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Weekend & Family Friday: Bed Bumpers

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Bed Bumpers

My son is currently in a crib that we converted into a toddler bed. He’s doing really well in it but I know that we will need to upgrade to a “big boy bed” in the somewhat near future. In the beginning, I would like to outfit his bed with these bumpers that you place under the sheets to keep him from rolling out of the bed and onto the floor. They also sell them individually in case one of the sides of the bed is against the wall. I also would bring them on vacation (within driving distance) or for sleepovers at Grandma’s when he fully gives up the crib. A pair of bumpers are $39.99 at Amazon. Bed Bumpers

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About April

April is a working mom, a longtime reader of CorporetteMoms, and wrote our morning fashion advice for working moms from April 2018 to October 2020. She has one child (born 2/17!) and she’s a public interest lawyer in NYC.

Comments

  1. Anon says

    Will be moving to a new city in about a week (~5 hour drive) and I’m wondering how to store my frozen breastmilk stash for the journey. Any advice or excellent ice pack recs? Thanks so much!

    • HSAL says

      Five hours should be fine to just keep in a cooler with some ice packs. Even if it has thawed a little, it’s safe to refreeze as long as it’s still partially frozen. If you want to go more hardcore, you can look up how people package it for shipment, but I think that would be overkill.

      • rosie says

        Agree with this. I think you’d be fine with a soft cooler. How much do you have? If there’s a substantial amount, it’s going to keep itself pretty cold, if it’s less, I’d get more blue ice, etc. If you’re moving, seems like using whatever ice packs and any frozen food you have leftover in your freezer as thermal mass would be fine to supplement the milk packs.

    • Clementine says

      Okay, so I was a milk donor and used to ship milk. They had us fill up a cooler and then put in a couple ice packs then stuff the remainder with crumpled newspaper as an insulator. If it’s possible, have things set up ahead of time so you can pop it right in the freezer.

    • Allie says

      I’ve also found that the bigger ice packs stay frozen much longer than the small ones so I’d do a soft cooler with your milk, some frozen food, and probably four or five large ice packs.

    • Anonymous says

      We did this with frozen milk and opted to buy some dry ice at the super market and stick it in a cooler with newspaper. This was because we needed the milk to stay frozen, not just cool. To us, it was worth the peace of mind since I needed it for the week while I was going to be at work (and the kids with family). If you don’t need it frozen, lots of ice packs, a cooler, and newspapers should do the trick. Just keep the cooler closed until you get there!

      • Anonymous says

        If you’re worried about it, buy some dry ice and stick that in the cooler. I regularly ship frozen water samples across the country and 6 lbs of dry ice keeps 10 mL samples in a small cooler solidly frozen for 48 hours. I suspect a similarly sized block would keep larger bags of breastmilk easily frozen for the length of your drive, so it’s likely worth the $10 and hassle of having to go pick it up from the grocery store the morning of or night before.

        • Anonymous says

          Somewhat unrelated – does anyone know where to get dry ice in NYC? The idea that once could find this in a grocery store is so exotic to me. When I go visit relatives in a small town in Mississippi I’m aghast at the many offerings of Kroger (it is at least 3x the size of my grocery store).

    • Anonymous says

      Order a box of Freshly meals! They come packed in a sturdy cardboard box with two or three (depends if you get four or six meals) very large ice packs and packed with insulation (the insulation and ice packs are non-toxic/biodegradable/recyclable). My husband and I take Freshly meals for lunches. They’re pretty good for microwaveable meals (which can help when you’re exhausted from packing!)

  2. anne-on says

    Looking for a baby gift for my primary contact at a vendor – first baby, unsure of gender, looking to spend roughly $50-$75 – physical gift, work won’t reimburse a gift card. I got SO MANY blankets/stuffed animals, so looking to avoid those. Any suggestions on what you might like?

    • Clementine says

      Travel high chair? Activity Mat? I personally would pick that amount in classic children’s books and put in a nice basket – things like Where the Wild Things Are, The Very Hungry Caterpillar, The Snowy Day, etc.

