15 Clean Eating Valentine’s Day Treats

Need some budget-friendly, clean eating ideas for Valentine’s Day? Here’s a list of simple desserts, treats, and no-cost gifts you can give your family!

If you like these, you might like our other real food desserts!

This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy here.

It’s almost Valentine’s Day, and we want to make it special for our kids. Unfortunately, most of the classic Valentines’ day gifts are loaded with sugar, artificial food dyes, and other ingredients we try to avoid.

You love your kids, and you care about what goes into their bodies. Maybe this is your first year learning about clean eating and the importance of fueling your body – and your family – with clean food. Or maybe you’ve been doing this real food thing for a while and you need some fresh budget-friendly ideas.

(By the way, you might like our Free Budget-Friendly, Clean Eating Menu Plan – $60 to feed 4 people; no beans and rice! Get it here.)

Or maybe you’re like me and it’ll be easier to remember how much you love your kids when they aren’t bouncing around on a sugar high all day.

Here are 15 unique ideas and recipes to help you celebrate the people you love in a fun way, on a budget, with clean food!

1. Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Dessert Hummus

Even the kids love this easy, creamy, real food dessert. Serve it in pink, red, or heart-shaped bowls (and try the chocolate variation for an extra chocolatey treat).

2. Strawberry Breakfast Cake for Valentine’s Day

This simple cake is studded with bright red strawberries and loaded with whole grains and natural sweeteners, but it’s sweet enough for dessert. Try it with frozen berries if they aren’t in season on Valentine’s Day where you live!

3. Brownies Valentine’s Day

Try these amazing eggless brownies – made without weird ingredients! Making them egg-free keeps them budget-friendly (not to mention allergy-friendly), and you probably already have the ingredients in your kitchen.

4. Heart-Shaped Valentine’s Day Pancakes

A Valentine’s Day classic that’s easy to make with real food. We love this real food recipe for pancakes! I demonstrated how to make heart-shaped pancakes on IGTV.

5. Heart-Shaped Pizza

If you have pizza crust (try this recipe!), heart-shaped pizzas are pretty easy to make. They don’t have to be perfect – just stretch the crust into a general heart-shaped blob and let your kids’ imagination do the rest! We make personal-size Valentine’s Day pizzas so everyone can top it themselves (and no one can blame mom when they don’t look perfect. Ahem.)

6. Heart-Shaped Cheese Slices

Packing lunch? Break out the heart-shaped cookie cutter (affiliate link) and make a fun addition to lunch! You can do it yourself as a surprise or have everyone cut out their own heart-shaped cheese – which they might prefer anyway.

7. No-Bake Bars for Valentine’s Day

Don’t put away the heart-shaped cookie cutter yet. Make a batch of Budget-Friendly No-Bake Energy Bars, then cut them into heart shapes for a Valentine’s Day chocolate treat that is naturally-sweetened, gluten-free, and dairy-free.

8. Real Food Fruit Tart

An extra special red and white treat made with a whole grain tart crust and cream cheese frosting sweetened with just a touch of maple syrup. We turn this real food fruit tart into a family project and have everyone decorate it with berries. This way I don’t have to fuss with the topping, and it creates a fun family memory.

9. Heart-Shaped Watermelon Cakes

You’ve probably heard of watermelon cakes by now – what better time to break out a bright red fruit than on Valentine’s Day? Use that heart-shaped cookie cutter to make some Valentine’s themed mini watermelon cakes.

10. Real Food Sugar Cookies

Use the real food baking tips in this post (and the video!) to make Valentine’s Day sugar cookies you feel good about. Dairy-free recipe included!

11. Mix-In-The-Pan Fruit & Oat Bars

Need something special, sweet, but super simple? Try this recipe with frozen strawberries (or any mixture of red and pink berries). You can mix it all together in the pan (no extra dishes to wash!), and it’s clean enough for Valentine’s Day breakfast.

Budget-Friendly Non-Food Ideas for Valentine’s Day

You don’t need to spend a lot of money or buy of a bunch of little gifts to make Valentine’s Day special for your kids. Here are a few non-food ideas that help you stick to a budget and go green at the same time.

12. Valentine’s Day Notes

Sometimes I use Valentine’s Day to write really encouraging notes to my kids. No need to make it very eloquent. Usually, it’s just a simple list of things I love about them.

If you’re stuck on ideas, choose a few of these suggestions:

• Something you love about them
• Something that makes them unique and special
• Affirm a talent they have
• Encourage them for working hard at something that they aren’t naturally gifted in
• Something they did recently that made you proud
• Remind them that you love them no matter what

13. Snuggles

While my kids are getting older, they still enjoy simply sitting with mama and snuggling under a warm blanket. Honestly, this is a gift that we both love, and we shouldn’t wait for Valentine’s Day or special occasions to enjoy.

14. Paper Hearts on The Bathroom Mirror

A few paper hearts taped to their bathroom mirror with a simple message like “I love you” or “You make me laugh” is a fun surprise that takes a few minutes and brightens their day for pennies.

15. Quality Time

Honestly, what my kids want most from me is a few minutes of my undivided attention. We try to have one-on-one time with just me and each kid, and I usually give them a list of options to choose from for what we can do together:

• Take a walk
• Sit and talk
• Play (since I have boys, this usually means legos or video games)
• Read aloud

These ideas are basically free, and when I simply put my phone down, listen, and lean in, they become super meaningful memories.

If you want to wrap this up like a Valentine’s Day gift, make a coupon that they can redeem later on (either make it by hand or use a Valentine’s Day template on Canva and print it off)!

Valentine’s Day is a fun time to show your people that you love them, and you can do it without spending a lot (or any) money or loading up on sugar.

Whether you decide to go with a fancy fruit tart or heart-shaped pizzas, or keep it low-key with a snuggle and family movie, use these tips to stay budget-friendly, eat clean, and love your people well.