Plan Your Perfect Valentine’s Evening at Home

Awe Valentine’s Day!  What’s not to love?  Chocolates, dinner, flowers, and sweet lovin’.

Let’s get real.  Your husband will forget until a co-worker reminds him so he’ll hit up the drug store on the way home.  He’ll buy you candy which is perfect timing because you just gave up your January dieting goals a solid week ago. 

Then you’ll drop the kids with the sitter, get stuck in traffic, start a snarky argument in the car, go out to dinner without a reservation and wait 2 hours to be seated.  You’ll eat way too much food because hey- it’s a special occasion- only to return home stuffed and exhausted.

You’ll both finish off the box of candy (and maybe a bottle of wine) while watching a few episodes of your favorite show on Netflix and fall asleep on the couch as the free dinner rolls from the restaurant put you both in a carb-induced coma.  Oh, the romance of married life!

This year I’ll stick with a perfectly planned stay-at-home Valentine’s Day.  If you decide to stay home, I’m here to help you make it a success.  Not only will it be less stressful and more fun, but it will also be less expensive.  When you are done with this plan, you might just have some energy and cash left over at the end of your date night.

Here’s how to plan your perfect Valentine’s evening at home without going totally overboard.

Step 1: Create the atmosphere.

Don’t just eat at your normal kitchen table.  Set up a table on the back porch with candles or move your table to a new place.  Make this seem different from the norm.

Consider grabbing some white Christmas lights from storage and hanging them. Pull out some mason jars, add a tea light candle and you’re on your way!

Step 2: Create A Playlist

If you’ve got your special song or any other songs that stir up your nostalgic memories of dating or your wedding, put it on a playlist on your smartphone, set up your Bluetooth speaker or smart home device and let it play in the background.

Step 3: Plan a Light Romantic Dinner

Start with a light appetizer like a salad.

Here is the recipe for my Strawberry Feta Mixed Greens Salad.

Your spouse will think you are eating a fancy salad!  The balsamic dressing makes this very light and refreshing with a powerful punch of flavor.  Make each person’s serving in a small salad bowl.

Main Course

Chicken Parmesan

This is our go-to Valentine’s Day food because it was what I made my husband (then boyfriend) on our first Valentine’s Day when we were 18.  It’s tradition but it’s also a super easy recipe to make that always tastes great and it’s fancy.  Here’s how I make my own perfect Chicken Parmesan at home!

I typically run down to my local World Market store and grab a bag of heart-shaped pasta to serve on the side, just for fun!  Keep your serving size small so you have room for dessert!

If you are watching your carbs, don’t forget about picking up a box of Dreamfields pasta in the black box at your local grocery store!

Dessert Ideas

For the Chocolate Lover:

If you love those ice-cream covered death by chocolate lava brownies at the restaurants you should try out my Hot Fudge Single Serve Brownie Sundae recipe!  It’s amazing.  It is very rich, so it would be good if you shared.

For the Fruit Cobbler Dessert Lover:

My grandma’s Cherry Crunch Cake recipe is my go-to dessert every Valentine’s Day because my husband loves this stuff. It’s one of those “crack” kind of desserts where it’s super addictive.

It doesn’t require any mixing or stirring and you can prep it to bake in about 5 minutes flat.

Step 4: Pick An Activity

Activity Idea: Take a Stroll

After dinner is over, go ahead and take a light stroll down the street or around the block.  Work off some of that dinner food while holding hands and talking about life and the future.  Maybe even think up your favorite memories of each other.

Activity Idea: Stay-In Movie

With all the streaming services these days you can watch just about any genre of movie you want from the comfort of your home. Depending on the mood you are setting or your viewing preferences note that there are a lot of options in the genre of “romantic films“.

You can search for:

• Historical Romance
• Musical Romance
• Romantic Comedies
• Erotic
• Romatic Thriller

Dan in Real Life- This is one of my all-time favorite romantic movies.  If you are a fan of Steve Carell you will love this movie.  It’s tender, romantic and has a light-hearted sense of comedy.  It’s about a writer who’s wife passed away and he is raising 3 daughters on his own.  I highly recommend it!

Pretty In Pink- If you were an 80’s kid or just loved the 80’s this is a great throw back movie to enjoy.  It’s got love, friendship and reminds you that everyone gets old so you better enjoy these moments you have!

The Princess Bride- That’s all I need to say.

Pride & Prejudice- Leave it to old Jane Austen to stir a woman’s heart.  It’s totally Romeo & Juliet tension with a happily ever after ending.

Sense & Sensibility- The 1995 version with Kate Winslet.  It’s fun to see Professor Severus Snape from the Harry Potter movie series as a loving, lovable character.

Activity Idea: Board Games

One way to interact with your spouse that doesn’t have to involve rolling some dice to determine that sexy thing you’ll do to your partner is good old-fashioned games. Games help you settle, focus, chat, engage, and do it all without any awkward silences or both of you sitting on your phones at the table.

My husband and I are kind of geeks and we love to play board games.  I like board games because unlike with movies, you can talk, connect and are checked in during a board game.  We recently found a whole line of strategic board games for two people.  Here are some you might like if you are into strategic board games already!

You can easily have a thrifty, enjoyable Valentine’s Day at home without the traffic, the stress, the gluttony and fatigue.  Make this your most romantic and memorable Valentine’s Day yet!