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Someone in Love Memory Game

Materials Needed

  • A good memory
  • If you have a sharp and focused group of players this game can last a surprisingly long time. Try to keep the pace of play rapid, sometimes guests will take forever trying to get it right.

    The Set Up: Have your guests sit in a circle in a large open area and select a random player to start.

    The Rules: The first player will say, “ You can tell someone is in love by __________” filling in the blank with whatever they choose. It can be realistic like “the smile on their face” or less romantic like “the black circles under their eyes”. For purposes of example the first person said ”the smile on their face”. The person to the left of the starter(clockwise) goes next. They will say, ” You can tell someone is in love by the smile on their face and __________” filling in the blank with whatever they choose. The third person would say the entire phrase including both of the previous answers(in order) and add a third.

    This continues moving left around the circle with each person repeating what the previous person said and adding an additional sign of love until someone forgets a previous answer, messes up the order or in some way makes a mistake. That person is out and leaves the circle. The person to the left of the person that is now out starts the game over again from scratch. Continue playing and eliminating players until only one person remains. That person is a very deserving winner.

    If the Game is Taking Too Long: Sometimes this game can bog down with guests taking long turns. If your game starts to slow down or even from the very beginning you can add a five second rule. So if any player on their turn goes for more than 5 seconds without adding to the list they are eliminated.

    Don’t Say Love (Taboos and Tokens)

    Materials Needed

  • A taboo word
  • A token for each guest
  • This game is an excellent choice to lead off your Valentine party. Since you play it passively throughout the event, it is a good idea to start it as soon as possible.

    The Set Up: The first thing to do is to select a taboo word, meaning a word(or short phrase) your guests are not allowed to say. The most obvious choice is “Love” which will work just fine, but if you wish you can choose another word like Valentine, heart, kiss, chocolate, or anything you wish that is likely to be said frequently at your party. Now you need tokens. Clothespins are commonly used since they are easy to clip onto and remove from clothing without doing any damage. For Valentine’s Day another option is a heart on a string to hang around the neck.

    The Rules: To start the game inform all of your guests of the taboo word. Give them each a token and explain to them that whenever they say the taboo word they will lose their token to the first player to call them out. Now start the game. If Aunt Sue accidently says the taboo word and Cousin Earl is the first to point out her mistake, then Aunt Sue must give Cousin Earl her token. Now Sue has no tokens and Earl has two tokens. The only way for Aunt Sue to get a token back is to be the first to call out someone else when they say the taboo word.

    The game continues throughout the party until a predetermined time close to the end when the game is called to a halt. The person who has the most tokens at the close of the game is declared the winner and gets a prize.

    Craft Option: You can add red or pink ribbons, stickers, paint or anything else you can imagine to your tokens. Since guests will be wearing them throughout the party , many people choose to fancy them up.

    Valentine Relay Race

    Materials Needed

  • A heart for each kid with an action written on it.
  • Cut hearts out of red construction paper, making sure you have one for each child. On one side write out an action that can be performed while moving like walking backward or hopping like a bunny. Divide the kids up into two teams and have them line up on one side of the room. On the other side of the room place the action hearts with the action facing down in two pile, one pile for each team.

    Countdown “1, 2, 3, GO!” and the first kid in each line runs to their stack of action hearts and reads the top one. That child then returns to his or her team performing the action written on the card. Upon return the first child slaps hands with the next child in the line and then sits down. The second kid then runs to get the next heart in the pile and performs that action back to his or her team. The process is repeated until one team works all the way through the line. The first team to finish is declared the winner and awarded a small prize.

    -With a smaller number of kids you can have them work through the the line twice(or more) before declaring the winner.
    -If you have an odd number of kids then put on your comfortable shoes and take a turn yourself to even the teams out.
    -With younger kids you might consider having an adult stand next to the hearts in case one of the children has trouble reading the action.

    Actions might include:

    Hop like a bunny
    Crawl like a baby
    Hop on your left foot
    Hop on your right foot
    Skip
    Walk backwards
    Crawl like a crab
    Turn in circles

    Musical Hearts

    Materials Needed

  • One large laminated heart for each guest.
  • Music
  • Tape
  • Cut large hearts out of red construction paper and laminated them. Tape the hearts to the floor in a circular pattern, one for each Valentine party guest. With each kid standing on a heart, start the game by playing music. The kids walk around the circle of hearts as the music plays, when the music stops they need to find a heart to stand on(one kid per heart) or they are out.

    The first time there should be enough hearts for everyone to give them a chance to understand the game without fear of elimination. After the first round remove one heart and play again, whoever is not able to find a heart is out. Remove another heart and repeat until you have a winner.

    Pin Cupid’s Arrow to the Heart

    Materials Needed

  • a red poster board or large piece of paper
  • cut out paper arrows
  • scissors
  • tape
  • crayons or colored markers (optional)
  • Take a red poster board or large piece of paper and cut it out into a heart shape being sure to mark the center point. Then make or printout enough arrows for each kid. If you print them out and have enough scissors you can have the kids cut out their own arrows or optionally you can let the kids draw their own arrows and cut them out themselves. If you are looking to add an addition fun project for the kids, provide crayons or colored markers and let them decorate the arrows.

