Valentine's Day, our version

Alternate titles for this post could have been "Sometimes we put down our calculators" or "How to have fun with your family without going insane" or maybe "Valentine's Day: don't buy into the mass hysteria because you can show people you love them without spending a ton of money and it's a fake holiday anyways". But I felt like that last one might have been a little wordy...

Sure we love budgeting around here and squeezing all that we can out of our budget and thinking of every possible way to save/ make money (right now the kids are rooting for a garage sale) but we still like to have a good time. You know, in a budget friendly sort of way of course. We're also pretty big on family traditions. But they have to be the low key, no stress kind because my tolerance for mess and large projects is about nil. 

I also sort of hate the idea of a holiday where you are forced to buy crappy chocolate and overpriced flowers and spend 2 hours waiting in line to eat in a restaurant with a million other couples while you stare lovingly into your better half's eyes. Ya, I can do that any day and I don't need a stupid made up holiday to remind me how much I love my husband. Valentine's Scrooge? Perhaps.

But what I do love is my family. I like spending time with them and I like creating simple traditions. Greg found this idea a few years ago and we've made it our own. We call it Cupid's Cafe. We move the table into the living room and make it look fancy (no tablecloths though, toddlers + tablecloths= bad idea). We create a menu with 9 options but the names of the menu items don't give you any clue what you're ordering. Last year the menu items were names of Beanie Boos (and if you don't know what a Beanie Boo is then count yourself lucky). We have 3 rounds of ordering so the kids pick 3 things off of the menu and that's their first course. Of course because they don't know what they're ordering they end up with things like a napkin, a plate and dessert. Or pizza, a cup and the appetizer. It's pretty hilarious. One year Anna ordered a fork, a plate and a napkin for her first course. She laughed through the first round (and was really grateful to get some food on the second course).

I got smarter last year and let the kids make the menus (hence the Beanie Boos) and set the table. That meant that all we had to do was move the table, make the meal and of course Greg and I were the servers. The kids got the biggest kick out of ordering a Pugsley, a Nacho and a Waddles, the belly laughter is the best! It is the easiest celebration ever but it's something the kids look forward to all year long. Jennie is in charge of the menus this year and she's been working on them since before Christmas.

I also really like that we're teaching our kids that the best kind of love is found in your home with your family. I hope that as they grow and get into the teenage angst time of their lives that they will have these things to cling to, I hope they will remember that things and stuff and temporary relationships don't matter. Rather it's what's important; like your family and working towards a goal and loving the time that you have together.

PS- I do love some good dark chocolate and I'm a sucker for fresh flowers, I just don't want someone to buy them for me because some marketing campaign told them they have to. Of course if you want to just bring them over because you like me... well, I'll give you my address.

PPS- None of the pictures above have anything to do with this post, except of course that they are our children and we like them and it makes us happy when they are happy. Other than that, no relevance at all.