    • Anonymous says

      If there’s a registry I would definitely purchase something off that. Otherwise, I think books are probably the safest bet, although $75 worth of books would be a LOT of books. They may get duplicates but having two copies of a book isn’t terrible, since they get lost and babies chew on them.
      I personally avoid giving clothes unless I know the person well and know their style, because I hated 99% of the clothes we received for my daughter.

      • anne-on says

        Thank you! For some reason it didn’t even occur to me to search for a baby registry….

    • GCA says

      Boba wrap and a Sandra Boynton board book box set? A couple board book sets and a nosefrida? If it’s a winter or spring baby, warm fleece booties and a cute bunting?

      • Audrey III says

        We got these as gifts for both of our kids, and they loved them! Only caveat I will throw out is that they are not microwave safe, but that was OK with us. They held up really nicely in the dishwasher, and I used the box as a box to store baby keepsakes. Also, when we got the one for our first, it came with a cloth bib that was awesome–big, thick and really great for the early days of solid foods.

      • shortperson says

        i would not feed my kid from melamine and i dont like that style. you do you of course, but for gifts i would stick to books!

    • rosie says

      Aden & Anais swaddle blankets mailed directly from Nordstrom — classic item and easy enough to return. You could throw in a Sophie or other toy item.

      • Anonymous says

        Yeah, if there is no registry to be found, I’d just go with something from a store that has hassle-free returns. Nordstrom works. Buy Buy Baby is good, too. Target is fine, but I feel like their return window has shortened (along with nearly every other retailer these days).

    • Anonymous says

      For a vendor (I am assuming not a personal friend), I would get something classy, simple and not too personal. A silver frame (engraved or not) or other baby themed frame, a classy cream colored bib and burp cloth set from a nicer brand, a pretty (fancier) receiving blanket. I would not personally go on their registry – that seems really personal for that type of relationship.

    • Anon says

      This will probably out me, but for client gifts I like to do a jelly cat animal with matching board book and an outfit from Kissy Kissy (so soft and too expensive to buy for myself) in a larger size (3-6 or 6-9 month typically). And I like to order from Saks because they will do free gift wrapping I think (or at least they used to).

    • anne-on says

      Thanks everyone! Went with some animal hooded baby towels from restoration hardware and a jellycat (all returnable with a gift receipt). They did have a registry but it was mostly bought out and shipping books from amazon felt too impersonal.
      Baby hasn’t come yet so the stool idea wouldn’t work, but it was so adorable! Looking at cute baby things was also 100% the best part of my day today ;)

    • TheElms says

      Clothes from Primary in bigger sizes and gender neutral colors. If client doesn’t like them Primary has a good return policy and will happily exchange them.

      • Anon says

        I LOVE Primary but its definitely not everyone’s style (one of my closest friends won’t stop talking about boring and ugly the clothes are). If you’re going to buy clothes with the idea that the recipient can exchange them, I’d go with some place where they’d have a lot more choice like Amazon or Target, or even GAP or Old Navy. My friend ended up giving me a $100 Primary gift certificate (which was super nice for me, ha!) because she couldn’t find a single thing there she wanted to buy her kids.

  3. GCA says

    My first was a pro at Falling Out Of Beds. There are some very funny photos of him half off his toddler bed, still asleep. We tried a similar foam bumper and he rolled out (over it!) anyway. But I’ve heard of people successfully using good old pool noodles for the same function.

    • mahnamahna says

      When we moved my first to a full size bed (his crib converted to this) we did not realize until after we purchased a mattress set that his bed either was not intended to have a box spring or needed a low profile one. So his set leaves him sleeping way high up in the air. We tried pool noodles first but they moved around under the bedding too much. I finally sprang for some foam bumpers like these and 5 years later we still use them. Because he does not move a lot at night, we actually put one bumper to my second’s bed when she went to a big bed. At the time, I felt silly for spending $40+ on foam, but we have more than gotten our monies worth.

    • So Anon says

      My eight year old will still occasionally fall out of his bed. I will be downstairs in the evening and hear a “thunk.” When I go upstairs, he is curled up on top of the sheets and cover, and I tuck him back in. He doesn’t remember it the next morning.

    • FP says

      I moved my first to a twin mattress on the ground when he was 23 months because I needed the crib for our then-newborn second. One night I was up nursing the baby and I happened to glance at the toddler’s monitor, and watched him slowly roll off the mattress and then – get up and get back in without making a peep! It was hysterical to watch him handle it all on his own and I would have had no idea.

