How to Throw a Fun Valentine’s Day Party

The Many Benefits of a Valentine’s Day Party

A Party is for Everyone, Regardless of Relationship Status

Valentine’s Day is a beautiful holiday, but it shouldn’t only be for people in romantic relationships. The most inclusive (and fun!) way to celebrate Valentine’s Day – whether you have a date or not – is to throw a Valentine’s Day party. All your friends can come – those who are single and those who are not – and have a good time together. Celebrate love, whether you are currently in love or not, by hosting a bash so lovable that nobody will care one way or another whether they have a fancy dinner for two on the calendar. It’s a win for everybody. If you’re single or grieving a recent breakup, come and party with friends! If you’re ecstatically in love, come and celebrate! Whatever your status, a party is a fun and happy way that everyone can get together and have fun this Valentine’s Day.

A Party Gets You Off the Hook from Making Elusive Valentine’s Day Plans

It seems that the only other thing there is to do on Valentine’s Day (at least, for people with no time to think of anything more creative) is to go out to eat at a nice restaurant. While that is an enjoyable (albeit expensive) pursuit, you usually have to make a reservation many months in advance to even get a table somewhere decent. Don’t wait until February when everything is already booked up. But you know what isn’t booked up? Your awesome party, that’s what. Your friends will thank you endlessly for sparing them from having to scrounge up last-minute Valentine’s Day plans somewhere lame because it’s the only place with an open table.

A Party is More Interesting Than Going Out to Eat

When was the last time you were invited to (or knew about) a Valentine’s Day party? It’s like a unicorn…very rare and/or nonexistent. Sure, everyone’s heard of Valentine’s galas or dinner parties hosted by establishments. Sounds nice in theory, but you pay a premium to even attend. Plus, they’re usually about as exciting as a social gathering with people fifty years older than you: boring and awkward and everyone’s really only talking to their spouse/significant other. Whereas an actual party – at your house – is where real fun can happen. So what are you waiting for? Plan a Valentine’s Day party your friends won’t forget!

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How to Throw a Valentine’s Day Party

1. Set the Scene with Valentine’s Day Decorations

Hearts, hearts and more hearts! Valentine’s Day is all about hearts, my friends. Pretty reds, pinks, and purples too. Lacy hearts, shiny hearts, candy hearts, and everything cheesy and amazing. Valentine’s Day decorations are easy to find anywhere. While it can get pricy depending on how elaborate you get, you can usually find inexpensive party supplies at basic dollar stores and the like. And, with a little time and motivation, you can almost always DIY your party decorations. Make a fun event of it with a friend and cut out paper hearts from construction paper, string up heart garlands, and make pretty placemats.

Everyone’s party will look different and that’s the beauty of hosting. What I can say for sure is that I’ve been to everything from delightfully extravagant soirées to humble Solo cup dance parties in crowded apartments, and they are all fantastic! So even if you can only spare to decorate with a hint of Valentine-related decorations, just remember that small efforts done with love and enthusiasm speak for themselves!

• Valentine’s Day decorations from Adriana-Made Decor shop
• Valentine’s Day garlands, confetti, and more décor from Inviting Design Studio shop
• Heart-embellished paper straws (set of 12)
• More Valentine’s Day decorations

2. Prepare Valentine’s Day Refreshments

Just because your party is Valentine’s Day-themed doesn’t mean you need to prepare a 5-course Valentine’s dinner date meal. Especially if this is a mid-week party! When you throw a weekday party, follow the same universal workplace principle: KISS. No need for fancy dishes; just offer a few healthy and filling snacks such as pita chips and hummus, a hearty bean salad, deviled eggs, cheese and crackers, etc. As for treats, however, that is what Valentine’s Day is all about! See some yummy recipes below.

It’s easy to spend a lot on food, but you can save money by buying ingredients and preparing your own dishes instead of buying pre-made party platters. This means you need to set aside time to bake/prepare food in advance (included in your time block to-do list below). While that takes a little more effort and preparation on your part, it also gives you more freedom over specific ingredients you provide. This is important, say, if someone is gluten free. Of course, you can always budget by inviting guests to BYOB and/or bring edible items to share. Most people are happy to contribute (see 6. Guest Participation). But regardless, be aware of any invited guests’ dietary restrictions and provide at least one or two decent food/drink options for them as well.

Here’s a list of mouth-watering Valentine’s treats and bevvies to try out (plus one veggie appetizer for good measure):

• Valentine veggie snack
• Valentine brownies
• Vegan/gluten-free chocolate Valentine cupcakes
• Vanilla Valentine cupcakes
• Valentine Rice Krispy treats
• Sweetheart Valentine punch
• Chocolate-covered strawberry mocktail
• Chocolate-covered raspberry cocktail
• Love potion cocktail

3. Set the Mood with the Perfect Valentine’s Day Playlist

Careful here: love may be the number one subject matter for all songs in existence, but that doesn’t mean all love songs are equal. Celine Dion is a talented and successful singer, but most of her songs aren’t hoppin’ party material. Find love songs that fit a more upbeat, light-hearted party vibe. If you want to encourage dancing, find some energetic love-themed beats. Any kind of love – love for another, love for self, love for friends, love for life. There is no one-size-fits-all – your choice of love songs depends entirely on the energy level you’re going for. So plan your playlist with some thought!

For a brilliant and seamlessly mixed lineup of R&B classics, play this Valentine’s Day DJ playlist. For recent pop love songs, play this Valentine’s pop playlist. Want an atmospheric Valentine’s Day background video? Play this cozy Valentine tea party soundscape. For Harry Potter fans, this Harry Potter inspired soundscape of Valentine’s Day at Madam Puddifoot’s tea shop sets a fun ambiance.

