Preparing for a Valentine's Day Party
Here are some tips to make a Valentine's Day party run smoothly.
By Elisa Jackson
Valentine’s Day is a day to celebrate friendship in your classroom. Everyone usually brings in treats and Valentine cards for the rest of the class. Here are some ways to properly prepare for the big day, keep your classroom organized and parties running smoothly.
The first thing to do is to send a letter home to parents explaining that you are going to have a Valentine’s Day party. In this letter home, you need to include all of the names of the students in your class (the rule should be that they give every student a card), along with assistants you may have (students often want to give Valentine cards to them as well). Next, if you are having a party, create a sign up list of items you would like parents to bring. You may want to create a friendship trail mix, and have students sign up to bring nuts, M&M’s, raisins, Goldfish crackers, Cheeze It snacks, and more. This keeps the sweets to a minimum. If you would like to have sweets, have a sign up for them as well, so students do not bring in the same item, like cupcakes. Don’t forget to include a sign up for plates, napkins, and drinks too. Also in the letter, include the time the party will start, and a spot for parents to write in whether they want to come and help out or not. You will be able to use their help in setting up, dishing out food, and cleaning up. And lastly, make sure the list and information paragraph are at the top, and the sign up sheet is at the bottom so parents can cut it off and return it to you. About two days before the party, send students home with a reminder of what they are to bring.
The next thing to do is to have students prepare some kind of Valentine card holder. One good idea is to use tissue boxes. Students can decorate the boxes with their names visible for everyone to see. These are perfect to use because you can stick a Valentine card in the top and it most likely won’t fall out. Use the bigger boxes, because many students bring in candy or big cards that will not fit into the small openings. Another idea is to create a folded heart envelope. This can be done with big red construction paper with the top of the heart at the top. Fold the bottom to look like the bottom of the heart with a pointed bottom and an open top. Students can decorate these with their names as well. These are great because you can staple them to the walls, and they don’t take up any space in your room. And since they won’t be on student’s desks, they will not be playing with them throughout the day.
Once all of this is done, show a Valentine’s movie, open cards, eat treats, prepare trash bags, and have fun! Here are more activities to do for Valentine’s Day.
Valentine's Day Activities:
Students do research and write a report on the history of Valentine's Day.
Students discuss different foods eaten at different holidays and then make Sweetheart Pudding for Valentine's Day.
Students make a bar graph using Valentine's candy.
Students use Bingo cards to play bingo with Valentine's words and pictures.