Children's Valentine Party
Thu, February 10, 2011 
Valentine's Day is one of our favorite holidays. It’s all about love, friendship, and showing you care. What could be sweeter? There is no better opportunity to demonstrate to your children the act of kindness than Valentine's Day!
We decided to host a small children’s dinner a few days before Valentine's Day. We invited 3 friends and their Mommy over to show them how much they are loved. The party was set at 5:00pm and the guests were asked to arrive in their pajamas so that their Mommy would not have to do late night baths after they got home. Children were asked to come prepared with a valentine for each friend.
Décor:
Outside the front door we welcomed guests by writing their names on a small chalkboard, then adding some flowers from our yard to give it a festive look.
We transformed our playroom into a fun Valentine's celebration using everything red, pink and white! Our art table was draped with a plastic gingham tablecloth (purchased at a party supply store). We collected all the Valentines’ books that we could find and placed them on bookshelves for fast and free decorations. Streamers dangled from the ceiling along with a red paper lantern. Wooden play blocks were used to spell out the words LOVE and FRIENDS. 6 Paper hearts cut out of construction paper with the words A FRIEND LOVES AT ALL TIMES (from Proverbs 17:17) written with a felt marker, one word per heart, were taped up on the walls. Some flowers from our garden were placed in a recycled baby food jar, and a creamer in the shape of an elephant was also filled with flowers for easy decor on the children’s table.
The Mommy's table was simply embellished with candles and pink camellia flowers and ivy from our backyard.
Activities
We taped envelopes up on the walls with each child’s name for Valentines to be delivered into. Our favorite Valentine's Day cards are:
Baked dough hearts were painted for each child to take home to hang in their window. See recipe below.
Food
A variety of finger sandwiches were served to the children along with a side of broccoli, strawberries and mini cupcakes for dessert. (Sweetiecakesco.com). The Mommies ate homemade chicken soup and salad. See our post on yummy Homemade Chicken Soup under our Health section.
This was a fun, inexpensive and easy Valentine's celebration! Parties don’t have to be long, elaborate or fancy especially for children. We encourage you to plan one soon, the cause for celebration is endless.
Recipe for Baked Dough Hearts:
- 2 cups all purpose flour
- 1-cup salt
- 1 Tbsp vegetable oil
- 1-cup water
Mix together flour and salt.
Mix the water and oil together.
Add half the water mixture to the flour and salt.
Kneed the mixture, gradually adding more of the water/oil mixture
Until the dough has a smooth, firm consistency.
Roll out dough on wax paper making sure the dough is not thick (this will cause air bubbles and the hearts will puff up).
Use heart cookie cutters to make shapes.
Using the top of a pencil (eraser removed) make a hole for the ribbon to be threaded through.
Place the hearts on a baking sheet. Bake for about 2hr at 275 degrees. Allow to cool. Paint, glitter and string ribbons through. (Photo from Stephanie Levy. Be sure to check out her blog.)
