4th of July Party Ideas

4th OF JULY PARTY INVITATION IDEAS:

• Create a large diecut of a stick of dynamite or firework and attach a sparkling star or sunburst at the top. Type Let’s “Light Up the Sky” this 4th of July! Join our Family for Food and Fun…

4th OF JULY PARTY DECORATION IDEAS:

• Place sparklers in a pail of sand

• Tiki torches with red, white and blue ribbons tied around the bases

• Red, white and blue Christmas lights

• Chinese lanterns

• Patriotic balloons

• Patriotic wreath- take a simple grapevine wreath and use a hot glue gun to attach red, white and blue craft decorations such as fireworks, stars, music notes, and glitter balls. Add a few ribbons and place a small flag in the middle.

4th OF JULY PARTY ACTIVITIES/GAMES IDEAS:

• Host a barbeque, luau or potluck at an outdoor venue such as lakes, pools, beaches, or campgrounds

• Plan a family picnic in your backyard or at your favorite park

• Horseshoes and Washer Toss

• Water balloons

• Squirt gun fights

• Water slides

• Pie eating contest

• Tug of war

• Volleyball

• Piñatas

CHRISTMAS PARTY IDEAS

CHRISTMAS PARTY INVITATION IDEAS:

• Use white cardstock and adhere die cuts of stockings to the front of the card and type “The stockings were hung by the chimney with cheer, in hopes that our loved ones will soon be here! Join us in celebrating the Spirit of the Season.”

• Use red cardstock and place little gingerbread men cutouts on the front and type - Please join us for a Cookie Decorating Party

CHRISTMAS PARTY DECORATION IDEAS:

• Set your table in winter white and accent with silver, red and green

• Use decorative Christmas fabrics to create table runners and tablecloths that coordinate with your theme and colors.

• Fill a tall glass vase with different colored Christmas balls and place on mantel or use as a centerpiece for your table

• Wrap twinkle lights in white tulle and drape over a window frame. Use white satin ribbon or an ornament to tie back the tulle.

• Place scented candles such as evergreen, cinnamon, apple cider and peppermint in votives and have scattered throughout your home

• Place cinnamon, cloves and orange peels on a baking sheet and place in the oven on low setting for about an hour.

• Fringe the walls with tinsel and little stockings

CHRISTMAS PARTY ACTIVITIES/GAMES:

• Shop ‘til you drop party - Plan a day for you and your girlfriends to go shopping. Make a list before hand of the gifts you want to buy. When you’ve “dropped," go back to the hostesses house and compare gifts purchased and then spend time wrapping your gifts together.

• Set up a day to decorate your own gift bags. Purchase different sizes of brown handled bags. Pick out decorative fabric from a craft store along with wonder-under. Have several irons and ironing boards available for you and your guests. Cut out the desired pieces of fabric and then iron on with wonder-under to the bag. Decorate handles with ribbons, small ornaments, and hand made gift tags.

• Gather friends and family together and share a day of baking cookies and decorating gingerbread houses. Be sure to have lots of frosting, sprinkles, gumdrops, and candies available. Have decorative cookie platters such as Santas, Snowman and Christmas Trees set around to display the yummy treats.

• Plan a party to give to those less fortunate - you and your guests can gather items for food baskets and distribute to a shelter. Collect toys, clothing, and blankets and drop off at an orphanage.

• Have a movie watching party. Buy or rent classic Christmas movies such as “Christmas Story” or “It’s a Wonderful Life”. Pop lots of popcorn and serve hot chocolate.

• Plan a “Secret Santa” for your co-workers.

• Make your party a themed ornament exchange. Ask guests to bring ornaments in specific colors such as gold, silver, red and white. Or ask them to bring ornaments in a specific theme such as Santa Claus, Angels, Hobbies, Toys, Glass, etc…

• Have a “Chinese Gift Exchange” where guests bring a gift and place in the center of the pile. Everyone draws numbers and when you’re number is called, you may either pick an unwrapped gift from the pile, or steal from someone that has already opened a gift that you want. The gift may be opened, then stolen twice, then it is frozen and can not be taken from you.

