Favorite Things Valentine Party

I hosted a Favorite Things Valentine party for my high school friends and their kids last week. We have a party every year and I must admit, it’s taking more and more thought to come up with a new theme every time.

You can see the past two parties here: Valentine Party | Valentine Detective Party

Invitation

There were plenty of brown paper packages tied up with string at this party, but we also had our share of pink and red hearts, glitter and more. It was a great combination. I mailed the invitations in brown paper bag envelopes and sewed some hearts along the bottom to pretty them up. :) The invitation asked each kid to bring a small gift under $5 of their favorite thing for a little gift exchange at the party. That part was a lot of fun.

Party Prep

(affiliate links below)

Before the party I prepped a banner kit for every kid. Each bag was filled with their own supplies including washy tape, stickers, glitter, banner and glue stick. Even though I filled the table with more supplies, I think it’s always fun to give each guest something of their very own. It makes it a little more special.

I used my Silhouette Mint to make some stamps for the kids to use on their banners. This little machine is amazing and you can create stamps so fast! I scanned in some images I drew and printed them out at stamps. Then I added some ink and they were ready to go. Once you fill the stamps with a little ink, you can easily get 50+ stamped images from it. When it starts to run out, just add more ink. These are great for small children too, because they were a lot cleaner than having them mess with a stamp pad that would get ink all over their hands.

I wanted to share some of my favorite things with the kids at the party. When I was little my mom had her stash of craft supplies, and us kids had our own separate stuff. I remember feeling like I won the lottery any time my mom would let me use her ribbons, paints, stamps or anything that was normally off limits. I let loose for this party and put out glitter, paper, stamps, ribbon, and more. I expected my house to be a mess with all this crafty goodness open to little hands, but that’s what made it more fun.

I covered each table with white butcher paper. I bought a roll of this a year ago and LOVE it. It’s the best tablecloth for craft projects and kids parties. (I also pull it out sometimes for the kids to color huge pictures on. They think it’s awesome.) I glued hearts along the center of the paper to make a table runner. The best part of it all, when the party was over, I just gathered it all up and threw it in the trash. Heaven sent with all that glitter, confetti and glue the kids were using. 

They loved having free rein on spoonfuls of confetti and glitter, using all the sparkly ribbon and pretty tape they wanted. They glued on hearts all over and let their creative juices flow freely. I love giving kids an open ended project without them having to make a craft that looks just like a sample shown. It is so fun to see how their minds work and the things they come up with.

With 18 kids at the party, I planned on glitter spilling. I think my kids were the only ones that did spill it. Figures. Haha! I love this shot of my little girl’s feet covered in glitter. I’m telling you, that sparkly stuff was everywhere. Good thing I gave each kid a tiny container of it and didn’t put out bowls full of it like originally planned. I think that would be really pretty on the tables with older kids, but with some one and two-year-olds, I tried to play it safe.

I love this shot of the table during the party with those little hands creating. This is just what I pictured when I planned the party, and I’m so happy with how it turned out. I hope you feel inspired to get a little messy with some Valentine crafts this year.

You can find all the cut and stamp files used at the party in the links below.