  4. Anonymous says

    If I tell my BigLaw partner bosses that I’ve gotten hit with a dreaded daycare cold and am staying home, will that come off poorly? Or will they understand that indeed, they do not want to catch a daycare cold? They are all men with kids in middle/high school.

    • Leatty says

      Will you be working from home? That makes a difference. If you are taking the day off, I would not tell them it is due to a cold; just say that you are sick. Big law partners aren’t known for being the most understanding . . .

    • Anonymous says

      Definitely do not call it a day care cold that sounds silly. In my experience no one in BigLaw stays home for a cold, but a simple “I’m under the weather today so working from home” should be fine.

    • Anonymous says

      Right. I have never told my current boss in what way I am sick, and I am not biglaw and have a great relationship with him. I tell my assistant sometimes, but mostly so she knows when to expect my return and how much I might actually function during the day. I do tell my boss my child’s illness when it will require multiple days off (strep, RSV, etc.). I’d probably tell my boss what was wrong if I was hospitalized and it wasn’t personal.

    • Anonymous says

      ‘Pretty contagious and working from home today so that I don’t spread it to everyone at the office.’

    • Anonanonanon says

      Either “I’m not feeling well and will be working remotely today” or “I have a nasty cold and don’t want to spread it around the office so I’ll be working remotely today”

    • Anonymous says

      I’m in a very relaxed 9-5 job and would never say I have a “daycare cold,” that sounds very juvenile to me. I just say I’m contagious and WFH so I don’t spread germs around. (When my kid is too sick for daycare, I do tell my boss why I can’t be at work, fwiw. But that’s the only context in which I would use the word daycare.)
      FYI, if it’s a really bad cold, it might be RSV. That just went around our daycare and my DD didn’t even miss any days for it, because we had no idea it was RSV until she was all well (apparently some people don’t run a fever with it). We thought it was just the worlds worst cold. I felt terrible when we found out, because I know it can make babies and the elderly very sick, but we genuinely had no idea.

      • Anonymous says

        I wouldn’t feel too terribly about it. Our ped’s opinion is that it doesn’t really matter whether it’s a cold or RSV, what matters is the symptoms. So if your kid is having breathing issues, you want to seek treatment even if it’s “only” a cold, whereas RSV and just minor symptoms isn’t a big deal.

        • Anon says

          Oh I don’t feel bad for my kid’s sake! She was fine, and I agree she totally didn’t need to see the ped. I feel bad that we sent her to daycare and exposed her to everyone while she had a virus that can be so serious, especially in babies (she is in a 0-2 classroom but at least there are no newborns there currently). She wasn’t patient zero though and I believe the whole class got it, so keeping her home probably wouldn’t have done anything, but I still felt bad.

  5. lawsuited says

    Say you’re sick and staying home to protect the innocent – use the word “contagious” and do not use the word “daycare”

    • Anonymous says

      +1 “I’m working from home to avoid spreading these terrible germs.”

  6. lawsuited says

    We used pool noodles for this. Much cheaper and now that toddler has adjusted to his big bed we can use them in the pool!

    • Lyssa says

      We had some kid-sized (not baby) blankets around, and I rolled them into tubes and used them. Worked like a charm.

    • Anon says

      Kiddo is in the toddler bed with a half rail (which she still fell out of a few times at first) – only because it came with the crib, but she frequently sleeps in our bed both for naptime and nighttime on the outside and I just leave my maternity pillow along the edge, works like a charm. I think when we move her to a “real” bed once we get pregnant with No. 2, I will give her the old maternity pillow and buy a new one for me.

  7. AnonATL says

    Y’all I hit the 10 week mark and the heartburn has attacked. Making things worse, everything acidic and citrusy tastes like the best thing ever.

    That is all. Tums and I are about to become best friends.

      • rosie says

        Man do I miss Zantac. Been making do on prevacid (OB’s suggested replacement). And totally sleeping on left side.

    • Anonymous says

      Try sleeping on your left side. It sounds like an old wives tale but it really helped me.

