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Here is a Valentine party I really hope you will enjoy! There are lots of ideas to pick from. Imagine this party through the eyes of a child. They will be looking forward to this party from the moment they receive their invitation. Pink crepe paper streamers hang from the trees, the path to your home has been sprinkled with pink glitter and hearts. They are greeted by the party hostess dressed in almost too much pink. Guests are sure to enjoy these activities, especially the visit from cupid! Select your favorite ideas to create a unique Valentine party for your little sweeties! Make your party as simple or elaborate as you like.

Extra Special for this Party

How about a visit from Cupid?
Have someone dressed as an angel drop by during the party and sprinkle hearts about, each with a special message and a piece of candy attached. Have the guests names on them ahead to make them feel special.

Invitations Ideas

How about delivering the sampler size boxes of chocolates to each guest with the invitation?

This is a fun idea for invitations - Prepare all of the invitations all ready to be mailed, stamps and all. Place them in a large envelope and mail them to the Postmaster in Loveland, Colorado. They will mail them for you from their location with their postmark. How fun to get a Valentine party invitation from Loveland!

Decoration Ideas

Angels or cupids are a great decoration for this party. Sprinkle your walkway with pink glitter. Drape the trees in the front yard with pink crepe paper streamers or let them hang down and sway in the wind. Drape your entrance with pink tulle. The best price I have found is at Wal-Mart. Sprinkle the table with the candy conversation hearts or a few candy kisses. Hang paper hearts hanging from the ceiling Balloon bouquets in the corners of the rooms and on your doorstep. Wrap the pictures hanging on your walls with pink wrapping paper and pretty bows to look like presents. Re-hang them. Looks nice and helps the party mood. Decorate your party room with red and white balloons (for a nice effect, you can fill them with helium and let them rest on the ceiling in your party room with the curling string hanging below them. Curl the string with the side of a pair of scissors). Litter the floor with balloons.

Chair bows - For the party chairs, tie each with 3 yard lengths of pink tulle. It this gets too expensive (about $3 each) cut the tulle in half lengthwise and it will tie 2 chairs instead of one. Fluff the bow nicely. If you like in the center add a pink silk flower or floral pick. You can find these ready made at craft stores. This makes the chairs look lovely even if they are the metal fold up type.

A Valentine's Day Tree - A small Christmas tree decorated with white and pink lights, heart and other pink Valentine ornaments, pink silk flowers, ivy etc. These are especially pretty done in a Victorian style.

Party Colors - The choices seem obvious. But for fun you can ask the guests to come wearing red or if it is an all girl party, pink. Pink and plenty of it!

Activity Ideas

Arrival Activity - Guess How Much Love is in the Jar! This is simple and an easy way to connect with each guest as they arrive. Once they have had time to come in and see the lovely party area, show them a jar filled with candy hearts. Ask them to guess how many candies are in the jar and let them know you will record their guess. The child who guesses the closest gets to take the candy home. Having a little slip of paper with a Valentine sticker on it and their name will make this seem a bit more special to them.

Opening Activity - Things you love! Gather the children together and sit on the floor with them in a circle. Welcome them and give them an idea of what they will be doing at the party. Icebreaker idea is to go around and ask each of the guests to share some of the things they LOVE. Fun and it is perfect for the theme! You may want to go first if the children are reluctant.

Story Time - A special Valentine story will help put the guests into the Valentine spirit. Children have short attention spans so it is a good idea to keep story time under 10 minutes.

Heart Hunt - For preschool age children, have a heart hunt. Hide lots of red construction paper hearts around easy to find. They will enjoy this.

Steal My Heart - Attach heart stickers to clothes pins. Each guest gets one to pin on when they arrive. If the guest is caught crossing their legs they lose their clothes pin to the one who caught them. Even if they have lost their heart they are still in the game. The one at the end of the game with the most clothes pins wins a small prize. Keeps everyone on their toes!

Candy Necklaces - On strands of licorice guests get to create their own edible necklaces. Provide candies and goodies with holes in the center. Fruit loops, lifesavers, Gummy Savers etc. There are lots of options.

Red Envelope - Have the children write a letter of love and gratitude to a member or members of their family. When finished they should fold it up and place in the red envelope, seal it, and write the persons name on the front. On Valentines Day they should place it on the persons pillow or somewhere else they'll be sure to find it.

Where’s my kiss? - Hide candy kisses around and each child is given a bag to find as many as they can. Remember to tell them the names of the games. The names are part of the fun.

