It's Party Time! - Create Some Fun Part 2

It's here! Valentine's Day signals the last official holiday class celebration of the school year where I teach. Time to get our party on! As promised in the last post, I'm sharing some ideas that I plan to use for my party this year. Some new, some I've used before. I love looking at pictures  (Pinterest is an addiction) so I've put my twist on the things I really like and included the photos.

The theme is "Bananas For You".   I'm not a real big fan of red hearts and balloons with sappy sayings and lovey dovey for kids, but I do get into celebrating friendship! Little kids love animals and ice cream, so how can you go wrong with good friends, monkeys, and banana splits?!

First, the all important parent invitation. We want to make sure our families know they are welcome to join us. The kids will take these home in their folders and hopefully, they get posted on the frig as a reminder to their guests.  I also take advantage of using remind.com to send group texts to the students' families the night before our party and the parents really appreciate the communication.

Personally, my favorite part of party prep is decorating. Let's just say Hobby Lobby is a frequent stop for me on the weekends and leave it at that. (I can kind of go crazy in there.) Most of the tablescape items did indeed come from that store. No overly feminine décor or girlie colors-  boys are going to be at this party, too!

Parents really get into taking pictures of their kiddos on these occasions, so I am always sure to include a photo prop area. It is the first thing you see when you walk into the room, so it automatically doubles as additional decor. My giant monkey I found in a seasonal bin at a grocery store (for $14.99 - what a deal!) ended up being a huge hit with everyone last year.

I've had great success with preschoolers making their own Valentine bags (rather than dragging a box to school that their parents created at home that is twice the size of their child- I'm not even kidding). We review shapes while putting together adorable little monkey faces and practice name spelling by decorating paper bananas with sticker letters.  Cuteness! Line up all the bags and the kiddos just walk down the line dropping their Valentine cards into their friends' sacks. This takes a while for twenty students, so this serves as our activity time. Easy peasy.

A craft project to complete with their parent/guest is also part of the celebration. My son was my guinea pig in creating a trial run of this Valentine card.  I decided to give a nod to some traditional pink paper and hearts as they were the easiest to find in my overflowing abundantly full craft cabinet - don't judge. The students will do the handprint painting ahead of time and finish assembling at the party. My cardinal rule on party projects: The project must be keepsake worthy and require minimal effort and NO MESS. Ain't nobody got time to be stressed out by cleaning up arts and crafts disaster zones at our party!

I enjoy creating unique little Valentine goodies from me to my students rather than store bought run- of-the-mill cards, so I was stoked to find these free printables that match our theme! I will use the green "I'm bananas for you" card to attach to a baggie of yellow banana Runts candy for each child. Just. Too. Perfect.
Free Monkey Cards

And then comes the finale...
ICE CREAM. And bananas. And syrup. Whipped cream and cherries, of course. Don't forget the sprinkles (they are for winners, you know)! This is where having the extra assistance of the guests comes in handy. They are there to help with serving and clean up. After all, we are talking about four and five year olds eating banana splits- it's not for the faint of heart!
Here's the party plan and supply sign up sheet I used for having parents donate to our party.


Party Plan Form

For party favors to take home, I thought it would be cool to put together a little Curious George monkey activity bag. That is on my 'to do' list. The usual little doodads you find in the Target dollar aisle or party supply store always excite preschoolers. In fact, if we have extra time at the end of the party, we will play Curious George games on the SMART Board.
Curious George Games

And there you have it. A relatively calm but enjoyable celebration of Valentine's Day! I hope you find an inspiration somewhere (so many fantastic themes out there that it boggles my mind) that you can adapt, execute and enjoy. What a rewarding experience to be able to CREATE THE JOY THAT MAKES YOUR LIFE (and your students' lives)  BETTER.