Great Ideas For Valentines

5 Ideas for a Christian Valentine Party

by Mimi Bullock

Holiday parties make the perfect venue for kids to socialize with Christian teachers and kids. Chances are the local school and some families will already host many of these love-related parties. If you plan to hold a Valentine’s Day party, make your event stand out with these 5 ideas for a Christian Valentine party. Use this fun event to demonstrate to kids the depth of God’s love. Besides “agape” love, show children the importance of Christian friendship and parental love.

Loving Theme
“Hey kids, we’re having a Valentine’s Day party!” I can tell you exactly what images these words invoke for a child, candy hearts, stealing kisses and having a playful good time. With this kind of introduction, kids will know what to expect—nothing unusual. Select a specific theme for your Valentine’s Day party. Camouflage it in something meaningful that will attract visitors and intrigue your current membership. If you plan to focus on God’s love at your party, then use themes like, “Big God, Big Heart” or “God’s Big Love.”
Involve the Congregation
People always ask me what I can do to help. They cannot always volunteer but there are ways they may serve. Buy enough Valentine cards for each child in your class. Give the cards to members of your congregation. Ask them to write a personal “love note” to the child. Suggest that they remark on how much God loves the child or some nice thing the adult noticed. This is a way to involve seniors in your ministry and one of my favorite ideas.
Christian Conversation Hearts
Buy a box of Christian conversation hearts and pass them out to children. Allow the children to read the hearts, one at a time, and remark on the messages. Use the queues from the hearts to introduce Bible passages about love and God. Even regular conversation candy hearts will do in a pinch. You might sift through them first to pick out inappropriate hearts like, “Kiss me.”
Tree of Love
The Christmas tree lives! Pull out the artificial Christmas tree and decorate it with a strand of red lights. Over the month of February, allow kids to add heart shaped ornaments to the tree. The ornaments can be paper prayers for loved ones and friends. Ask parents to send a photo or take ones yourself, (with parent’s permission) and add them to the tree.
Christian Party Games
Try some Christian games like “Grab the Hearts.” For “Grab the Hearts” blow up 10 to 20 heart-shaped balloons and divide them equally into two large plastic tubs. Set the tubs across a finish line. At the start line, your class will assemble in two lines. When the game starts, each child, one at a time, has to run to the finish line and grab a heart. Then they must return the heart to the start line and place it in an empty bucket there. The team to get the hearts back to the start line first wins. You could make it difficult and tell the class they cannot use their hands. Other tricky variations have the kids hop back or crabwalk, with the balloon back across the start line. Tell kids if they pop the balloon, they must start over.