Oh yeah, baby! It’s that time again! It’s love, love, LOVE time not just for us as adults, but for our kiddos!
I had a really great Pre-Valentine’s Day Party today for my neighborhood so I could share the fun with you. Yes, that’s right… they sacrificed coming to my pre-emptive party for YOU! Now, you have time to prepare for the upcoming holiday. Maybe you’ll find some of these ideas useful. I’ll also let you know how long it took me to make everything so you can judge whether or not it is worth your time.
DECOR
Falling Hearts
HOW TO
Time:
It only took me 1 hour to not only make 16 falling heart strands, but also to make 5 inverted falling heart strands.
The hearts:
I cut an 8-1/2 x 11″ piece of opalescent off-white, opalescent pink, or red card stock into two 4-1/4 x 11″ pieces. I then folded them each in half, length-wise and cut them in half. I freehanded one heart (cutting half of it so that when I unfolded the paper it would be a full heart), and then used that heart to cut around for each subsequent heart. I cut 64 hearts, but doubled up cutting them, so it didn’t take long. Once cut, you also have a bunch of inverted heart rectangles.
Sewing:
I lined up the hearts on my table how I wanted them in line. Notice that I placed some upside-down hearts in line 
just for fun. I fed one heart through, then I kept the pedal down while it sewed freely for a while to create space between the hearts. Then I fed the next heart through. I did this quickly and without a ton of calculation in terms of how long to keep the pedal down between hearts. Why? Because no one cares! 🙂
Next, I sewed the inverted hearts. I tried to tilt the hearts opposite of one another, but messed up on a couple of them. Did it matter? Not. at. all. Note that I sewed a little at the top corner, let the machine sew freely throughout the middle of the heart, and then sewed through the bottom corner.
FOOD
I didn’t have to do much! Being 35 weeks pregnant, I knew that I might not have the energy to do all of the decor and planning AND to provide a ton of hors d’hoevres. So, I asked everyone to bring a snack to share if they had time, and I made my go-tos:
–Spinach Artichoke Dip <– the one I use – easy and really popular
-Tortilla Chips and a baguette (to go with the dip)
-Fruit Dip (fruit finely chopped… kiwi, apple, blueberries, blackberries, raspberries)
-Cinnamon & Sugar Pita Chips (to go with the fruit)
-Fresh grapes
-Peanut Butter & Jelly Sandwiches
(I was late making these and had a REALLY nice mom offer to help when she arrived)
-Iced Tea
-Orange Juice with Sierra Mist
-Honest Juice Pouches
Others brought:
-Fruit Salad in a sweet pink sauce
-Chocolate dipped pretzels and cookies
-Monkey Bread
-Orange Juice
-Clean-eating muffins (that’s what I’m talking about!)
-Store-bought goodies (no shame!)
-Veggies with a clean white bean dip
VALENTINE’S CARD MAKING & DISTRIBUTING
I put out some really simple items for the kids to make Valentine’s cards with.
-Construction Paper
-Some of the inverted hearts from the Falling Hearts decorations
-stickers
-glue sticks
-crayons
They all went to town with the help of their moms.
The goal was for each kid to make a few cards so that every kid would get at least one card in their mailbox.
MAILBOXES
Time to assemble 16: appx 3 hours
I used this template from Tinyme.com, copied at a print/copy place on 300gsm glossy paper:
Free Mail Box Printable
I followed the directions to cut them out, fold on the dotted lines, and used double-stick tape to adhere it to itself.
FUN EXTRAS
A photo wall! I used that inverted heart decoration to create a little photo wall. I opened up the blinds on nearby windows so I had some ambient light coming through and I invited kids to come over whenever they felt comfortable. Here are some cute shots I captured:
We had a LOT of fun! I hope I inspired you to put on your own little party for the kids to
FEEL THE LOVE!
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