4. Add Evocative Scents

Your guests walk in and see pink and red and hearts. They taste wickedly delicious treats and sip irresistible drinks. They hear all the best love jams or an inviting Valentine’s Day atmospheric soundscape. Now, consider what everyone should smell! To truly immerse your guests in the essence of Valentine’s Day, here are some delightfully scented Valentines Day candles:

• Rose-scented XOXO candle
• Valentine cupcake candle
• ‘Kissing Booth’ Valentine’s Day candle (multiple scent options)
• Love Spell perfume-scented Valentine’s Day sprinkles candle
• Strawberries-and-cream-scented Valentine’s Day candle (multiple shape options)

5. Plan Valentine’s Day Activities

There are so many options for games! If you and your friends are a bunch of wild singles, nothing turns up the heat like spin the bottle. Though that may not be the most popular (or appropriate) option if anyone is partnered, there are plenty of other fun activities like going around the room and sharing celebrity crushes. Have partnered people share how they met their significant other and their favourite thing about them, and have single people share their fantasy date/person.

There are also plenty of entertaining Valentine’s Day party games you can buy to download and print off! Check out these activities and game bundles:

• Valentine’s Day 5-second game
• Valentine’s Day 3-game Scattergories bundle
• Valentine’s Day family feud-style game
• Valentine’s Day trivia
• Valentine’s movie love quotes trivia
• Valentine’s Day red trivia
• Valentine’s Day mad gab game
• ‘What’s your Cupid name’ game
• 17-game Valentine’s Day bundle
• 10-game Valentine’s Day bundle
• 8-game Valentine’s Day bundle

6. Establish Guest Participation

Guest participation is optional and depends on how much you would like guests to contribute. To help keep costs low, you can request everyone bring a dish to share. Or invite everybody to wear red or pink. You could plan a funny $10 and under (or $5 and under) gift exchange where people unwrap hilariously love-themed gifts, similar to a Dirty Santa gift exchange. Valentine’s Day gag gifts can bring out the inner 12-year old in all of us!

Checklist of Things to Get for Your Valentine’s Day Party

This is a list of all of the physical things you need for your Valentine’s Day party:

1. Valentine’s Day decorations
2. Ingredients to make Valentine’s Day food and drinks
3. Valentine’s Day music playlist/soundscape and speakers/screen
4. Valentine’s Day scented candles
5. Valentine’s Day themed games
6. Valentine’s Day gag gift (if having gift exchange)

Checklist of Preparations for Your Valentine’s Day Party

1. First, confirm that people can come on any chosen date:

1. Choose party date/time, and preferably alternative date(s) as well. There are a couple of directions you can take with this. Weekends are usually the best time for a party since most people don’t have to go to work the next morning. In general, that’s always preferable since most people’s time and curfew is more flexible. However, when Valentine’s Day falls in the middle of the workweek, your guests will still have to figure out something to do on the actual day if your party takes place over the previous or upcoming weekend. So this is a holiday where it may pay off to have a midweek party. Think about it: eating a nice meal out often takes a couple of hours anyway, so guests won’t have to stay up that much later to go to a party instead. Besides, it would spice up an otherwise drab wintry workweek and give them something to talk about at work the next morning (maybe with a little extra coffee to help wake up).
2. Choose guest list and establish minimum number of guests you’d like (to make it worth your effort)
3. Six weeks out, confirm guests’ interest in the party and availability on chosen party date(s)
4. If your preferred minimum number of guests confirm interest and availability, have them secure calendar date for your awesome Valentine’s Day party!

2. Then, proceed with the fun planning:

1. Schedule time on your calendar for each step of party prep (securing and/or making food/drinks, etc.). This is especially important when you’re having a midweek party. Try and get all preparations done the weekend before Valentine’s Day so that you won’t have anything to worry about during the workweek leading up to your party while you’re trying to work and do other normal/everyday things.
2. Create invitations with all the details and send them out 4 weeks before the party
3. Order any party supplies and decorations 3 weeks out (so they arrive in time to prepare and set up)
4. Shop for any party supplies/decorations you don’t order online, as well as non-perishable food/drinks
5. In your planned time slots, DIY any party supplies and decorations
6. In your planned time slots, acquire perishable food/drinks early enough in advance to prepare in time
7. In your planned time slots, set up decorations
8. In your planned time slots, prepare food/drinks (depending on how long things keep)

3. Day of Party (in your amply planned time slot):

1. Prepare any foods/drinks that are too fresh to do any earlier
2. Set up any quick/easy last-minute supplies and decorations you didn’t want up before
3. Prepare ambience (audio/visual, candles/scents)
4. Get dressed with plenty of time! When you host a midweek party, it should go without saying that you want the start time to be late enough to give yourself ample time to get yourself (and everything else) ready before the party. But you don’t want this to be too late a start time since people won’t be able to stay up very late on a worknight. If your job doesn’t require a specific uniform or very strenuous or messy work, just wear your favourite party outfit to work and you’re already dressed for the evening. Multipurpose attire! Otherwise, have a party outfit already picked out so you can quickly freshen up and change soon as you’re home from work.
5. Once everything’s ready, meditate or do your preferred self-care activity to shake off any lingering stress of the workday/week so you can be relaxed, energized, and excited for your Valentine’s Day party. When you’re happy and full of love, your guests will pick up on your contagiously good vibe and feel full of love as well – everybody’s best interest!

Happy Valentine’s Day!

If you missed your chance to have a Valentine’s Day party this year, consider having a lovecore aesthetic party instead! It’s a fun alternative that isn’t tied to a specific time of year and beautifully encompasses all things pink, red and lovey (similar to what we see and celebrate for Valentine’s Day)!