• Reindeer Antlers- Make a keepsake of your child’s hand by painting their hand brown with non-toxic paint, then pressing down on white cardstock. With a black ink pad, stamp each of their fingers and press down on the tips of the brown hand to create the hooves. Cut out reindeer. Tie a little ribbon, and add a little face by the thumb. These are cute to hand out as little gifts to grandparents.

• Have the kids prepare their own magic reindeer dust. Purchase red, green, and silver glitter and mix together. You will need oats, decorative ribbon, and small baggies. Have little spoons in each bowl of glitter and oats, and let the kids measure out their magic dust. Before the party, type this little saying for the kids to tie around their magic reindeer dust: Come December 24, as Santa flies from the North, here’s what you do- it isn’t hard. Just sprinkle this dust in your yard. The sparkles draw dear Santa near, the oat attracts his 8 reindeer. Then simply climb into your bed, and lay down your sleepy head. You can be sure they’re on the way, bringing gifts and celebration on Christmas Day.

CHRISTMAS PARTY FAVORS:

• Recipe card favor bag- Place recipe cards and a small whisk in a cellophane bag. Print “Thanks for “whisking” up some fun with us! Happy Holidays!” on brown cardstock and cutout to create a small tag.

• Handmade or photo ornaments

• Imprint company logo on stockings for a corporate party and stuff with Christmas Bonus or gift cards

• Decorative wine charms

• Santa and Snowmen push-toys

• Reindeer Antlers and light up red noses

EASTER PARTY IDEAS

EASTER PARTY INVITATION IDEAS:

• Start with a folded piece of green cardstock. Mount striped green paper on the front and back of card. Tear pink cardstock into a rough rectangle and adhere to the center of card. Place a little white bunny on top of the pink cardstock. Apply acrylic letters saying “Hop on Over” at the bottom of bunny and tie a pink and white gingham bow on top. Include all the Easter Egg Hunt details inside.

EASTER PARTY DECORATIONS:

• Take a white tablecloth and spread out on your table. Apply washable pastel paints on to sponge or foam stamps (ex: little bunnies, lambs, Easter baskets) and stamp onto cloth. Place an Easter basket in the center of table filled with decorated eggs.

• Use fresh whites and pastel shades of blue, yellow, pink and green on your table settings and home accents. Spread Easter grass and decorated eggs around tables and bars.

• Create an egg tree by hanging hollow decorated eggs tied with colored ribbon to a small branch. Place the branch in a small pot and fill with colored marbles and grass.

• Place a hurricane vase in the center of your table. Turn the vase upside down on the table and have a small nest with baby eggs inside. You can place a glass plate on the top of the vase and use as a serving dish.

EASTER PARTY ACTIVITIES/GAMES:

• Easter is a glorious time to celebrate. Wake up to a sunrise breakfast, attend church service and then later, gather with family and friends for lunch.

• Hide your child’s Easter basket in a place he/she wouldn’t normally look. You can create a little bunny trail by making copies of bunny feet and taping to the floor starting from their bed and ending at their basket to make it easy. For more of a challenge, give little hints and say “you’re cold," then “you’re getting warmer” and so on.

• Fill an Easter basket with handmade cards, baked cookies, little bunnies, and simple gifts and leave the basket anonymously on a teachers’ desk or friends’ doorstep

• Video tape your younger children singing and dancing to “Little Bunny Foo Foo” and “Here comes Peter Cottontail” and send the priceless treasures to out of town friends and relatives.

• Set up a little live petting exhibit with baby bunnies, chicks, and ducklings for the children to enjoy

• Create jelly bean pots by decorating terra-cotta flower pots with acrylic paints and sanding the edges to give the pot an antique look. Fill the decorated pots with Easter grass or shredded tissue paper topped off with candy.

• Flashlight egg hunt- hand each person a flashlight and have an egg hunt in the dark. Some eggs could be decorated with glow-in-the dark paints to make them easier to find.

