Valentine’s Day is coming up quickly. I wanted to show you some cute baskets that I put together for the kids last year to give you inspiration as you shop this year. The wire baskets are from Target, and I use them for a bunch of things year round. The acrylic tags were personalized with the kid’s names and I found them on Etsy. The seller is on a break, but I am sure that you could find something similar. I love these Kid Made Modern heart water color sets. You can find other brands on Amazon. The heart goggles aren’t available, but the same brand offers a heart style here. I picked up a fun note pad from TJ Maxx and one of those light spinners that my kid’s love. The big hit here was the unicorn chapstick and the jelly beans!

The boys are always a little harder to shop for, but I found these cute shirts at J.Crew saying “Heartbreaker”. They don’t have the same baseball shirt style this year, but here is a similar shirt. I love the Rey to Z hats, you can get them with lots of different things on them: letters, big bro, little bro, auntie, etc. You can’t have any gift basket in this house without Pokemon cards, and of course a little chocolate (and only the best, Gräem for the win!)

For the littlest, we picked up a fun art kit that the big kids could help her with, a hat – because we are into backwards hats these days, but also a few hair bows and clips that we had been saving for a while (we went though a period of not wanting to put anything in our hair) and are just getting into fun stuff now! Throw in some delicious chocolate from Gräem, a simple heart tee from target, and a fun necklace and she is one happy kid!

Are dessert boards a thing anymore? Asking for a friend. Either way, I still love them. Added in all of my favorite things and if they aren’t in anymore…well more for me I guess Homemade chocolate covered pretzel rods, macarons (and these days you can pick them up at Whole Foods if you’re in a pinch), my favorite cookies from Bisous Sweet (it doesn’t have to be Valentine’s Day for me to get these, frankly, any day that ends with a ‘y’ will do!) and some red candies to fill in the empty spaces.

Don’t forget to show your gal pals the love this Valentine’s day. I love single serve bottles of bubbly. Pop on a cute tag (these are my favorite – Little Notes from E. Frances Paper) and drop off as a little reminder of how fabulous you think they are!

One of my favorite bakeries made these cookies years ago and I had to reshare them because they are so cute! They have closed their doors for walk in retail, but you can still order cakes online!

Make sure to check out Love And Flour, their cakes are beautiful.

I love a good m&m cookie on Valentine’s Day, they make a bold pop of color!

I love a good sheet pan meal, pancakes are no exception. Use your favorite pancake recipe but make on a baking sheet. Cook at 425 degrees for about 15 minutes. They come out light and fluffy and you can cut them out into cute shapes with cookie cutters – and everyone gets warm pancakes at the same time!

Don’t want to make sheet pan pancakes, try making them in muffin tins. My second favorite way to make quick meals for the whole family – and everyone gets to eat a hot meal at the same time! My kids think that eating anything with a toothpick is more fun, so we found these cute heart food picks to use and we let them dip them in whipped cream and sprinkles! What is your favorite pancake topping?

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I love a good m&m cookie on Valentine’s Day. They just give a good pop of color and a nice hearty cookie with a crunch on the outside that I love. Our neighbors love these too, they even request the crunchier the better

I know that snackle boxes are the new thing, but I love a good old fashioned muffin tin. Why not use what you have and not go out and get something new. And mine just happen to be pink!! Fill with all your favorite candy – a real mix of salty, sweet, gummy, hard, chocolate, crunchy, and maybe even throw a bowl of popcorn on the side just for good measure.

Usually I am a strict vanilla with vanilla cupcake kind of gal, but I do make exceptions on Valentine’s Day. I do love a strawberry frosting and the garnish, well the sky is the limit. I love these XO chocolate covered crackers, I love the Valentine Candy that is available, m&m’s, anything Reese’s….and while I don’t actually like the taste of conversation hearts, they do sure make a cute decoration.

These Crescent Ridge cupcakes come as a six pack and can be in your weekly delivery for $16.50 a package. They start with a brownie base and are topped with vanilla or cookie dough ice cream. Top with some whip and sprinkles and you are good to go! Chef’s kiss.

They did at one point last year do a collaboration of a red velvet ice cream whoopie that was kind of knock your socks off….this year they are doing a gingerbread one, which I like….just not as much. They also have a peppermint ice cream sandwich option which is enough to rock your world. Did I mention they can get delivered to your door?

Ok, Simple heart sugar cookie heart cut out. My neighbor growing up makes these. She gave me the recipe. I follow it to the precise T. They NEVER come out the same. Im convinced that she left one key thing out so that I can’t ever make them as good…. The frosting is light a sugary, but not TOO sweet, and when I was at college and I was missing being at home….I would legit eat the whole tin in one sitting. But let’s not unpack all that psychology right now.

As I mentioned in a previous Valentine post, I rarely have time to make from scratch brownies, so I like to fancy up box brownies. One way would be to cut then out into shapes. I do like this option, but there is a lot of waste. And by waste, I mean, add to my waist-line. But I cut this batch up into hearts and I think they are just thge cutest things in the whole world.

Keep them plain, as is, of you can add a little frosting. Make from scratch, or if you are in a hurry, put premade frosting into a piping bag and add a little to the tops of the hearts and cover with fun sprinkles.

Here are some fun rainbow ones I tried to make cute.

Another fun thing that we sometimes do at our house is sheetpan pancakes. SO we tried to make then and then cut then out and make them into fun shapes because I certainly can’t compete with my son’s friend’s dad who can whip up colored pancakes every weekend. I mean, we all have our strengths…

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