Happy Valentine's Day! We decided to have a very special version of the blog just to wish you all a very Happy Valentine's Day. In our home we have always just had a dinner, at home, with our family. The hustle and bustle of going out has always just not been worth it and then you add the expense of a babysitter and our kids feeling left out of the celebration...yeah, not worth it. So each year we dress it up. I cook something extra nice, with dessert of course, and make up a new tablescape. Now here's the secret..I keep the decorating budget down to $25. Yup...I even beat that this year thanks to the Dollar Store!

 First I started out with four Dollar Store paper lanterns. Sturdy these are not but I'll get a few uses out of them! I tucked in white Christmas light and they will add our "candle light" for the evening!

 Remember the wreath I updated for the door? This is the leftover pieces from that! Just a foam heart wreath cut up into pieces and glued together, red curly ribbon with felt sticky back hearts placed back to back. SO pretty! 

 Now onto the table! I used a red and a white plastic tablecloth then topped it with Valentine's Day themed plastic placemats. A white plate topped with a red napkin, a favor along with a fork and a spoon for dessert complete the set up.

 The favors are actually chocolate fortune cookies! We are having take out Chinese this year so I themed the favors to the food! The favor boxes are also thanks to the Dollar Store but the fortune cookies were from Cost Plus.

 The drinks are just dressed up Izzie's! Pomegranate fizzies to go along with our Valentine palette. Perfect! Tied with ribbon I already had and using cupcake picks I got in the cupcake liner set and  paper straws that were just a buck at the grocery store on sale.

 The rose was a gift from my mom and was just so perfect I plunked it into a small glass milk bottle and added it to our table.

 The red and white boxes of Chinese food will be placed into the center of the table for us to all serve ourselves and, yes, they match our color scheme perfectly!

 This is what I do to show my love to my family. We occasionally make home made Valentines, but we don't give gifts. My husband helps me set up and decorate and even my kids chip in to help put it altogether. A real family occasion!

Finally there has to be dessert, right? These are just dark chocolate cupcakes that I have used a heart shaped cookie cutter to remove part of the top, filled with icing, dusted with powdered sugar and then a pick stuck into the top. Easy Peasy! A dozen of these went to my son's school today and a few more will go to the Seniors in our complex. 

Our "place cards" as well as a yummy dessert after tonight's dinner is a parfait of whipped cream, strawberries, brownies and a Dove chocolate on top! YUM! Now here's the fun trick to these...the top is a cupcake liner! I just molded it over the top of the jar and screwed the lid right on. Perfect!

Hope your Valentine's Day was wonderful whether you spent it with a husband or wife or your kids, your family members or your friends. It's all about all kinds of love! See you Monday!

Cat