• Barnyard is played by placing pictures of animals (you will need two of each animal) and place them in a black top hat. Have each child draw a picture out of the hat and start making the animal sound that matches their picture. They will need to listen for their partner that is making the same animal sound as they are.

• Easter Bunny Tag- the same rules apply as regular tag, only everyone must hop. If you are found not hopping, then you are automatically “it”.

• Tell the children there is going to be a stuffed animal Easter parade so they will need to bring their favorite stuffed animal. Have a little table set up with paper, chenille sticks, feathers, pom poms, and stickers and let them make little hats for their animal. Start playing music and let the kids parade around with their stuffed animals.

• Put jokes in some of the plastic eggs so that the kids can read them out loud after the egg hunt while everyone is counting their eggs.

• Separate kids into two relay lines and have a pile of eggs at the end of each line. Each player must run to the pile of eggs, bend down and crack open the plastic egg to find and action that is to be performed all the way back to their line. Some actions to include are hop like a bunny, waddle like a duck, gallop like a pony, etc…

• Egg roll- use sidewalk chalk to create a start and stop line. Kids must get down on their hands and knees and roll a hard-boiled egg only using their noses. The first one to the finish line without touching the eggs with their hands is the winner.

• Give a nice “hard luck” prize for the person that finds the least amount of eggs

• Fill plastic eggs with fun coupons and bunny money for the kids to exchange or buy items at the bunny store. The bunny store is a little table set up with a variety of toys and treats that would not fit inside the eggs.

EASTER PARTY FAVORS:

• Tiny Easter baskets filled with candy

• Bath confetti shaped in bunnies

• Jump ropes

• Airplane flingers

• Ball and jack sets

• Bunny bank

HALLOWEEN PARTY IDEAS

HALLOWEEN PARTY INVITATIONS:

• Take black cardstock and cut out little white ghosts and attach to the front of the invite. Either stamp or type “You’re Invited to a Spooktacular” at the bottom. Include all the party information inside. Be sure to tell guest to come dressed in their favorite/ scary costumes.

HALLOWEEN PARTY DECORATIONS:

• Use orange and black tablecloths and scatter little spiders and bugs down the table.

• Place candles inside your carved jack-o-lanterns and have set up along the walkway to your door and a few placed throughout your home

• Use glow in the dark sidewalk chalk and draw outlines of dead bodies and monsters

• Create a graveyard in your backyard. Paint several tombstones with creepy sayings and have mummies and bones scattered around the ground. Have a strobe light and fog machine set up around coffins.

• Spider webs should be hanging from all pictures, lights and on doorways. Be sure to add the fake spiders.

• Using black and white cardstock, trace and cut out spooky shapes such as cats, bats and ghosts and hang around with fishing line.

• Dim lights or put in black lights to create a spooky touch.

• Have creepy music and noises playing throughout the inside and outside of your haunted house.

• Create floating ghosts by taking white helium filled balloons and covering with cheese cloth or sheets. You can glue googly eyes and add an open mouth as if he is saying “Boo”.

• Spread some dried pretzels or bread crumbs under a rug so that when your guests step on the rug it will sound like they are crunching bones under their feet.

HALLOWEEN PARTY GAMES/ACTIVITIES:

• Scavenger Hunt- have a list of fun, spooky and creepy items that teams are to find.

• Pumpkin Golf- Carve out a large pumpkin and make the mouth extra large. Build a ramp going into the mouth. Each player will get three attempts to hit the golf ball into the pumpkin.

• Halloween Bone Hunt- hide bones around the yard and give the kids little black bags to pick up their bones. Some bones will have special markings which will be “prize bones”.

• Dress your Scarecrow- Divide kids into teams. Have flannel shirts, pants, bandanas, hats and other items hidden in a certain area. Tell the kids they must find the scarecrows clothing and race to get him dressed.

• Pumpkin Seed necklace relay- each team member gets a turn with a needle, thread and slippery pumpkin seeds. The team with the most pumpkin seeds on the string at the end wins a prize.

