February 14, 2009

Happy Valentine's Day!

My hubby and I had family over last night for a small Valentine celebration. Here is a look at some simple ideas for low stress party.

Take a photo of your decorations and use it to design a quick announcement which you can email to family.
As an activity, write a couple of Valentine cards (or letter of appreciation etc.) to friends,family, or someone who has made a positive impact. Purchase a pack of 40 plain cards and envelopes for $5.00 at Michael's. If you want, the photo below shows a very simple way to snaz up a plain card with colored lining and outline. (Works out great for the guys, they don't usually like "girly" stationary.)
While looking at blogs all over the internet, garlands seem to be the "it". So of course I tried one for this party. You can make a garland out of just about anything. The one below is fabric.
Bake and decorate sugar cookies the evening before. If they are kept air tight, they will be nice soft for your party. Yum, yum. Double the recipe and you have an instant party favor to send home with guests.

Flowers! Can't forget the flowers. One $10 bouquet works wonders. Find all your skinny vases and split up your flowers by type. I lined my vases up in a row on the bar . . . pretty, inexpensive, and makes a bigger impact than one bouquet which might not have enough "presence."
. . . plus, you get to enjoy them for another week!
Play games, like this one, called:
It is exacty like the hidden thimble game, only we used a little heart instead. It's a great game for ALL ages. Rules: While everyone closes their eyes and plugs their ears, someone hides the heart—in plain sight. Yes, plain site. They can't move anything to do the hiding.

When the heart is hidden all players begin to search for the heart. If the heart has been hidden correctly, the players won't need to touch or move anything to find the heart. When a player sees it, they quietly sit back down and get to watch the other players with a grin, as they now "know the secret." The last person to see the heart gets to hide it for the next round. (Kids have a great time playing right along with the adults.) Try it, you'll like it.

And lastly, what to do with the fabric from the garland? You probably guessed, make a quilt! Before I began cutting out my flags I made a rough layout of what I wanted the quilt to look like so I knew exactly what shapes to cut:

So now you know what the next project will be! (Don't you just love double dipping?) I hope you all have a wonderful Valentines and a lovely day!

3 comments:

Amanda Sevall said...

So cute Anna!! Looks and sounds like a great party. Can't wait to see your quilt once you finish it :) Happy Valentine's Day to you and Adam!

Anonymous said...

I love all your ideas. I wish I lived close so I could participate. I think I'll let you plan my next party. Lots of Love.

Laurie said...

Great ideas and beautiful decorations! I hope you post the quilt when you are done so we can see it! That is a great way to use up that fabric.