    • anne-on says

      The chewable tums helped me, but ask your doctor if you can move up to something more preventative.
      If you can stomach it, dairy did help. Coincidentally, my main pregnancy craving was ice cold milk and cereal. I haaaate milk normally so that definitely took me by surprise!

    • Anon says

      Pepcid and tums and cut all the caffeine you can (from someone drinking decaf coffee with a 2.5 year old that doesn’t sleep because my post-baby body never went back to my pre-baby minimal heartburn life)

    • New Momma-to-Be says

      I suffered with terrible, constant heartburn starting about the middle of December (29 weeks currently, so farther along than you). My biggest tip is pay attention/keep a food journal – after a week or two I figured out what it was that was triggering my heartburn — chocolate! I had so many nibbles that were chocolate from law firms (in house), and i grazed during the day. Once I cut chocolate completely out, I haven’t had heartburn since. For me, I assumed it was acidic foods like tomato sauce, etc., but that solved it!

      • Nan says

        Ohhh this is such a bummer though! Better than dealing with heartburn for sure, but why can’t the trigger ever be kale or something?

      • rosie says

        Yes, sadly chocolate relaxes whatever the thing is that keeps food down where it should be and is often a trigger. Another thing that can be the culprit is full-fat dairy because of the fat content, so some people might find a cup of milk helps, but be careful. Carbonation, too.

  8. Anonymous says

    We decided not to bother with bumpers when we transitioned our twins to toddler beds. They fell out a handful of times the first week, but haven’t since and it meant that when we traveled over Christmas we could just stick them in regular beds without worrying about it. (We did put a bunch of couch cushions on the floor at our first airbnb, but it turned out to not matter.)

    • Anonymous says

      I bought rails for my kiddo when we transitioned her at 3.5 to a twin bed from a crib. She said she didn’t want them, so we didn’t take them out of the box. After a week of no falls, we returned them. I was really surprised, but she was like “I’ll be fine ” with an eyeroll. Maybe sleeping on cots at daycare helped?

    • Rayne of Terror says

      My kids only fell out of bed once or twice, not enough to put bumpers on the bed. You might just see how it goes at first if the bed is not too high and other furniture is not too close.

  9. Pumping/Bfeeding Q says

    My baby will turn 1 next month. (Where does the time go?!) I’m starting to taper off pumping at work, but I would like to keep nursing morning/evening for the next few months – ideally through the end of cold and flu season. Those of you who did this, how did you handle weekends after you were done pumping? Did you a) nurse during the day on weekends or b) somehow convince your kiddo that nursing is only for night/morning? I tend toward oversupply and my kid loves to nurse, so I worry that if I do a) my Mondays back at work will be uncomfortable, but if I do b) I’m not sure that my kid will really understand why I won’t let her nurse during the day on weekends? Curious about others’ experience.

    • Cb says

      I did this for 6 months and it was way easier than I expected – even for a kid who really, really loved to nurse. If he wanted to nurse, I offered a bottle with a bit of milk in it or a snack and eventually he stopped asking. We also tended to nurse in the same place, so in his bedroom at night and our bed in the am, so I think that helped with the message.

    • anon says

      I made this transition with three kids and it went great. No tips, just sort of did it and they adjusted.

      • Anonymous says

        +1 – I honestly can’t remember what we did, but it was painless. Same with stopping nursing altogether around 2 (I was able to keep nursing in the morning and night for that 2nd year without pumping, although who knows how much milk was being produced).

    • GCA says

      I also stopped pumping for both kids months before I stopped nursing, and both really love/d to nurse. I nursed at home as normal on weekends – you may find that the older kiddo gets, the more distracted they are, so you’re not even nursing that long/ frequently on weekends anyway. The end of a workday was a little uncomfortable at first, but my body adjusted. (If you really need to relieve pressure, try the haakaa in the car or the bathroom at the end of the workday?)

    • Emily S. says

      I think I purposefully subbed in an activity or a snack at feeding time on the weekends for the first weekend so that my kids didn’t really notice the change. I agree with the others, tho, that it seemed to naturally peter out. Big Sister need a little bit more time to adjust to the change, but from what I remember, there weren’t any big meltdowns. Good luck!

