Valentine’s Day Ideas for Seniors

Valentine’s Day is for everyone

Valentine’s Day isn’t just for couples – everyone can celebrate! It’s the perfect occasion for showing love and affection to family and friends. It’s also a great opportunity to spend quality time with your older adult. We’ve rounded up plenty of fantastic Valentine’s Day ideas they’ll love – 6 categories of activity suggestions and 4 thoughtful gift ideas.

6 cheerful Valentine’s Day activities for seniors

1. Create a festive environment
Putting up decorations makes any holiday festive and more special. Valentine’s Day is a great reason to make simple DIY decorations together – save money and do something fun at the same time!

Simple Valentine decoration ideas:

• Hearts everywhere – cut hearts out of colored paper and stick them up around the house.
• Faux stained glass window – cut hearts out of colored tissue paper and stick them up on a light-filled window. Overlapping them makes beautiful patterns too – like in this tutorial. Or, try this fun “stained glass” tutorial.
• Fun chain garland – cut pink and red-colored paper into equal-sized strips. Make interlocking rings by pasting or stapling the ends together (like this), then hang them around the house.
• Festive heart garland – this tutorial shows how to make a fun garland

2. Celebrate with family and friends
Any holiday is a good reason to get together with family and friends. Organize a casual potluck or even just a coffee/tea social.

You could even ask people to bring little Valentine’s cards for a festive exchange. They don’t have to be expensive or store-bought, we found some lovely free printable cards here:

• 15 different sets of cards
• 4 cute cards on one page
• 8 funny cards on one page

3. Enjoy Valentine-themed activities
Coloring is a wonderful way to relax, be creative, and enjoy time together. Here are some of our favorite free Valentine-themed coloring pages:

• Bee Mine
• Assorted Valentine pictures

Puzzles are another activity to enjoy together. Try some of these:

• 2 Valentine-themed word search puzzles
• Valentine’s Sudoku puzzle
• DIY Valentine’s heart puzzle – cut a large heart out of red or pink paper, “laminate” it using clear contact paper, and cut into puzzle shapes. To make it more colorful and festive, you could also glue smaller hearts, Valentine-themed images, or photos onto the heart before sealing it in contact paper.

Bingo is another fun game that you can play with as few or as many people as you like! Crayola created a free Valentine-themed bingo game. All you need to do is print the different Valentine bingo sheets – there are 10 in total.

How to play:

1. Make sure each player gets a different sheet.
2. Take one of the bingo pages and cut out every square picture separately. Put all the squares into a container.
3. The bingo caller will pull out one square at a time and call out the selected picture.
4. If that picture is on a player’s board, the player marks that square – use Hershey’s kisses, color it in, get creative!
5. When one player gets 5 colored squares in a row or diagonally, that person wins the game!

4. Make homemade treats to share
Valentine’s Day and treats go hand in hand. Celebrate by making Valentine’s cookies, easy desserts, or savory snacks together. You can even make extras to give to family and friends!

Sweet treat ideas:

• Valentine’s Day fruit kabobs
• Pope’s Valentine cookies
• Sweetheart cookie bouquet

Savory treat ideas:

• Love toast egg dish
• Heart-shaped toast snack
• Heart-shaped grilled cheese sandwiches with a bowl of soup (use a heart cookie cutter after grilling the sandwich)

Festive non-alcoholic beverages:

• Cranberry sipper
• Hibiscus mocktini

5. Watch a classic romantic movie or romantic comedy
You might want to relax with a funny or romantic movie. Whether the group is just the two of you or a family viewing party, just grab some snacks and settle into a comfy couch.

Some ideas:

• An Affair to Remember
• His Girl Friday
• Casablanca
• Singin’ in the Rain
• When Harry Met Sally
• Love Actually
• 50 First Dates

6. Share love with the community
If your older adult likes to knit, crochet, or sew, consider making red or pink hats, scarves, or blankets to donate to local shelters or hospitals.

4 thoughtful Valentine’s gift ideas

1. A lovely floral arrangement
Flowers brighten up a room and are a lovely way to bring a little bit of nature indoors.

2. Sweet treats
Candy is another classic Valentine’s gift.

3. A houseplant
Another way to add soothing greenery to the room is to gift your older adult a houseplant – either alive, easy-care plant or a small, no-fuss faux plant.

4. Stuffed animal
A cuddly stuffed animal can make a fantastic gift, especially for someone with dementia who would appreciate a comforting buddy.

Source: Daily Caring