After my husband and I got married, we’ve always just celebrated Valentine’s Day at home, and keeping it low key. The idea of slugging outside with all the other couples, fighting for a table at a restaurant, just didn’t feel romantic!
And now, with a toddler, staying home and enjoying the peace and quiet sounds even more delightful!
If you’re like me, here are 15 (well, technically 17…) ideas to make an at-home Valentine’s Day date, or any time together at home, more special!
Yummy Food | Delicious recipes that are just as special as going out to eat!
Mushroom Bourguignon from Smitten Kitchen – one of my favorite dishes!
Chicken Marsala from Saveur – this was one of my favorite “out to eat” special meals.
Ina Garten’s Pasta Alla Vecchia Bettola from Alexander Cooks
A classic chocolate volcano cake from Paula Deen
Homemade Hostess Cupcakes from The Baker Upstairs
I’ve made these, and they are so delicious!!!!
Nutella Heart Shaped Pop Tarts from A Golden Afternoon
Fun Activities | Things to do with just your spouse or with the whole family!
There are a million ideas floating around, like these 32 Stay-At-Home Date Night ideas. OR 100 Valentine’s Day Date ideas, from the deluxe to simple. OR these 20 At-home date night ideas.
Or, for the toddler in your life, this Valentine’s Day Soup activity for sensory play looks like such fun!
Setting the Mood | A few things that can help make the day feel extra special!
I thought about creating a playlist for y’all, but this sweet blogger did it for me 🙂
You could probably throw this craft together with stuff in your house!
Love an easy coffee filter paper wreath.
And then, finally, a collection of fun phrases and sayings to tuck in someone’s Valentine’s Day card (I’ve got my eye on #2!)
So what are your plans for V Day? Going out? Or staying in? I’d love to hear them!!
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Staying in! We went out to eat last Saturday and even though it wasn’t the holiday weekend, we still waited for 45 minutes for a table! I thought maybe it was just our choice of restaurant (there’s usually a bit of a wait) but my hairdresser said she went out the same night and two other places had wait times of over an hour. Yikes! I’m scared to know what Valentine’s would be like with or without reservations. 🙂
These are such nice ideas! That chicken marsala looks so rich, mmmmm!
That’s mainly why we stay home! I just hate the idea of fighting crowds!!
I’m planning a romantic dinner at home too. Valentines Day AND a Saturday spells restaurant chaos to me. 🙂 Thinking I’ll use a sweet printable like one you shared in my centerpiece! We’re having a pasta meal with chocolate pie, hubby’s favorites. I hadn’t thought of getting a playlist together for the evening….great idea! Thanks for sharing the inspiration!
A cosy, quiet evening at home always sounds so much more romantic (at least to me!) than heading out to a restaurant like everyone else. Although, on any OTHER night, I’d rather go out to eat and let someone else do the cooking and cleaning up. 🙂
We feel lucky that our anniversary is February 4 – so we always go out for a nice dinner a weekend or two before Valentine’s Day and don’t have to deal with the crowds – and then don’t feel like we “need” anything else to celebrate. Handy. But we’ve definitely been getting into at-home dates lately – usually we catch up on the DVR after Hendrik goes to bed, but to take a night every once in a while to make sure we really spend quality time together is nice. Next time we might have to try that chicken marsala recipe – I think Peter would love it!
Well happy anniversary!!! How wonderful that you get to celebrate two events so close together 🙂
Catching up on shows is definitely our way of winding down too! And once a week we have a “no tv” date night, where we usually end up gabbing about our weeks.
Those pasta dishes look amazing!! Homemade Hostess cupcakes are always a favorite at my house. My hubby loves brownies so I was planning on make him some. We’re also getting take out at a new restaurant
Getting take out to eat at home is my other favorite thing!! It’s much more relaxing to eat at home with a toddler (or a napping toddler!) and someone else dirties up their pots and pans 🙂 Brownies sound so yummy!!
Such great ideas! I love being home with my little family. I will definitely have to try the Nutella poptarts. Hope you have a wonderful Valentine’s Day!
Don’t those pop tarts look cute? I may try them with jam instead of nutella sometime too!
We will also stay at home. We are planning to order some food (perhaps chinese), we don’t do that often, so it’s something special for us. But even if we stay at home we will dress up like going to a restaurant, just for us. After dinner we will play some board games. This is a thing we want to do more often, because we both love it.
We dress up too for our at-home Valentine’s day! It’s just more fun and special that way. And getting take out from a favorite restaurant is so delightful!
These are all such sweet ideas!
Is it bad that it’s already Friday in Australia and I still have no idea what I am doing for Ben for valentines day. I really need to get on it now.
Totally not bad!!!! You still have today 🙂
And should have said thanks for visiting!!! Sorry!!
Great idea! I want to try that chocolate pudding!
Doesn’t it look yummy???
These are some pretty great ideas! My hubby and I got married on the 19th of February, so we don’t always go out for Valentine’s day. But this year, we plan to go to the restaurant we went to on our honeymoon. 🙂
Oh that sounds like such a sweet idea!!!!! I hope you have a wonderful time. Happy Anniversary AND Valentine’s Day 🙂
So cute! I love the Sharon, Lois, and Brahm “I love you in the morning” reference. One of my favorite childhood memories! Also, we’re doing a late overnight getaway on Tuesday – so much cheaper! 🙂
That sounds so wonderful!! My husband and I haven’t done an overnight getaway in SO LONG!! I hope you have a lovely, relaxing time.
Thanks for sharing my playlist! Your at home valentine’s ideas sound about perfect. And I agree, staying home sounds pretty amazing most days. 🙂
Thank YOU for making it!!! I knew someone had done all the hard work 😉 I was excited to share it.