are learning life skills, getting to know each other better and their hands are busy…preparing food.

And if you are really lucky, they will have made enough dinner for you!

Happy Valentine’s Day!

Lisa Jander
Author/Certified Life Coach, CTACC/Public Speaker
Dater’s Ed: The Instruction Manual for Parents
To purchase the book, go to www.DatersEd.com
For more information, send your request to Info@DatersEd.com

About Lisa Jander

Lisa Jander is a Certified Life Coach, public speaker and former director of a dating service in California. As a mother parenting two teens and surrogate to hundreds more, “Mama J” shares her unique relationship insights with her readers. Her powerful seminars and interactive workshops provide parents and students with creative tools to navigate the relationship highway.

Lisa@DatersEd.com

www.datersed.com

Posted by Nicole Ibarrondo, former editor here at Mom Fuse

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Start simple. Decorate the main rooms of your home. Give each kid a ball of ribbon in red, white, or pink and watch what they do. Ribbon can be wrapped around vases of flowers and draped above doorways. A pair of scissors can be run the length of the ribbon to create curls.

Cabinets and dressers can be made festive with small construction paper hearts. The kids can stick them all over – wherever they can find a good spot. If you sit still long enough, there may be a few attached to you. Bigger hearts can be cut out and displayed on the walls. If you are afraid that tape will strip the paint off of the walls, use a hole punch to create holes in the hearts. Make a loop through the hole with a piece of string and hang over a push pin or a small nail.

Instead of streamers, try a paper chain in alternating colors. Cut several pieces of construction paper into one inch wide strips. Interlock the paper and create a link chain. When the chain is long enough hang it up in the kitchen or family room as a banner to remind the entire family that it is Valentine’s Day.

Kids can glue Popsicle sticks together to make coasters for the coffee table. Watercolor paints can be used to decorate the finished coaster with hearts and arrows. You can even add words like, Happy Valentine’s Day, Love, etc. to the coasters. The same Popsicle sticks can be used to make a poster or a mobile that says I Love You. The sticks are shaped and then painted bright red or pink. Once dry, mount them on poster board or attached to a heart-shaped hanger by pieces of yarn.

A cloth furniture cover can transform your living room into a Valentine’s Day celebration room. Measure the length of the couch or chair so that the cover will fit. Spread it out on the floor and let the kids get started on the decorations. They can glue felt words and shapes to the cover along with the names of each family member. Every year at Valentine’s Day you can bring out their handiwork and decorate the room.

Decorations are fun to make and display around the house. They don’t have to be for just one season. Store them in airtight containers so they stay clean and intact for next year and years to come.

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