Valentine Treasure Hunt - Buy a package of the inexpensive children’s valentines. Write a different note on each of 10 of the cards. You could include a joke on some for fun. The children follow the clues on the cards that lead to the next clue and ultimately the treasure. The treasure being a box with a bow. When opened out comes a bunch of pink and red helium balloons that float to the ceiling. Attached to the bottom of each balloon string is a note for one of the guests. It tells where they will find their own special Valentine treasure. The balloon is theirs to keep.

Kiss me Quick! - This is fun and memorable. We did this in my class in 5th grade (about 25 years ago) and I remember it vividly. Match each girl with a boy partner (not mandatory). They stand across from each other. Each pair gets a red licorice string that has a large marshmallow in the center. Each partner puts one end of the licorice in their mouth. No hands allowed. They have to eat the whole thing and the first couple to finish wins. It is great fun because they all want to win but no one wants to accidentally kiss in the middle.

Valentine Bingo - You can make your own bingo cards with Valentine pictures instead of numbers. Use hearts, flowers, chocolate kisses, doves, etc. For the Bingo chips you can use candies that won’t melt or be sticky.

Cake Walk - Place colored hearts on the floor (tape them down with clear tape). These should be about the size of a placemat. Wearing their socks each child stands on a heart. When the music begins to play the move around in a circle stepping only on the hearts. When the music stops draw from a basket a corresponding heart to match one on the floor. The child who is standing on that heart gets to step out and pick a prize. Traditionally a cake, or plate of cupcakes. You might place a little sticker with their name on their selection so they can pick it up later and their prize will be saved for them. This goes on until all guests have had a chance to win. I love the games where everyone is a winner.

Crafts

Love Bugs! - Start with clean, smooth, oval rocks. Each child paints their love bug (lady bug) with craft paints. Paint them pink or red with the black spots being black hearts. When dry you can spray them outside with spray varnish, leave outside to dry.

Love Coupons - Have all of the materials ready for the guests to make love coupons for their family. Each coupon can be unique and be redeemable for things such as extra hugs, extra chores, or have poems written on them. Have a craft table ready with your craft scissors, rubber stamps, Valentine stickers, markers etc. Be sure to compliment each ones work.

Food/Table ideas

Serve foods that children like and that are easy to eat. Whenever possible serve children with real china, cloth napkins and silver spoons. The best for the best.

Valentine Foods - For fun it would be nice to have all of the food items be pink, pink, pink!

Beverages - Love potion. Use Ginger-ale and pink sherbet in a punch bowl. Any pink drink will work. You might even want to add the block of dry ice to make it look like a potion. Careful - don’t let the children touch or ingest dry ice.

Sandwiches - make sandwiches with white bread and strawberry cream cheese. Cut into heart shapes and dip the edges into pink colored sugar. If you have a bread machine you may want to try adding pink food coloring to your best white bread recipe for pink bread. Another sandwich filling you may want to try is cream cheese with raspberry jam.

Fruit - Chocolate dipped strawberries or other fruits

Parfaits - Pink Jell-o in parfait glasses topped with whipped cream tinted pink. Pretty!

Ice Cream - Pink ice cream sundaes would be fun. Have a choice of 2 different pink ice cream flavors. Then offer a variety of pink ice cream toppings such as: pink candies, pink sprinkles, whipped cream tinted pink, don’t forget the maraschino cherries.

You may want to do cookie decorating for the treat time. How about preparing very large heart shaped sugar cookies. Place a cookie decorating buffet out. Include red, white, and pink frosting with Popsicle sticks (craft sticks) to spread the frosting. In pretty containers have different toppings for the cookies. Colored sugars, m&ms and other small candies to top their cookies. An option may be to have them decorate some smaller cookies for their treat and to wrap their large cookie in the clear crinkly cellophane wrap and tie with a pretty pink satin bow. This can go home as a party favor. This one would be especially fun piled high with candy toppings. To save time, have the cellophane sheets pre-cut. You can even pre-tie the bows to pipe cleaners. When ready to wrap, gather the cellophane up into a poof and twist the pipe cleaner around to close. Since the bow was already attached to the pipe cleaner it is already.

Favors

For girls what else but flowers, jewelry and chocolates? Jewelry - how about the inexpensive strands of pearls and a silk rose? For chocolates buy the sampler size box for each guest.

Have a wonderful party. Remember they are little for such a short time. If you get the party on the calendar it is more likely to happen.

Terri Sutton ~ http://www.princessparty.com/ ~ dressup@cdsnet.net
Happy Valentine's Day from Teri of Once Upon a Time. I would love to see how your party turns out! Write me or send me your party pictures! Enjoy!
Teri Sutton's children's party business, Once Upon a Time, has been in operation in Southern Oregon for approximately 3 years. Teri is also the founder of Children's Parties International. She resides in Central Point, Oregon with her husband of 11 years and their two young boys.