• Set up a haunted hay ride and corn maze

• Plan a trip to the Pumpkin Patch and let each child pick out their very own pumpkin.

• Mad Scientists Laboratory- spray paint a large cardboard box and cut out 6-8 different holes in the front. Put black fabric on the front of the hole so that the kids will not see what they are touching. Put different items such as cooked spaghetti (brains), frozen grapes (eyeballs), tea bags (heart), overcooked cauliflower (brains), pieces of chalk or carrots (fingers), and un-popped popcorn (teeth) in small containers and place inside the hole. They must feel inside and guess what they are touching.

• Flashlight tag- the person that is “it” holds the flashlight and shines the light on a player that is running around. The person that is tagged by the light then becomes “it”.

HALLOWEEN PARTY FAVORS:

• Glow-in-the-dark sticks and necklaces

• Candy placed in cauldrons or pumpkins

• Body crystals and rub on tattoos

• Trick or treat felt bags

• Award ribbons for the funniest, scariest, most original and best costume

• Ghost and pumpkin flashlights

MEMORIAL DAY PARTY IDEAS

MEMORIAL DAY PARTY INVITATIONS:

• Use a picture of Uncle Sam pointing with wording “Uncle Sam Wants You… to join us for a Memorial Day Party”

• Use the American flag art for front of invite

• Fold a flag patterned paper into a triangle-shape like the military folds them – the guest has to unfold to get all party info

• Include fun patriotic stick-on tattoos in your invitations as “admission” to the event, It is funny to see where guests get creative on where to place tattoo!!

MEMORIAL DAY PARTY DECORATIONS:

• Use patriotic colors: red, white and blue

• Do research and trace back your lineage as far as you can. List out the members of your family that have served in the military and decorate a table with the names and/or photos of the family members. Use candles and any military memorabilia that you have to make the table special.

• If you have a small dinner party and have access to military jackets, use jackets as chair covers around the table.

• Decorate yard with tiki torches that have patriotic ribbon tied around the bases of the torches

• Feather boas always add a fun, festive touch to any occasion – decorate chairs with red/white/blue boas or make boa wreaths (wrap boas around metal wreath base) and hang flag from center of wreath.

• Take out your old Christmas lights and decorate with red, white and blue lights.

• Do patriotic color balloon centerpieces for your tables with flags around the base.

* Remember an American flag flies at half-mast til noon

MEMORIAL DAY PARTY GAMES/ACTIVITIES:

• Find all the red, white and blue ribbons, streamers, and tissue you can find to use as color for a PARADE! Get all the kids tricycles, bikes and scooters and have a fun time decorating them! You can make this as big or small as you want to – you can ride around your yard or make it a big neighborhood event and walk around neighborhood. Oldest person in group gets to be grand marshal of parade.

• Make a craft area for kids to write letters or color pictures for local veterans. Once party is over, put all notes together and mail to your local veterans charity or hospital.

• It’s a good time of year to have an outdoor party like a backyard barbeque, pool party, or family picnic. Play fun outdoor games like Frisbee, putting golf and horseshoe.

• Play Pin the Flag on Uncle Sam – use a large picture of Uncle Sam pointing – closest pic to Uncle Sam’s finger wins!

• Do a slideshow of all veterans in your family that have served in the military at any time – include dates and put it to a great patriotic song.

• Make an ice cream bar with tons of fun toppings – find patriotic m&m’s and sprinkles!

• Keep a donation jar in a central location of party asking for donations to give to the local veteran charity organization. Make a game out of it at the end of the party, let the guests try to guess how much money was raised – closest to actual amount wins!

• Play the Watermelon Seed Guessing Game – give each guest a slice of watermelon along with a watermelon seed guess sheet. The guests make their predeictions on how many seeds are in their slice, then enjoy their watermelon. As seeds are found, they set them aside and later on glue their seeds to a watermelon picture and record the actual number of seeds that was in their slice.

*Don’t forget to do a moment of silence to honor the lives lost for our freedom.

