Can't buy me LOVE: Acts of Love Coupons

The boys V-day pouches

The coupons at work.

We decided that this year for Valentines day we would start a new tradition: Acts of Love Coupons.  We made some simple Valentine felt bags to hang up.  Every day this week we will take turns giving each other Acts of Love gifts (gifts that you can't buy) and a love note telling the other person why we love them & appreciate them.  We thought it was important for us to point out to our children that Valentines day is a reminder of Love and kindness for loved ones, friends and even strangers not just a guy/girl holiday.  Please don't get caught up on not having time for the fluff and cuteness. If you don't have time for that just focus on the main point: giving gifts that don't cost, serving each other and others, reminding them of how much God LOVES them & affirming each other.

• Start by reminding your family that God loves us and that is the only way that its possible for us to love each other especially in those times when we are not very loving.
• I wrote all of our names on a piece of paper and then we drew names for who would go first and what days.  Our oldest got to go first and he was sooooo excited!  He is only 6 so we wrote what he said for him & gave him some examples of possible Acts of love gifts he could give to us. 
• The person who does the giving only gets to enjoy the act of giving to others.   
• Then the person whose turn it is makes one of each: a love note & coupon click here (for coupons & note printables) for each family member minus themselves. 
• The next day it's a different family members turn and so on.
• Since V-day lands on a Monday this year our act of service for others will happen on Sunday. We will purchase Happy Meals for street kids and pass them out.  I am so thankful to my parents who instilled in me by example and the most powerful by experience the value of helping those who are not as fortunate as us.  I hope we can do the same for our children.
• We end on V-day with a hearts trail leading to a V-day treat as simple or extravagant as you would like (ours will be simple a pk of juice boxes & a candy for the kids). .

Examples of the coupons for the adults you can give: 1hr of free time to do whatever you want, no washing dishes for a week, a massage for 20min, free pass out of waking up in the middle of the night to feed the baby :).  For the kids: eat dessert before dinner, camping in the living room, pick a family game night (even if we just had one), pick a movie of your choice and get popcorn etc....  We made these up, get as creative as you want and make them up to fit your families wishes.