How To: Style Your Table For Valentine’s Day

I don’t know about you but time spent as a couple is precious around here. And as with many precious things, it is rare. I have to admit, we never made use of our time before having kids either, with me being a teacher. Most of our time as a couple has been spent with me marking books at the weekend, planning late into the evenings and working 11 hour days at school.

For the past few years that hasn’t been the case, the books have been swapped for dirty nappies and the 11 hour days have become 12 hour+ days as a parent. Of course I wouldn’t swap this for the world but it does mean we don’t get to spend enough time just being ‘us’.

Valentine’s Day is one of those days where we really try and make an effort to spend the night together, no distractions, just us. Up until recently we had nobody we could ask to babysit so we have always had a meal for 2 at home. For us this is really special anyway as ordinarily we eat as a family. So on Valentine’s night we put the girls to bed and make a meal for two.

I thought I would share how we style our table for our Valentine’s date night. I think it is important to make that extra effort to differentiate from an ordinary meal time. The whole theme was built around this lovely pink table runner from Amara. I chose it over the classic red theme for Valentine’s as I think it is just a little bit softer and more grown up.

When we usually serve up dinner there is no thought behind the place setting. I think making sure your cutlery matches and you have something as simple as a cloth napkin can make all the difference. Our dinner plates are also from Amara and with the gold edge I think they bring a little magic to the place setting.

I am a huge fan of detail and so I always like to add a little note, just something to make Mr F smile when he sits down.

These wooden name settings are something I kept from a friend’s wedding. They usually live on our bedside tables but are perfect for something like this too. Just shows that half the time you will have various props around your house – so get scouting!

I like to soften a table by having some flowers as a centrepiece. These are off-centre as I didn’t want them to get in the way of us chatting. They frame the situation beautifully though – plus they are fake so will last forever!

So there we have it, this is what we will be sitting down to for our Valentine’s date night. Now all I have to do is think of something to cook!

I was sent the Amara products for inclusion in this post. All thoughts and words are my own.