MEMORIAL DAY PARTY FAVORS:

• Copies of slideshow that was played at the party

• Small flags

• Patriotic pin or bracelet with a reminder tag to pray for our troops every time the guest wears

• Sparklers (with parental supervision)

• Anything red, white and/or blue!

NEW YEARS EVE PARTY IDEAS:

NEW YEARS EVE PARTY INVITATIONS:

• You can create your own using black, silver and gold feather boas, grandfather clocks, top hats, noisemakers, champagne bottles or confetti die cuts and attach to white cardstock paper. Type or handwrite the party information inside and use glitter to embellish.

• Mail a noisemaker and attach invite text to a tag to the noisemaker.

• Don’t forget to add confetti into the envelope!

NEW YEARS EVE PARTY DECORATIONS:

• Silver and black helium filled balloons

• Serpentines and confetti spread over tabletops

• Top hats filled with flowers

• Disco ball hanging from ceiling fan or light

• Mirror vases filled with flowers

• Place balloons in netting over the dance floor to drop down at the stroke of midnight

NEW YEARS EVEN PARTY ACTIVITIES/GAMES:

• Dance through the decades- gather music from different decades and have music from different decades playing at the stroke of every hour.

• Karaoke- get out the microphone and start playing music while guests sing their hearts out.

• New Year’s Charades- Go through newspapers and magazines to pick out events from the past year. Use these events as titles to act out for charades. For a twist, make each of your guests’ team split up into two’s and act out whichever past years event they have randomly drawn while others guess.

• Have guests come dressed in their favorite era of time (swinging 20’s, rockin’ 50’s, preppie 80’s) be sure to include this on your invite

• Shoe Shuffle- everyone takes off their shoes and places them at one end in a pile. Have one guest mix up the shoes so that they have a hard time finding theirs. Break up into 2 teams and make a relay line about 30 feet from the shoe pile. On your mark, get set, go- each person at the front of the line runs to find their shoes, puts them on, then runs back and tags the next person in line. The team who has all their shoes first is the winner!

• Explain the concept of new years to your children, ask if there is anything exciting or new they would like to accomplish in the next year.

• Prepare “counting down the clock bags”- each hour up to midnight the children open a new bag. The bags are decorated with a clock face on the front with the big hand positioned for each hour to be opened. This is a fun way to include the children and help keep them up until the countdown.

• Gather the family and create a time capsule to be opened in ten years or over any other time period

• Ring in the New Year at midnight with sparkling cider (for kids)

• Toast the New Year by popping open a bottle of chilled champagne and raising your glass.

• Play a game of “Guess who’s New Years Resolution?” – everyone writes their top-3 resolutions on a piece of paper (or just top resolution depending on how hard you want it) and one person reads aloud and everyone tries to guess who’s it is… the person with most correct wins!

* Make sure all guests have a safe transportation home. If none is available, offer them to sleep at your house.

NEW YEARS EVE PARTY FAVORS:

• Noisemakers

• Feather boas

• Tiaras

• Champagne poppers

• Party hats

• Party horns

• Leis or beads

• Crazy string

• Glow in the dark necklaces

• Sparklers

• Small tin filled with sweets

ST. PATRICK’S DAY PARTY IDEAS:

ST. PATRICK'S DAY PARTY INVITATIONS:

• Using green cardstock, create a cut out of a leprechaun hat or shamrock and place all the party details on the front. Attach gold coins around the bottom. Be sure to add an “O” to each last name such as “O’Malley”

ST. PATRICK'S DAY PARTY DECORATIONS:

• Place a big rock at the entrance door and attach a sign that says: “Blarney Stone- Kiss for good luck!”

• Create a giant rainbow and place it on the wall with a pot of gold at one end. You can collect wishes, dreams, predictions and coins to be placed in the pot of gold.

• Sprinkle shamrocks and gold coins down the center of tables

ST. PATRICK'S DAY PARTY ACTIVITIES/GAMES:

• Scavenger Hunt - leave a trail of clues that leads to a pot of treasure. See who has the Luck of the Irish and will discover it first.

