Valentine's Day Finds for Littles.

I am always surprised by how quickly Valentine’s Day materializes. I love making “minor” holidays like this special for the children — I usually make them heart-shaped pancakes or waffles (use this) topped with themed sprinkles and then mix a little red food coloring into cream cheese for a pink/red bagel sandwich (served with berries!) at lunchtime. I’ll serve them their meals using these melamine bowls and plates that I bought last year or the year before — so glad they’ve brought them back! It’s the little things. This year, I picked up these matching mommy and me heart pajamas for my daughter and I. (I would take your true size in Lake, but I’ve learned to size up for children — they run snug.) I love that they’re ideal for V-Day but can clearly be worn year-round, too. They also come in blue for boys, but I think I’m either going to get micro these or these instead, as I feel they’re more his speed. For some reason, themed pajamas have become a major source of holiday excitement in our house (my children especially love the Halloween ones) — they are great at reinforcing seasonality, and also adorable for pictures.

For daytime wear, I worked with Saddle Stitches (a wonderful embroidery shop — I’ve purchased several items from there and the quality is absolutely incredible) to embroider this polo for micro and this sweet sweatshirt for mini (which she’ll pair with leggings like these). I also have this dress (reminds me of D. Porthault) in my cart, but I find that her new school tends to have more restrictive “free dress days,” e.g., “wear red/wear pajamas/etc” and I know she’ll prefer the leggings and sweatshirt anyway. This solid pink dress with a red hair bow would be a good pick, too, because it can be worn well beyond the holiday without seeming too holiday-specific.

I also picked up a few crafty things for the children to work on as we approach the holiday, like this color-in banner, some pink and red play-doh, and this frame craft kit. Little projects like that go a long way in our household on the weekends / in the evenings and I love how they build excitement for the holiday.