    • Anon says

      Echoing that it happened very naturally. By 12 months my kid was often more interested in playing and eating solids than nursing, so we didn’t really nurse unless I suggested it, and I stopped suggesting it except in the morning, at night and in special circumstances (illness, travel, etc.) Then I stopped suggesting it at night, and finally stopped suggesting it altogether and that was it, she was weaned. I know not everyone is that lucky, but for us it was truly a painless process and I never felt like I was depriving her in any way.

    • Pogo says

      I gave a bottle of formula for nap wake-ups (mine was about 10 or 11 mos when I started tapering off mid-day work sessions, still did 2 solid naps) and then cow’s milk when he turned 1. It was very natural, but I will say mine was pretty much over nursing at that point. Too much excitement.

      I do remember occasional extra daytime sessions – like, once we were on vacation and hiking a mountain and it cut into his naptime. He fell asleep on my back in the carrier, but then woke up after only like 45min when we descended the mountain. He was inconsolable, I think because he was so tired and confused about what was going on, so I whipped out the b00b for that instant calm. Didn’t seem to bother my supply to have a random mid-day snack for him here or there. Good luck!

      • LadyNFS says

        I stopped pumping around 13 months, and still nursed morning, bedtime (and after work sometimes), and on the weekends without issue. I agree with all the posters that say it kind of naturally adjusted itself and I was frankly surprised that I was able to continue nursing for as long as I did (she’s 2.5 and we’re weaning now, but that’s a different post). In the beginning, I did notice some discomfort on Mondays after a weekend of nursing, but it does work itself out. I was surprised at how long I was able to nurse despite having stopped pumping, though who knows how much supply is really there. My LO told me a few months ago, “Mama, b00ba is broken,” (not that that is any deterrent, apparently).

        • GCA says

          I reckon that tells you it’s more comfort than snack at this age! Though my 17mo sometimes still gets mad at bedtime if there isn’t any actual milk coming out.

    • Anonymous says

      Agree that it works out fine – they will adjust, and your body will adjust if they nurse more on the weekends.

      If it is a problem and you need help actively dropping daytime sessions, I found that being out of the house at that time really helped. So we’d go grocery shopping every Saturday for a few weeks during the mid-morning session she didn’t seem to want to drop and then church on Sundays. Not being home helped get her out of the routine, and then it stuck.

    • Anonymous says

      Nursed before naps on the weekends. Helped keep my supply up to have the extra mid-day nursing session on weekends.

    • Boston Legal Eagle says

      With my second, I stopped pumping at 9 months and continued nursing morning and night, and then just morning, until 1 year. I also had oversupply so I dropped all daytime sessions on the weekends to avoid having painful clogged ducts. I’m not sure if my body would have adjusted between weekend and non-weekend but I didn’t want to risk it so I just stuck to the same schedule every day. Baby didn’t care – he had been having formula for a while so we just gave him more at that point.

  10. JTM says

    Amazon used to sell an inflatable version of these – we have them and used them when we transitioned our toddler to her big girl bed. The inflatable ones are great for traveling as they can deflate & be thrown in a suitcase. Sadly I can’t find them on the site anymore but hopefully there’s a similar version out there somewhere!

  11. Anonymous says

    Extended family vacation to Jamaica coming up! However, upon review of the pictures on the website, I’m thinking our royal suite isn’t actually a suite, just a large room. Our kids are pretty strict 7pm bedtime. Any thoughts on what we can do? I hate the idea of lying in the dark every night at 7pm. On previous vacations like this we had a screen, so we could still kind of slip around the room, sit on teh balcony, that kind of thing. Should I bother the resort to see how they could help us? It’s the Azul Beach Resort Negril by Karisma, if anyone is familiar.

    • AwayEmily says

      Yes, definitely bother the resort! They may have a different room with a configuration that has a door. I have done exactly this before in a similar situation. Now before I book a “suite” I always call first to ask if there’s a door. I think it’s annoying how so many so-called suites don’t actually have dividers.

    • Anonymous says

      YMMV, but we found that once our son was asleep, he slept really deeply for the first bit, enough that we could often turn on the TV with the sound on low, etc. We would often end up going to sleep early, but that meant we would actually be well rested when he woke up at 6 on the dot.