• Limerick Competition- Give each person paper and a pen and ask them to make up a limerick. Give them hints for topics like leprechauns, four leaf clover, maidens in distress, etc.

• Musical Shamrocks- purchase or cut out shamrock shapes and scatter on the floor. Play Irish music and have guests dance around, they must rush to stand on a shamrock when the music stops.

• Set up a game of darts

• Play Hot Potato with a twist- everyone sits in a circle and starts passing the potato around from player to player, but before someone can toss to the next person they must name something Irish such as a song, food, city, movie, sport, famous person, etc…

• Follow the Leprechaun- played just like follow the leader except they will be following the leprechaun wearing a green hat.

• Play the “O’Name Game” – make name tags for each person with their last name but with an “O” before the last name. Everyone has to call each other by their “Irish” name! When each guest arrives, give them their nametag along with 5 green jellybeans. If a guest catches another guest not using their “Irish” name, then they can confiscate a jelly bean from the guest that did not remember. At the end of the party, whoever has the most jellybeans, wins a prize.

ST. PATRICK'S DAY PARTY FAVORS:

• Lucky lottery tickets

• Fools gold

• Gold coins and candy

• Kiss me “I’m Irish” buttons

• Green sachet bags filled with green jelly beans

• Pin wheels

• Shamrock beads

• Green Top Hats

THANKSGIVING PARTY IDEAS:

THANKSGIVING PARTY INVITATIONS:

• Take brown cardstock and fold in half. Type “Please celebrate this time of Bountiful Blessings with our family” on coordinating brown patterned paper. Attach a small piece of burlap and a sticker of a thanksgiving basket overflowing with corn, pumpkins and gourds. Include place and time on the inside of the card.

THANKSGIVING PARTY DECORATIONS:

• Using fall colors like orange, brown, burgundy, green and gold will create a warm and inviting feel.

• Decorate the buffet or dining room table with berries and nuts in decorative baskets or an arrangement of fresh fruits and pumpkins in bowls.

• Create holiday place settings by attaching personalized nametag to brown cardstock then use raffia to tie on small gourds and set at each setting - you could include the meaning of each person's name on each places setting, or you could include their name and why your thankful for that person on each place setting.

• Create a decorative journal or gratitude journal and encourage guests to write down things in which they are thankful - you can add to the journal every year and flip back to review what was written in the past.

• Adorn your table with scented candles decorated with paper and ribbon

• Garland accented with brown and gold leaves can be placed on mantle

• Cut out the tops of small pumpkins to create votive holders to spread around tables and centerpiece

• Gather leaves and pine cones from your nature walk and place in a wicker basket

THANKSGIVING PARTY ACTIVITIES/GAMES:

• Use a white tablecloth at the dinner table and set out gold, silver, copper and orange permanent markers. Have each person write one thing they are the most thankful for and be sure to sign and date. Treat this as a family heirloom and start a tradition each year to have guests read from previous years and add new thankful times to it.

• Have a thankful collage set up at the children table. Make available paper, scissors, glue, magazines and markers for them to draw or paste pictures of things they are thankful for. Collect all the art and keep in a safe place so you can use it as decorations for years to come.

• Turkey bowling is played with you guessed it, A frozen Turkey. Set up bowling pins, plastic coke bottles, or tall wooden blocks and each contestant attempts to roll the turkey and hit as many pins down as they can. The winner gets to carve the turkey!