    Place the heart on the wall at a height where the kids can easily reach it and clear out any potential obstruction in the area. Put double sided tape on the back of the arrows and one at a time blindfold the kids and spin them around three times leaving them facing the heart and ask them to stick the arrow on the center of the heart. Be sure to mark each result on the heart making note of the name of the kid after each child has a turn since tape is not perfect and the arrows can fall off later. Once every kid has had a turn the closest arrow measuring from the pointy tip to the center wins!

    Cupid Bingo

    Materials Needed

  • Printed out cards  CUPID cards
  • A small bag
  • Kisses, M&Ms,  or another small chocolate or candy
  • Numbered small paper squares
  • Simply make or print out cards with a 5 x 5 box square and CUPID printed across the top instead of BINGO. In the center square you can black it out, print “Free” or use a red heart.  

    Set number ranges for each letter and make small pieces of paper with each number and corresponding letter.  Number the cards randomly yet make sure to balance that that each number is represented equally and only use the numbers you have assigned to each letter in the column under that letter.  

    Pass the cards out to the guests and provide several small bowls with Kisses or M&Ms for them to cover the numbers called on their cards. Put all the numbers in a small bag and have someone not playing the game draw the numbers and call them out making sure to keep the numbers available to check the cards once CUPID is called.  Once someone gets five in a row(or whatever BINGO variation you chose) they call out “CUPID!” and win a prize.

    Have a Spicy Valentine’s Day

    Materials Needed

  • a spice rack or a lot of spices
  • paper
  • pens or pencils
  • tape
  • There are two ways to handle the set up for this game. Choose which ever set up option works best for your party. The advantage of option one is that the spice rack can also serve as the prize for the winner of the game. The advantage of option two is that it is considerably cheaper since most people have enough spices already in their homes to play the game without further expense.

    Option One:

    Buy a spice rack and then cut out pieces of paper the right size to cover the labels so the guests cannot see the name of the spice. Tape the blank pieces of paper over the labels and then number each of the spices. Place the spices on a table.

    Option Two:

    Take 10-12 random herbs and spices and put them in small bowls. Use some easy spices that most everyone will know but also include some that are more difficult to guess. Designate a number for each bowl so the guests can record which one they are guessing. Then just line the bowls up on a table or tray.

    From this point forward the game is the same. Give each guest pen and paper and ask them to identify each spice by smelling and tasting them. Whichever guest gets the most correct answers wins.

    Sealed With a Kiss

    Materials Needed

  • Several tubes of bright lipstick
  • Printed photos of celebrities (optional)
  • 3x5 cards or paper (optional)
  • Have your guests apply brightly colored lipstick and kiss a 3×5 card, sheet of paper, or even someone’s cheek. When everyone is done putting their “Best Smooch” forward, vote on them! You can select a “Messiest Kiss” winner, the “Tiniest Kiss” winner, the “Biggest Kiss” winner, or just a “Top Pucker” winner.

    For Couples

    If your party is all or mostly couples, have the girls heavily apply a brightly colored lipstick and then kiss their husband or boyfriend somewhere and leave a sexy lip print. You can also encourage the men to participate by putting on the lipstick and kissing their wives or girlfriends for added fun.

    Mostly Singles

    If your party has a lot of single guests then try printing out pictures of popular stars for them to kiss or alternatively print out pictures of people they might not be too excited about kissing.

    Valentine Heart Hunt

    Materials Needed

  • construction paper cut in the shape of hearts(at least 8 per kid)
  • enough bags for baskets for each team to have one
  • (optional) candy, chocolate or small prizes equal in number to your hearts
  • (optional) colored markers, glitter, scissors, glue, more colored construction paper
  • This is a simple game with a couple of optional variations. The basics are cut hearts out of red construction paper and hide them when the children and unable to watch. Then give all kids bags/baskets or break them up into teams and turn them loose. Whoever finds the most hearts wins and gets a prize.

    Add a Craft

    Pre-cut the hearts for the children and provide colored markers, glue, glitter, scissors and colored construction paper and let the kids decorated the hearts. Encourage them to let their creativity flow and award prizes for the best hearts.

    Add Some Loot

    If you want to raise the stake a little bit for the kids, number each heart and assign an a small prize from a prize pool to each number. Once the hearts are collected the kids can turn them in for the sweets, Valentine stickers or small toys associated with the numbered hearts they found.

    Once finished the kids can take the hearts home with them, trade them with other kids, or you can allow them to use the markers again and personalize the hearts to use as Valentine gifts for parents, siblings, family members and friends.

    Valentine Scrabble

    Materials Needed

  • a traditional Scrabble board game
  • Set up a traditional Scrabble board game and divide into couples who will plays as a team. The rules of Valentine Scrabble are almost exactly the same as normal Scrabble except that all words used must be romantic in some way. This is easy with words like love or crush, but what about other words that are not so obviously romantic?

    If a couple places a word that you are not sure can be romantic in nature any of the other couples can challenge that the word is indeed romantic. At that point one of the members of the team placing the word must look into the eyes of their teammate and use the word in a romantic sentence or at least suggestive sentence. For example if the word is “tree” you might allow, “I’d like to climb you like a tree”. The justifications for the words become as fun as the game itself as the couples both struggle to find words and use them in a properly romantic way. Keep score and award a prize to the winning couple.

    -Optionally you can also award prizes to the couple with most creative or funniest justifications for their words. Remember the fun is more important than the winning.