A Tale of Two Valentine's Parties

It all started with the cards.  Over 300 of them!  But let me back up.  My daughter is in homeschool Kindergarten this year and with three little brothers we have not been active in the local groups until now.  With the start of this new year, my plan was to get out more!  So we attended a couple of park days.  That was fun.  Then Valentines came into view.

Two of the homeschool groups in the area, of course, planned a Valentines Day party.  Which one to choose?  The first group is our town's local homeschool group.  I have met some of the mom's but my daughter hasn't met many of the children yet.  The second group is our regional Catholic homeschool group.  I want our homeschool journey to be enhanced by our faith not just in our home but in our society.  One party is on Thursday the other Friday!  Both 1pm to 3pm!  We decide to do both!

Now we have never been to a Valentines Day party and I barely remember any from when I was growing up.  I knew we needed to pass out cards.  The ones in the store always seem so cool and popular.  The second consideration was that as we were going as a family, my twin boys who just turned 3 would also want to participate.  They would know if their sister got valentines and they didn't so I signed the twins up as well.  Three out of my four children would be trading Valentines Day Cards!

Then the numbers came in!  The first party had about 40 children signed up!  The second, 60!  As the math came out, ( 40 + 60 ) x 3 = 300!  Now my daughter is new to writing and it takes a lot of work to write her name.  But if she was going to personalize them, I didn't want to finish for her when she got tired.

We started early, Monday, or so I thought.  We started on the smaller group with store bought cards.  I filled out the ones for the twins and my daughter painstakingly wrote her name on SEVEN.  Later that night five more.  By Thursday night we had half of them done and we hadn't even started to think about what we were going to do for the second party.  I also wanted the second set to be more Catholic.  St Valentine is one of our Saints and I wanted to acknowledge that.  The second group I decided to make ourselves.  I would fill out their names on the computer with a short note:

• Roses are Red Violets are Blue, St Valentine loves to pray for you!
• Love is Patient, Love is Kind, Happy feast of Saint Valentine!
• God Love for us to pray, Happy St Valentine's Day!

So we only needed to assemble them instead of trying to get my daughter to sign 60 more.


This was fun, but still a lot of work for me.  It was simple.  A heart out of construction paper.  A slip of paper with a prayerful note and their names, and a sticker to finish it off.  I even got help from the twins in the construction though that meant a couple of the notes ended up upside down.  Creative liberties!  My daughter also enjoyed this project more.  Picking out the stickers for each one was the favorite part.

Now one thing that did save this process for both parties was the comment made by one of the moms in the first group that we needn't fill out each child's name that we were giving them to.  We had the option of writing "To: You, or Friend" or leaving it blank!  This was such a time saver both in the filling out and the distributing of said valentines!

By Wednesday night we were done!  I had 6 ziplocks full of Valentines!  One for each child for each party!  Treats to take!  300 Valentines completed!  Lots of lessons learned.  Amusingly as we were finishing writing cards, my daughter pipes up and says.  "Mom, we should have started sooner!"  I agreed.  But the numbers were still changing for both groups right up to the day of the party.  How was I to know how long it would take her.  How was I to know how long it would take ME!

Then came the parties!  And the Rain!  The first party was planned for the park but with a chance of thunderstorms, one of the moms graciously opened her home for the party.  It was a crowded affair with children and adults spilling out onto the covered back patio.  Even the introverts were talking among themselves as they tried to escape both the crowd and the rain.

Tables were set up inside and out for food and crafts.  Chairs scattered around the living room for moms.  Children played with toys in the middle or played in the back when the rain calmed down.  My children quickly mixed in with the others exploring the toys and activities.  The bags were set up around the edge of the kitchen and the exchanges began!


The second day. still plagued by rain, was inconsequential as we were setup to meet in one of the large community rooms at the church.  Even though the group was larger, the increased space meant the crowd was separated into smaller groups.  Moms floated around monitoring children and talking in pairs and small groups by themselves.  Though my boys quickly found something to do, my daughter was more clingy, not knowing what to do or how to fit in.  Again bags and boxes were set up along the wall and exchange number two was set in motion.

While both parties were filled with card
s, food and activities, the tenor of both parties was different.  In the first the children decorated cookies, bags for collecting the cards, and made a small craft.  In the second there was a station for coloring holy pictures including St Valentine, a table for chess and checkers for older children, and a Catechism circle game.  My daughter enjoyed the crafts more, but I liked the emphasis on faith that was threaded through the second.

We enjoyed both parties.  A sugar high followed both parties as the children explored the wonders of their Valentine's bags.  Ohhs and Ahhs for the different cards and goodies found inside.  I don't regret going to both parties but I am also glad we are done.

I have learned many things, one of which is beware signing up for too many events especially when hundreds of cards are involved!  Another is I liked the intimate gathering of the house as it was easier for this extroverted introvert to interact with the other mom's.  Having more formalized crafts was good for my daughter and she was more independent in figuring out what to do.  Another lifesaver for me was my Ergo for my 1 yo.  It was much easier to help and manage my other children with the little one safely snuggled on my back!  And of course the cards!  I preferred the handmade ones.  Personal and Catholic and more within my children's ability!

All in all it was a good Valentines!  What will I do next year?  I'm not sure.  I'll wait and see what I am up for when February comes around again!

St Valentine Pray for Us!

More on Saint Valentine see Catholic Online!