Just where did this mushy day of love originate? Get ready to swoon! This site History.com explains that there are several versions of St. Valentine. One legend suggests that he was a Roman priest during the third century. When the emperor outlawed marriage for soldiers, Valentine disregarded the law and continued to secretly perform weddings for young couples. When caught, Valentine was martyred.

Another legend teaches that St. Valentine tried to help Christian prisoners escape the beatings and torture of Roman prisons. After he was caught and imprisoned, Valentine fell in love with a girl who visited him. He wrote her a letter signed “From your Valentine” before he was killed. Whichever story you want to believe, St. Valentine was known to be popular, heroic and romantic.

It is believed that we celebrate St. Valentine on February 14 in an effort to “Christianize” an ancient pagan fertility festival held in mid February. Part of the festival included the pairing off of the young single men and women of the cities.

It’s kind of fun to learn the ancient legends behind our popular holidays! Why not share these stories with your grandkids as you engage them in some kids’ Valentine crafts?

Valentine coloring pages are a simple way to spend an afternoon together. You can also find a wide array free, printable Valentine cards here The Balance. If you’re up for something different, though, check out this clothes pin heart wreath. What an easy, darling Valentine craft!

Of course, Amazon offers Valentine stuff galore. Check out these fun, no-mess, removable gel window stickers. Speaking of stickers, if you know any sticker fans, they’ll love you forever when they see this set of over 1,000 Valentine stickers. The stickers cost under $20 shipped, and should last you until the day you die. Also, these Valentine pencils are perfect for passing out.

For your favorite LEGO fan, this Cupid dog set is adorable and costs only $10.

However you celebrate it with your grandkids, we hope you have a very Happy Valentine’s Day! Maybe you could break out your chocolate stash to share with your grandkids while they craft and play. (Orrrr, maybe not.)

The post The Curious History of Valentine’s Day appeared first on TGIF - This Grandma is Fun.

WHALE, look no further!  We COD send you elsewhere for some Valentine ideas, but this seemed like the perfect oppor-TUNA-ty to share a free printable with you!

All these fish puns?  Well, they are on PORPOISE because these Valentines are REELy fishy.

We crafted them from vintage French postcards, found at The Graphics Fairy.  We think they are hilarious!

If you like them, too, then click below to download the PDF file for these FREE printable Valentines!  After all, we’re sure that SALMON you know would love to get one.

Click this button to get your free printable Valentines!

The post FREE Printable Valentines! appeared first on TGIF - This Grandma is Fun.

Valentine’s Day isn’t too far away, so we’ve come up with a very quirky–and very FREE–printable you can use to make your own “o-FISH-al” greetings for the day of love!

Scroll down to download the PDF file below and print it out at home or send it off to your local copy store and let them print it for you.  We recommend printing them on cardstock.

The free file contains a page of four fishy valentines that you can cut out and attach to your favorite “fish food”.  We suggest Swedish Fish or Goldfish Crackers.  Did you know there are princess goldfish that are pinkish purple?  (Perfect for Valentine’s Day!)

Notice that these cards only have a space for “from”, not “to.”  That’s because of a busy mom tip we’ve got for you: simplify your life by having kids write their own name in the “from” spot.  Don’t worry about writing the names of everyone in their class on the Valentines when they are handing them out to the entire class!  It is much less stressful for the kids and makes the distribution go so much faster in the classroom!

Click on the image below to download and save the file for this printable thank-you postcard template.

Just in case you missed it up above, you can click on the highlighted text to download the PDF file for this printable right here:

Free Printable Fish Valentines

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