Valentine's Day is just around the corner, but you don't have to spend hours in the kitchen lovingly making homemade cookies, pink pancakes, and muffins, and getting your craft on creating lacy heart-shaped cards with witty sayings in order to make a special lunch for your kiddos.
Below are a few ways that you can make the day feel special and still having some time left for yourself.
1. Use Cookie Cutters with Abandon
Let cookie cutters do all the work for you. Turn your sandwiches, fruits, and veggies into hearts of all sizes and let that be a surprise for your littles. If you don't have cookie cutters ... go freehand! Hearts aren't perfect, so use a paring knife to turn bread, cheese slices, pepperoni, or cucumber or Raddish slices into imperfectly perfect hearts.
2. Focus on a Single Color
Pink and red are obvious colors for this holiday, but packing lunch in a single color at other times of the year is fun for your kids and will, perhaps surprisingly, help you be a little more creative with what you pack.
When it comes to Valentine's Day raspberries, strawberries, red peppers, pepperoni, Babybel cheese, fruit roll ups, apple slices, Raddish, and beet chips are all possibilities for a "color of love" themed lunch. Get creative!
3. Leave a Special Note
Don't underestimate the power of a handwritten note. When we lived in Germany, and our kids went into a classroom where no one spoke English, I started a tradition of leaving a little hand drawn note of each of us together in their snack box. While I haven't carried on that tradition since coming home, I do return to these notes on special occasions as an easy way for me to let my kiddos know I'm thinking of them.
4. Let Hershey's and Brach's Help
Let's me honest ... sometimes homemade is overrated! There is no shame in turning to Hershey's or Brach's to help you make the day a little special. A few Hershey's kisses after school (or in the lunchbox if your school is cool with it) or small package of candy hearts 💕 will make your little ones smile.