Valentine's Day for Kids

Make your invite a memorable one for your young guests! Have the hosting child or children make Valentine invitations using construction paper, stickers, glitter, doilies, lace, pipe cleaners or any other red, pink and white craft materials that are lying around.  Or try one of these fun invite ideas: 

• Tie an invitation to small stuffed animal and hand-deliver them to guests' houses.
• You can deliver chocolate kisses  or conversation hearts in a personalized Valentine's Day favor bag with an invitation tied to it. Have fun and be creative with it!
• Make your life easier and use a personalized Valentine's Day invitation.

Whatever you choose, sprinkle a little heart confetti in the envelope for extra fun!

Kids love to help decorate for holidays.  Gather a fun assortment of Valentine's day theme cutouts and decorations and let the kids have a ball hanging decorations. 

 

And we all know kids love balloons. Create bouquets with latex balloons in reds, pinks and white.

 

Red and pink paper chains are fun for kids to make too!

Use Valentine's Day tableware to keep with the theme. Put a bag of Valentine's candy in cups and put them at each place setting as a sweet treat for your young guests.

Your meal can be simple kids' foods like pizza and pasta or chicken nuggets.  Really, they are mostly interested in dessert!  Think of all the possibilities for tasty Valentine's treats:

• A Valentine's Day cake - you can get them at any grocery store.
• Cupcakes - they're "hot" right now! Get them with hot pink frosting and heart rings.
• A candy buffet - everyone will be talking about your party if you set up a candy buffet with an assortment of red, white, and pink Valentine's candy.
• Ice cream buffet - if you're giving candy as favors, then maybe an ice cream buffet (complete with Valentine's day sprinkles) would be a perfect alternative.

Decorating Contests:
Most kids are already familiar with a "Valentine's Day Card Exchange." This is when each child decorates a box/bag in which they can receive and carry Valentines to and from school, and either buys or creates Valentines to give to each member of their class. (Make sure children create a card for each member of the class, so no one feels left out.) Kids can get very creative with their decorations, using candy conversation hearts as well as everyday household items like tin foil, cotton balls and anything red that they can get their hands on (or you can buy an inexpensive craft kit for each with more than 50 items). Have a contest to see who can be the most creative with both their "Valentines Mailbox" and their Valentines. You can also bake plain heart shaped sugar cookies, which the children can decorate with frosting as well as red, white, and pink sprinkles, Red Hots and other festive red candy decorations!

Heart Ring Toss:
Play ring toss with a heart ring toss game. You can make or buy one. If you plan to make one, go to the craft or art store and ask a salesperson to assist you with selecting the right materials. Basically, cut a large heart shaped figure. It can be as large as you wish, but 24-30 inches will do. Draw a face on it or decorate the heart with your choice of craft items or let the kids do it. Fasten arms or arrows to the back of the heart so that they are sticking out and make it tossing easy for the kids. Make toss rings out of pipe cleaners or rubber tubing and viola! You will need to make a stand for your heart or hang it on the wall. Let the kids win small prizes if they can toss three rings in a row (or even toss one ring on the target).

Valentine Hunt:
Hide small Valentine's Day inspired items all over your venue for the kids to find. Divide them into teams, and give them clues about where to find each item. (Make sure the number of each item corresponds with the number of teams). The first team to find every item wins a bag of Valentine's Day stickers.