I used printables from the Love Bugs Collection I designed for my Etsy shop to style the party and created a different banner for the backdrop. For the color scheme I stuck to purple, pink, hot pink and red and found a striped fabric at JoAnn's that matched perfectly. The chairs were decorated with paper rosettes that were used at last year's No Boys Allowed Sweets & Treats party. I also decorated our fireplace mantle with decorative boxes, roses sent to me by my husband (bless his heart) and the heart tree and upcycled Valentine's mailbox I made.
There were a lot of crafts and activities to pack into two hours of fun. For the crafts portion of the party, I had the kids decorate their own card mailboxes, bead necklaces, decorate bookmarks and heart wands. The mailboxes were filled with items to get them started and a box of Conversation Hearts to keep them out of the candy on the dessert buffet. I put out all of the ribbon I had on hand, glitter glue, stickers, and paper cut outs from the printable kit. I wanted to make sure to keep the Bugs & Kisses theme going and found really cute lady bug bookmarks and necklace craft kits from JoAnn's. Heart Picks used for floral arrangements made perfect heart wands when they were embellished with ribbon and stick-on gems. They also got to decorate their own heart shaped cookies.
Once all the crafting and decorating was done, the kids were more than ready to get filled up on lots of junk! They were treated to Red Velvet Cupcakes, lollies, chocolates, marshmallows, gumballs, tea sandwiches, fresh fruit and raspberry lemonade. It was really hard to keep them away from the sweets!
I had a blast setting up this dessert table. To save money I used a lot of items that I already had on hand. Most of the serving trays were Target dollar bin finds that I've been collecting over the past few months. I used a footed frame from Ikea and vinyl chalkboard paper to make a standing chalkboard sign. A simple swag for the table was made with pink tulle (same as the one used for this party) and a mini paper pom (from this party).
The chocolate flower pops and bugs were made by me using a molding kit I got at Michael's. I served raspberry lemonade in empty Frappuccino glass bottles. The heart printed paper straws were purchased from The Sugar Diva. The other lollipops and candy were from the dollar store. The cupcakes are from Starbucks and I topped them with Cherry Sours. (Sidebar: my oven caught on fire and doesn't work, so, I couldn't make the cupcakes myself. This tragedy happened while I was bedridden with the flu two weeks ago and my husband was in the kitchen cooking, not pointing fingers....just sayin'....and I digress). I made the tea sandwiches with raspberry preserves, cut them with a heart shaped cookie cutter and topped each one with a sliced strawberry....they were a big hit! We also had fresh pineapples and strawberries that were served in little cups for the kids to eat as well.
At the end of the party we packed all their handmade goods, a cupcake and other treats and favors in a take away box. Each box was decorated with a cut out from the Love Bugs printable pack.
All the kids had a great time crafting and playing - and un-apologetically eating lots of candy and who can blame them?
HAVE A VERY HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!