• Let children decorate their own headbands made of leather, feathers and Indian designs

• Have a chest full of pilgrim hats, Indian crowns made of feathers, aprons, belts, white shirts and other pilgrim/Indian clothing for the kids to dress up and act out a play

• Volunteer an adult to dress up as a pilgrim or Indian and read stories to the children

• Pre-make index-size cards with the heading of “I am thankful for:” have everyone write out what they are thankful for on their card and then hang all the cards across the mantle - designate a special someone to read all the cards aloud. And then have everyone guess which guest that card originated with. Pull the cards out year after year for guests to look through - or even make a scrapbook as a family heirloom for all the family to share

THANKSGIVING PARTY FAVORS:

• Popcorn placed in little drawstring bags

• Candy corn in little tins

• Pumpkin cookies

• Carmel apples

• Cornucopias - sugar cones filled with fruit shaped candies

• Little stuffed animal turkeys

• Pilgrim hats

• “Thankful for you because” cards- handmade cards from children expressing their favorite times shared together with each family member

VALENTINE PARTY IDEAS:

VALENTINE PARTY INVITATION IDEAS:

• Use white and red cardstock and embellish with hearts, glitter, and confetti.

• Everyone to wear a mask and theme your party accordingly. You could use a love film theme or the traditional little devil and angels.

• Have the hosting child or children create their own invitations using white cardstock and making v-shaped hearts with their own fingerprints. Use a non-toxic red stamp pad and have child ink their index fingers and join together at the bottoms and place on paper to create a 5 inch, v-shape heart. You can tie balloons or invitation to little stuffed animals and hand deliver to guests’ houses.

VALENTINE PARTY DECORATIONS:

• Cover your tables with white tablecloths and red napkins. Sprinkle heart shaped confetti and conversation hearts around table.

• Red and pink rose petals in the shape of hearts can be spread around on tables

• Floating Scented candles in a small vase placed on small square mirrors

• Place heart soaps in the kitchen and bathroom

VALENTINE PARTY BEVERAGES AND SNACKS:

• “Cupids Delight” - Cherry Float made with Cherry-7 up, vanilla ice cream, whipped cream, and a maraschino cherry on top

• Heart shaped sandwiches and cookies

• “Cup-o-Love Punch”- freeze fruit punch in heart ice or candy molds, place frozen heart shaped ice in lemon-lime soda

• Waffle cones filled with candy and wrapped with red cellophane and tied with ribbon

VALENTINE PARTY ACTIVITIES AND GAMES:

• Serve breakfast in bed for your loved one by making heart shaped pancakes.

• Treat yourself and your lover to a romantic get-away

• Mirror images- create a little love note on the bathroom mirror with red lipstick write “you’re the one I love”

• Have everyone wear a funny Valentines Day hat and give a prize for the funniest.

• Heart hunt- for little kids create a heart treasure hunt by spreading conversation hearts around the house and letting them find as many hearts as they can.

• Host a chocolate tasting party

• Grab a man- blindfold all of the women and have the men walk around them in circles. When the host/hostess says “Go”, have each woman grab a man. When all of the men have been caught, they can remove their blindfolds and see who they have chosen.

• Hot Heart- you will need a small stuffed heart and music. Have the children sit in a circle and while the music is playing they will pass the heart around to each player. Tell the children that it is hot and in order to avoid “burning” themselves, they must pass the heart quickly. Whoever is holding the heart when the music stops must leave the circle. The last child left is the winner.

• Fishing for love- have a simple fishing game where kids fish for hearts. Make 2 hearts the same size out of red cardstock and paperclip together to create a magnet for the fishing pole to grab. Create many different sizes of hearts for the kids to try to catch. You can use valentine pencils or small wooden dowel sticks for the fishing poles. Attach string to the end of the stick with a magnet at the bottom of the string.
• Impossible hearts- give each guest a red crayon and white paper. Blindfold their eyes and on the word “go” they must attempt to draw an outline of a heart and color in the heart as best they can.

• Mended hearts- take red construction paper and cut out hearts. Cut hearts in a unique way (zig zag, torn, etc…) and as each guest arrives give them half of one heart. You can use these as name tags. Later on they will be instructed to find the missing part of their heart. A prize can be given to the one that finds their match first.

VALENTINE PARTY FAVORS:

• Little sachet bags filled with red hots

• Small bottles of perfume or pink colored rose scented candles

• Heart shaped candy in little tins

• Little black book for single guests

• Heart shaped cookie cutters with a small package of sugar cookie mix