    • Anon says

      I would definitely ask the resort about it. I panicked on our last trip a few days before we left because the floorplan on the website didn’t show a door, but then there was one. But if you have a balcony, you could probably hang out there while the kids sleep and then sneak back in. I would bring a flashlight to make moving around in the dark easier.

    • NYCer says

      I have never been to that hotel, but do you know if the room has a patio / balcony? In warm weather destinations, it is nice to sit outside and chat in the evenings after the kids are asleep.

      But I also think it is worth calling the hotel and asking if there are any rooms available that have a door between the bedroom and living area.

  12. Car seat flipping says

    Any other twin moms dealt with two radically different sized kids and car seat flipping? We got Diono Radians so that our twins could rear-face longer, and both are still comfortably doing so at three and a half. But boy twin is quite a lot bigger than girl twin (about 8 lbs ahead) and will hit the rear-facing limit well before she will. I’ll probably just wind up telling her that thems the breaks, and it may not be an issue, but anyone else rotated them at different times?

    • Anonymous says

      If you’re already at 3.5 I’d just be inclined to turn both at the same time.

    • Anonymous says

      I would turn both twins at the same time at 3.5. Mine would not have accepted this reality and we would have a fight each time we got into the car, which would mean a more dangerous driving condition for me.

    • AwayEmily says

      I’m with you on not wanting to flip until the last possible moment (my 4yo is still rear facing in her Diono). I would say TRY doing him first, see how it goes, and if they are kicking up a fuss beyond the first week, then go ahead and flip her also. You never know what will set kids off; maybe they will take it in stride.

    • Anon says

      I would just turn them both now, but I’m not as big on extended rear-facing as many people I know. I turned my large child before 3 because I didn’t want to have to invest in new carseats.

      • Anon says

        Me too. I turned my (also large) child at 17 months because of car-sickness issues (even on short drives around town, so much vomit).

    • Anonymous says

      My twins are the exact same height and weight, so we don’t have this issue, but in your shoes I’d definitely flip them both at the same time, just the save the arguments. Mine would not be at all okay with something changing for one and not the other and since I’m usually the one getting them in the car solo, it wouldn’t be worth fighting.

      FWIW, at 3.5 there’s really not much evidence that they’re drastically safer RF. I say this as someone who still has my twins RF at 3, but I’ll be flipping mine somewhere between 3.5 and 4 because they’ll outgrow their Scenera Nexts and I don’t want to buy another convertible seat instead of one that just forward faces.

    • Anon says

      When do you think they’ll hit the limit? The safety of FF is more dependent on age (ie bone development) than size, so your daughter would be as safe as your son FF. I feel totally comfortable FF at four, give or take a couple months.

    • Anonymous says

      At three and a half she can just front face. You don’t have to insist on rear facing forever and a day.

  13. landscaping and kids says

    We are working with a landscape architect to fix several issues with our backyard. One thing we cannot decide upon is the play area for our son. He is about to turn 5. We are not inclined to spend the money on a fancy playset as we wonder if it will be used much as he gets older. Our thought was the open areas for playing sports would be more utilized than a playlet at this age. As it is impossible to predict, I thought I would ask the hive. If you are outside at home, what does your 5-10 year old enjoy the most? Is it sports, a swing set, or something else? Thank you!

    • Midwestern says

      Basketball hoop and “court” (in our case a large area with patio bricks because I did not want a paved back yard). Useful for bikes, scooters as well.

    • avocado says

      A playset will get limited use unless younger siblings come along. I have a 12-year-old, and the items that have gotten the most use in her friends’ backyards over the years are tree platforms and bench swings.

    • anon says

      I have both a 5-year-old and a 10-year-old. The 5-year-old still loves the swingset but older kiddo started using it less and less around age 7.

      What they enjoy most is having open space, I think. At others’ houses, those giant saucer swings are a hit for both big and little kids. Lots of our neighbors have trampolines for the big kids; we do not. One friend has a tetherball that is really fun and takes up hardly any space.

    • Anonymous says

      I wouldn’t get a big playset. Consider yard stuff like a geo dome climber, zip line, tire swing. We got a big climbing done for the kids for Christmas and my 7 y/o is obsessed.

