Setting a Valentine’s Table for your Family

By Grandma Sandy | February 5, 2020
Each place is set with a homemade valentine and there is a small, inexpensive present for each family member.
Dress up the table with a homemade valentine and an inexpensive present for each family member.

It’s our tradition to celebrate Valentine’s Day on the Friday that’s closest to our weekly family dinner. I don’t cook anything fancy, but I make it festive by setting a Valentine’s table. And we have dessert!

Steve and I used to celebrate Valentine’s Day by going out to dinner. But these days, I’m more interested in ensuring that our grandkids know that Valentine’s Day is for them, too.

Some Projects Before Valentine’s Day

A week or so before Valentine’s Day, start some projects with the grandkids:

Valentine sugar cookies were rolled and cut by a five-year-old, and iced by her afterwards.
Some of the valentine cookies Miss T made and decorated last year, when she was five.
  • I have had success freezing iced sugar cookies–but this is not usually recommended by the experts, so do this at your own risk. I use royal icing and ensure that the icing is completely dry and hard before proceeding. Lay the cookies in rigid, airtight containers (I like glass containers with seal-tight covers), with a sheet of waxed paper or parchment between the layers. Defrost in their container on the countertop.
  • Last year, with the kindergarten teacher’s permission, Miss T took her valentine sugar cookies to school for her classmates. Each cookie was packaged in a cellophane bag and tied with ribbon. We used the remainder at each place setting for our Valentine’s Day dinner.
Valentine cookies packed in cellophane bags to be taken to school.
Miss T and I packaged Valentine cookies for school and for our Valentine’s dinner.
  • Have the kids make Valentine cards for the family. I set out stickers, valentine stamps, stamp pads, paper doilies, colored paper, crayons, ribbons, and valentine cutouts from my Cricut machine.
Give children hearts, doilies and other decorations to make valentines for the family.
Miss T, at five, making valentines. This year, her brother will be old enough to make some, too.
  • Grandma or grandpa could make valentines featuring photos of the family, that have been turned first into sketches. I used Sketch Guru, a free app, to create the look.
Turn family photos into sketches by using an app, then make custom valentines with them.
Turn photos into artist’s sketches using an app; then use the “sketches” to make valentine cards.

Setting the Valentine’s Table

My Valentine’s table isn’t complicated or expensive. Here are some suggestions, from Valentine’s Days through the years.

  • Use red cloth or paper napkins. I have red cloth, no-iron napkins that appear every Christmas, Chinese New Year, and the Fourth of July. An easy way to dress them up for Valentine’s Day is to roll the utensils in the napkin, wrap a doily around the napkin, and tie with red ribbon.
A simple napkin treatment, wrapping a red napkin in a paper doily and tying with ribbon is perfect for a Valentine's Day dinner.
A simple napkin treatment for Valentine’s Day uses paper doilies.
  • Red or pink flowers make my centerpiece. I don’t wait until Valentine’s Day to buy the flowers, when the selection is depleted and more expensive. I get flowers that can hold up, a few days ahead. This is especially a good idea for tulips–they stand up too stiffly when very fresh and droop gracefully when a few days older. However, roses may over-bloom, if purchased ahead.
  • Scatter paper hearts and valentine chocolates on the table.
  • Put a surprise at each place. I’ve used valentine cards, heart-shaped cookies like the ones shown above, and this year, there will be small, homemade truffles in heart-shaped boxes that Miss T and I have already crafted.
Set each place with a valentine and homemade cookies. Pink tulips, and a scattering of valentine chocolates and paper hearts finish the table decor.
At each place are a couple of cookies that Miss T and I made, along with valentine cards that serve as place cards.
  • Make a swag by stitching together hearts cut from cardstock and small paper doilies, using your sewing machine. Or use pink and red crepe paper streamers.
Festoon the dining table with a streamer of paper hearts and doilies stitched together with a sewing machine.
Hearts and doilies are stitched together and hung over the dining table.

It doesn’t take much to turn an everyday family dinner into a special Valentine’s celebration.

Related posts:

  1. DIY Valentines Say Love to Mom and Dad
  2. Turn Grandkids’ DIY Valentines into Beautiful Art Later
  3. How to Make Easy DIY Valentines with the Grandkids
  4. Easy Gumdrop Trees: The Best Christmas Table
Posted in Grandma Crafts and tagged , , , , , , , , , ,