When it comes to Valentine's Day, most children are indifferent to the holiday. Sure, getting candy and silly cards from classmates at school can be fun but it's not the most exciting thing to happen. Plus, most children aren't fond of the mushy romance that often goes hand-in-hand with the holiday. However, that doesn't mean that children's shows have shied away from tackling Valentine's Day; in fact, it's quite the opposite.
While there may not be an abundance of Valentine's Day-themed episodes of all the best children's shows out there, there are quite a few. Unlike popular adult Valentine's Day episodes, these tend to be more, well, kiddish. They often deal with school-age crushes instead of the pressure to be romantic and some even deal with Valentine's Day from a purely platonic point of view.
'The Fairly Oddparents:' "Love Struck" - 5.8
While Nickelodeon's The Fairly Oddparents tackled some holidays right from the beginning, it wasn't until season 3 that the hit series aired a Valentine's Day-themed episode.
In the episode, Timmy hopes to land Trixie Tang as his Valentine but when his efforts lead to embarrassment, Timmy's outlook on Valentine's Day and girls in general turns soar. With Cosmo and Wanda's help, Timmy wishes for all girls to disappear. This is great at first until his wish starts to negatively affect Cupid.
'Rugrats:' "Be My Valentine" - 6.6
Rugrats is arguably one of Nickelodeon's most beloved animated cartoons of all time. And as such, the series aired some of the best episodes of all time, including holiday-themed episodes that tackled a wide array of holidays. Of course, that list includes Valentine's Day.
In season 6, the babies learn about Valentine's Day from Tommy's Grandpa in a two-part episode. Of course, Angelica leads the babies a stray when they accidentally shoot Spike with one of her Cupid's arrows and she tells them that they must find him a Valentine or else he'll have a "broken heart." Later, the babies attend a Valentine's Day-themed dance at daycare where they get into more shenanigans as they attempt to make cards for their loved ones.
'That's So Raven:' "Hearts And Mind" - 7.2
That's So Raven was arguably one of the most influential Disney Channel original shows of the early 2000s. Over its four-season run, the series managed to air several holiday-themed episodes.
The season 2 Valentine's Day episode centered on Raven trying to help her brother Cory after she had a vision that he would receive no valentines. Raven ends up recruiting Eddie to help her out while she works on mailing a giant card to her long-distance boyfriend Devon.
'Kim Possible:' "The Cupid Effect" - 7.4
While the most romantic moment of Kim Possible happens in one of the movies, that didn't stop the series from airing a Valentine's Day-themed episode during the fourth season.
"The Cupid Effect" centers on Wade, Kim's "Communication Guru," who suffers love at first sight when he meets Kim's friend Monique for the first time. When Wade is rejected, he creates the "Cupid Ray'" in the hopes of getting Monique to reciprocate feelings. However, things go wrong when the Señor Seniors find the "Cupid Ray" leaving Kim and Ron to stop them from using them.
'Recess:' "My Funny Valentine" - 7.6
When it comes to Disney Channel animated shows, Recess is often highly underrated with the new generation of Disney Channel kids. The series premiered in 1997 and went on for an impressive 6 seasons before eventually ending.
During season 3, Recess tackled Valentine's Day with the episode "My Funny Valentine." Not buying into the cheesiness of Valentine's Day, T.J. decides to make "funny" cards to hand out to his classmates. However, his plan backfires when the girls in his class end up loving the unique cards.
'Ed, Edd, N Eddy's:' "Hanky Panky Hullabaloo" - 7.7
Cartoon Networks iconic cartoon Ed, Edd, N Eddy might be best known for its funny and chaotic episodes following these three best friends, but they also aired a handful of holiday-themed episodes too.
During the episode which aired in 2005, Ed, Edd, and Eddy find themselves once again being pursued by the Kanker Sisters. When May ends up rejected by Ed, Edd unbeknownst swoops in to save the day by giving May a Valentine's Day card. This causes May to "fall in love" with Edd. This of course causes drama between the Kanker sisters since Marie has already laid claims to Edd.
'The Grim Adventures Of Billy And Mandy:' "The Greatest Love Story Ever Told Ever" - 8.1
Of all the Cartoon Network shows on air to have Valentine's Day-themed episodes, The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy seems to be the oddest choice. And yet, during season 7 the show aired "The Greatest Love Story Ever Told Ever."
The episode centered around the elementary school's annual Valentine's Day-themed dance. This year, Irwin plans to invite Mandy to the dance but he's too afraid to ask her out himself. Instead, he enlists the help of Nergal Jr. Things go wrong when Mandy thinks the card is from Nergal Jr. and ends up attending the dance with him instead of Irwin.
'Hey Arnold!': "Arnold's Valentine" - 8.2
Of all the '90s/2000s Nickelodeon cartoons, Hey Arnold! definitely had the most romantic subplots. Given this, it's no surprise that the show aired a dedicated Valentine's Day episode during the first season.
In the episode, Arnold finds himself with two valentines who both want to go out to dinner with him on Valentine's Day. With a little convincing from Gerald, Arnold agrees to both dates without both girls knowing. Of course, hijinks are involved since one of Arnold's dates is really Helga pretending to be Arnold's penpal Cecile.
'Miraculous: Tales Of Ladybug And Cat Noir:' "Dark Cupid" - 8.6
A big drawing point of the French animated series Miraculous: Tales of Ladybug and Cat Noir is the will-they, won't-they relationship Marinette, Adrien, and their alter-egos have with each other. With love a big topic of the show, of course, the series celebrated Valentine's Day right from the beginning.
In the season one episode "Dark Cupid," Marinette debates telling Adrien how she feels about him but she must put her feelings aside when Kim becomes akumatised and transforms into Dark Cupid. Now, Ladybug and Cat Noir must stop Dark Cupid who is breaking up relationships left and right with his arrows.
'SpongeBob SquarePants:' "Valentine's Day" - 8.6
While it's true Valentine's Day is all about spreading the love, it doesn't always have to be romantic love. The writers of SpongeBob SquarePants knew this which is why they created a more platonic Valentine's Day-themed episode, beloved by so many and considered one of the best SpongeBob episodes of all time.
In the episode, SpongeBob and Sandy team up to give Patrick the best Valentine's Day gift ever. While Sandy gets it ready, SpongeBob is tasked with keeping Patrick distracted which ultimately leads to disaster as Patrick grows more and more impatient waiting for his actual gift.