  14. Anonanonanon says

    Thank you again to everyone who took the time to give me such helpful feedback on the questions I had regarding my law school application. I haven’t spoken to anyone but my husband and boss about this IRL, so it was so nice to have a place to ask this question without getting “ARE YOU INSANE YOU HAVE KIDS” in return. Thanks to the advice here, I have a meeting scheduled in the next two weeks with the admissions office of the one school that fits into my schedule and budget, and fingers crossed on the rest!

  15. Anon says

    Random, but does anyone have any fun Valentine’s Day traditions or things you do for/with your kids to celebrate? My almost 2 year old is a February baby and for some reason is absolutely *obsessed* with hearts so I want to do something special to celebrate the heart holiday but am not sure what! When I was a kid my mom would decorate that house for V Day and other minor holidays, but I don’t think I’m crafty enough for that.

    • GCA says

      Not really a tradition, but get some fun heart sprinkles and use them on oatmeal; my kids love this and are little enough to still think it’s a treat, which is adorable. Write love notes for daycare lunch. If kiddo is into stickers and you don’t mind being festooned, get some heart sticker sheets. (And happy almost-birthday to your kiddo!)

    • Emily S. says

      We decorate with a banner and PBK chairbackers and a heart shaped bowl of m&ms. I am not crafty, either, so all of my decorations are store bought! We also bake and decorate heart shaped cookies with pink, red, and white sprinkles and icing. I surprise them with a card, heart shaped balloon, and little prize on the 14th (a book, coloring book, etc.) They also have Valentines’ plates, cups, and silverware that we use from about Feb. 1 through the 14th. Then, we have a special dinner that night, and if I’ve gotten it together, a special desert, like chocolate croissants. DH and I go out for lunch that day so the evening is kid time. (Typing this out, it seems a bit overkill, but it’s a nice perk in what starts to seem like an interminable winter.)

    • blueridge29 says

      We put a paper heart on the door to the kids room each night with a word that describes them – brave, kind, silly… The kids think it is fun and enjoy seeing a new heart each morning. On the morning of Valentine’s Day we have a small gift, card, and some chocolates waiting for them in the morning. We also stop putting the hearts on the 14th so it isn’t too much work.

    • Anonymous says

      Get a balloon. Or balloons. Did this last year and my kid loved it. Plus gave her candy. This year there’s a party at preschool so that’s enough for me. DH gets me chocolate which is all I ask for.

      • avocado says

        When my daughter was little, for just about every holiday I’d get themed paper napkins and a Mylar balloon. For Valentine’s Day, I like to bake lemon raspberry cupcakes or cookies because they are delicious and pink.

    • Anonanonanon says

      My mom used to gift us a new pair of PJs every year that she wrapped in V-day-themed paper and we got to open that morning. she’d also make heart-shaped mini muffins for us. I would do the same with my kids but we started a Christmas Eve PJ tradition and I feel like that’s too many gifted PJs a year!

    • KW says

      I make heart shaped food for dinner that night. In the past I’ve done heart shaped grilled cheese sandwiches with tomato soup, heart shaped pancakes (dyed pink with food coloring!), heart shaped waffles, heart shaped fried eggs (cookie inside a cookie cutter on a griddle – didn’t work out great, but not terrible), heart shaped quesadillas, watermelon cut into hearts, heart shaped rice krispy treats, and of course, heart shaped cookies. It’s fun and my now 8 yo likes to help come up with ideas and make the food with me.
      Also – starting on Feb. 1, I tape a styrofoam heart on my 8 yo’s bedroom door every morning before she wakes up and on each heart I’ve written something good about her like “You’re a good friend,” “You’re so much fun to be around,” etc. She loved it so much the first year that I planned on stopping on Valentine’s Day, but she wanted me to keep doing it for the rest of the month. I buy the hearts at Dollar Tree.

      • KW says

        Oops, that should say the eggs were “cooked inside a cookie cutter…”

    • Anonymous says

      We actually had a little Valentine’s Day party when my son was 2.5 with other parents and kids. We live in the NE, so weather is bad in February, and everyone was glad for an excuse to get out of the house and eat cupcakes. And we made the very welcome discovery that one of my son’s daycare friend’s mother is a pastry chef.

    • DLC says

      I discovered a few years ago, if you cut strawberries in half, they look like hearts. It’s been my go to Valentine’s Day snack contribution since then.

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