10 Valentine’s Party Hacks and Ideas for Preschool, Pre-K, and Kindergarten

Happy February, friends (or January for those of you who plan ahead)! It’s time to plan for the Valentine’s Day party or Friendship party. It can be fun but oftentimes stressful to party plan! So I’m here to help with Valentine’s Party hacks, tips, and my go-to party activities. Trust me, with these ideas, you will be prepped and ready for the party in no time! You will find yourself excited about the party instead of being stressed.

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Valentine’s Party Hacks for Party Prep

Party prep may be the most important part of making the party run smoothly!  Prepping ahead of time will enable you to enjoy the party too (yes, that can happen, promise)! Prep the activities on trays or tubs, making one for each table. For example, if you are making friendship bracelets at two tables, you will have two trays or tubs with the friendship necklace supplies. This way, you can quickly grab what you need during the party.

Valentine’s Party Hacks for Decorations

Decorations make the party festive and fun! Let the students make gorgeous party decorations like these hearts in the art center or table time. Now you have the art center planned and party decorations done all at one time! This is one of the best Valentine’s Party hacks that makes a world of difference in my room.

To make these gorgeous hearts, place a giant piece of butcher paper on the table with paint cups (red, purple, pink) and squirt some paint on the paper, too! Then, place some fun tools at the table, like shower loofas, rubber balls, or any other tool students like to paint with. You can see my littles had a blast making this giant painting and painted themselves, too! I wish you had seen the joy and curiosity that were beaming on their faces as they painted. It’s a fun activity to develop friendships and community in your classroom, too!

Once it was dry, I cut big hearts out from the painting to decorate the room! 

Valentine’s Party Hacks for Setting the Table

Cover the tables with colored butcher paper or those plastic tablecloths from the dollar store. This makes the room pop with little effort, and it makes cleaning up a breeze! Grab some plates, napkins, and cups from the dollar store, too, or have a parent send them in. Place some flowers on the table if you would like. I keep these colored plastic vases with flowers in the cabinet for various classroom events.  The supplies are all from the dollar store.

Valentine’s Party Hacks for Delivering Valentine Cards

That statement makes me so stressed because our students are so small. I typically ask families NOT to put names on the valentines, but some always do. But no worries, place a name card by each bag to help students deliver their valentines. You can make a boy and girl section to make it easier, too, if you have a larger class. Have a teacher or family member guide and help the child deliver the valentines, so a handful doesn’t end up in one friend’s bag. Yep, that has happened in my classroom! Throughout the party, have students take turns handing them out with an adult so all students are not doing it at once.

Valentine’s Party Hacks for Snack

Party snacks can be quick and easy. Have families sign up to send in specific things, or you will have a billion cookie trays, cupcakes, brownies, and sugar-filled kiddos. For the Valentine’s Day party, I typically do a red fruit like apples, pretzel bags, and a cookie with water.

Valentine’s Party Hacks for Gross Motor Games

Yes, you need to do a few gross motor games to get them up and moving! Make a heart or a few if you have a large class on the floor with tape.  Grab some roses from the dollar store and pull the flowers off the stems. Then have a flower toss which is basically just like a snowball fight but with flowers. Play some fun music and have fun!

Flower Balance is another game you can play. Turn the music on; then, students have to slowly walk on the heart with a flower balanced on their heads! Other games you can play are a fun freeze dance by starting and stopping the music.

Candy Heart Math Game So now that they have moved and danced, have everyone sit at the table to create candy heart graphs. You can have the candy in baggies if you would like to make it easier to hand out. Now, you are showing families that learning and playing can happen at the same time!

Friendship Bracelets The last activity for the party can be to create friendship bracelets using pipe cleaners, straws, and beads! By this time, the party is almost over, so something quick and fun is the perfect way to end the fun! Plus, as students lace and cut the stars, they are strengthening those fine motor muscles and developing hand-eye coordination. They can make one or two for themselves, their friends, or their family. It’s totally up to them!

Look at all the bracelets they made me at the party! My heart melted! 

I hope these Valentine’s Day party hacks help you plan your class party. If you need more classroom party hacks, check out my Christmas Classroom Party Hacks and my Winter Classroom Party Hacks.

If you need Valentine’s Math and Literacy Centers, you can grab them HERE from my TpT store!

You can also check out these posts for more Valentine’s ideas!

Want to see these tips in action? Check out the video here.

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