Party Tips & Ideas

Romantics and sentimentalists love Valentine's Day. It's a day of flowers, candles, cupids and cards. It is also a good excuse to get friendly and tell someone you like how you feel about them.

If you need to break the ice there are lots of games you can play. This is especially useful if there are people who don't know each other. There are some ice-breakers on this page, but for further ice-breakers, see Ice-breakers.

The Case Of The Missing Matchmaker party kit for up to 50 guests is perfect for Valentines Day parties. There are "mystery (no murder)" and "murder mystery" versions.

There are the following sections on this page:

• First impressions
• Red hearts
• Love poems
• Sing this song
• Menu suggestions
• Decorations.

First impressions on Valentines Day

When guests arrive have someone tape a piece of card onto their back and give everyone a pen or pencil. Guests must write their first impressions of that person on the card on their back. Ask them to write witty and nice comments – bright eyes, figure to die for, kissable lips, seductive smile, soothing voice, lovely legs etc. When everyone has written comments on everyone's card have each guest read the card on the person beside them.

Red hearts

Here is a little Valentine's Day game you may like to play:

1. Cut as many red hearts as you can out of cardboard (at least five or six times the number of guests expected).
2. Place them in a basket on a table in the middle of the room.
3. Add another dish of just as many, if not more, small safety pins.
4. Pair the guests and get them to stand around the table in a circle.
5. When you give them a signal to start – it might be a bell or a piece of music – get the designated person from each couple to run to the centre, pick up a red heart and a pin, run back and pin it onto their partner.
6. Get them to continue to do this until given a signal to stop or all the hearts run out. The couple with the most hearts pinned on win the prize. This could be a small bag of heart shaped chocolates, a heart shaped cake or a heart shaped box of chocolates.
7. For variety, and if you don't have a lot of hearts cut out, when the hearts run out, people can steal one at a time off someone else and pin it on their own person.

Valentine's Love poems

Have enough cards so there are two for each person at the St Valentine's party. Write romantic words like love, lips, red, kissing, firelight, cosy, warm, soft, cuddle, passion, chocolate, sweet, marshmallows, etc. on half of the cards, and very unromantic words like saucepan, glue, teabag, window, sink, floor wax, football, toilet paper on the other half of the cards. Each person has to pick one card from each pile and make up a silly poem using both words and read it out aloud.

Sing this Valentines song

Have a pile of cards with one word on each. Use words you might find in songs like love. baby, red, roses, want, blue, crying, etc. (listen to some songs to get ideas). Spread the cards in a fan shape upside down on a table or hold them spread out in your hands like a pack of cards. Each person (or couple) takes a card and sings a snatch of a song with that word in it. If they are too shy to sing, they can just say the title of a song with that word in it. Some people will just make up a song but that's OK.

Valentine's Day menu suggestions

• Pink and white food.
• Heart shaped sandwiches and cakes.
• Sundaes: Have in bowls on the table of vanilla or strawberry ice cream, strawberries or raspberries, red or pink sweets, sprinkles and nuts, white or pink whipped cream. Have enough sundae dishes for everybody. Invite everyone to make their own sundae or one for someone else and feed it to them.
• Heart shaped pizzas with heart shaped salami on top (use cookie cutters).
• Raspberry punch Berry smoothies – raspberries, strawberries or blueberries blended with natural yoghurt.

Valentine's Day party decorations

• Set the mood with music. If it's a romantic party have soft romantic music and if it's to be a noisy happy party have more lively jazz with love themes or nostalgic rock and roll.
• Dim the lights or just use candles – pink, red and/or white are good.
• Red and white roses and flowers floating in bowls.
• Red cardboard hearts and cupids can decorate the tables and hang from the ceiling.
• As a change from hearts and cupids have pictures of lovebirds in frames and cardboard cooing doves in a birdcage.

Our murder mysteries

Merri Mysteries have over 18 murder mystery games ideal for injecting drama, fun and intrigue into your dinner party, birthday or corporate event. Order and download over 18 kits online which include a host guide, guest invitations and clue scripts. For more information have a look at our full range of mystery kits.

• Mystery Parties / Party Tips & Ideas / St. Valentine's Day Parties