I’ve always loved planning and hosting parties, and themed parties bring an extra level of enjoyment. Last year I hosted a Valentine’s Day party for the 2 and 3 year olds in one of my mom’s groups. At that age, our kids were starting to get interested in making cards and gifts for their friends so this was a fun activity for them. Here’s a little overview of the party details.
Decorations
I try not to spend much on decorations, so most of them came from Michaels (40% off) and the Target dollar spot. For this party, I bought heart banners, various sized glitter hearts, and a plastic tablecloth and themed plates/napkins.
Refreshments
Since this was a morning party, I went easy on the food – fruit, cheese and crackers, water/juice boxes, and a snack mix consisting of popcorn, pretzels, raisins, yogurt-covered Craisins and M&Ms. I love finding fun ways to present food at parties; for this one, I got a couple of heart-shaped platters and used a mini cookie cutter to cut the cheese into heart shapes. I put the snack mix in single serving paper cups and placed them on a cupcake tower. For the water bottles, I removed the labels and 
wrapped a piece of heart-covered craft paper around it, securing with double sided tape.
Craft
I got this idea from my Parents as Teachers educator who did a similar one using fall leaves. Materials you will need include: contact paper cut into large squares, pink and red tissue paper cut into small squares, and scissors. Peel off the paper backing of contact paper and set it sticky side up on the table. Let your child cover it with pieces of tissue paper. When they are done, unpeel another sheet of contact paper and put it sticky side down on the art work. Use scissors to cut the contact paper into a heart shape and voila, the final product is this cute sun catcher for your window!
Valentine Exchange
For this part of the party, each guest brought valentines to pass out to all of their friends. Each guest also brought a bag or a box that they’d decorated to be their valentine mailbox. After our craft and snacks, the kids passed out their valentines to one another (with a little help from the moms). We got such a fun variety of valentines, and the kids were so excited to see what their friends had brought for them. They ranged from handmade to store-bought, whatever each family wanted to bring. We gave out applesauce pouches with fun “you are awesomesauce” valentines using a printable I found on this blog.
Hopefully this has given you some ideas that you can use with your own kids, either for a party at home or for a party at school. Keep it as simple or as Pinterest-y as you like. Most of all, have fun and don’t forget to take pictures!
