Each year, Natalie and I host a Valentine Card-Making Party. We invite our girlfriends (and their moms or daughters). We socialize, eat (of course) and make Valentine cards. It’s a nice tradition we’ve created — as step mom and step daughter. And it makes for a fun evening with our friends!
I shop for card supplies all year round — taking advantage of sales for scrapbook papers, ribbons, punches, rubber stamps, embellishments (rhinestones, stickers) and more. I always check online to see if there are coupons — as Michael’s and JoAnn Fabrics (our local craft stores) often have 40% or 50% off One Item coupons.
Our house turns into the “Valentine Bomb“. We set up tables in the living room, dining room, kitchen, and family room — to make sure that everyone has a place to “craft”.
We set each place setting with several different blank cards (or pre-cut, folded cardstock) in white, reds, pinks and purple. We usually start everyone with three blank cards — although I plan for at least 8 to 10 cards per person.
I keep the envelopes and extra cards in a separate basket at one of the crafting stations, as the work areas get quite messy making it easy to loose the matching envelopes.
We also put containers of ribbons, stickers and embellishments on each table, along with several glue sticks and Elmer’s Glue. (In our party invitation, we ask everyone to bring their own scissors and scrapbooking adhesive.)
And, we set up tables for craft stations — specifically for paper cutting and paper punches. It’s best to have several large paper cutters — as this can be an area that gets bogged down during the party.
This year, I pre-stamped Valentine Greetings for our guests to use. (We had 28 girls — and I thought the rubber stamping could get a bit out of control.) With smaller parties, we have had a rubber stamping station — although with young girls (under age 8), I would suggest using only one color of ink.
We serve simple appetizers and desserts for our party. Sparkling Pink Lemonade (from Trader Joe’s) for the young girls and wine (and sometimes a signature pink drink) for the moms.
We set up the food and drinks on our kitchen island (all red, white and pink). Natalie made her famous Lemon Cupcakes (using her BabyCake Maker). And our neighbor brought delicious and beautiful Red Velvet Cupcakes. I forgot to take a picture!
Now I wish our spread had looked like this! Isn’t this a beautiful display? Laura Winslow Photography and The TomCat Studio. They both do such beautiful work!!!
Happy Valentine Crafting!
P.S. If you’re planning on hosting a Valentine Card party, send me a note. I have a party checklist that I can send you.
