Love Bug Bash Valentines Day Party

Each year, my family hosts a Valentine's Day party for my girls' cousins, best friends and their siblings - about a dozen kids.  Each year, there is a different theme.  One year, it was a silly Knock-Knock party; another year, a Royal Celebration (for my little princesses) complete with a chocolate fountain.  And last year, we had an Out-of-this-World party and made paper airplanes to fly through the house; that was a blast!

This year, I decided on a Love Bug theme - inspired by Sizzix rubber stamps (on sale!); they are so cute.  From there, I had many ideas to bring the love bug theme to life - most shown below.

The invitation; bug juice (strawberry milk) served in bottles, which were later decorated into bug jars; a love bug'banner' on the front door; and adult refreshments.

Food for this afternoon party featured a dessert buffet - cake pops, heart shaped brownies, sweet strawberries, and antique dishes of Sweethearts and M&Ms (or talkin' love bugs and cupids mix as I called them)

Decor was minimal but colorful and fun for maximum impact.  I focused on the dining room table where the activities would be conducted and the dessert table (above).  I wrapped the table in pink wrapping paper (Paper Source), set out a red table runner (from Christmas).  Then, I put faux grass mats on top and decorated with bugs - yellow bumble bees (both from Heart to Heart) and lady bug candles (from my home).

To keep the kids busy, we made love bugs - decorated (bug juice) bottles with heart-shaped stickers, pom-poms and pipe cleaners.  See photos above.  This became a take-home gift that the kids could use in the spring to catch bugs.

After a quick snack, we made cootie catchers - also known as fortune tellers.  I showed the older kids how to fold a square piece of (Valentine's Day print) paper, how to decorate with colors, numbers and fortunes and finally, how to play.  This was a really fun activity and game!

Lastly, we played Love Bug Bingo - hand-stamped custom cards with a lot of images for the younger kids and letters arranged for special sayings (B-E-E H-A-P-P-Y, for example).  We used M&Ms for markers - but could only play 3 games because we ate most of the markers! 

Later in the evening, as I cleaned up, my 3 year old told me that she had the best Valentine's Day party ever - and I think she did, we all did!