Planning an adult Valentine’s Day party is a bit of a no-brainer. Invite a lot of couples, have a few drinks, decorate with red. Done, right? Yes, and no. You want to put a little more thought into it than that and it’s good to have some games to keep things lively. If you are inviting several couples, there are many fun activities you can plan.

First, how about the “what’s this item” game? Fill a paper bag with a variety of new undergarments. These should be both men’s and women’s garments and can include anything from a bra to a lace teddy to a jock strap. Each couple feels around in the bag, not on the outside, as this one requires hands on effort. They make a list of what they think is in the bag. You can tell people how many items are in the bag, but that’s it. So you might say, there are 10 items in the bag, what are they? Once all the lists are made, pour the bag’s contents out on a table. Let everyone go through the items and see who has the most number of items right. The winning couple gets, you guessed it, the bag of goodies.

You can create a drinking game at the party that requires you take a drink whenever someone kisses you. The kiss can be from the other gender or the same sex, and anytime anyone kisses you anywhere, you have to take a drink or really get things going, from a shot glass. Create a dartboard with balloons. Cut cardboard into a heart shape and staple red inflated balloons to the dartboard and let people take a shot at breaking a heart. Be sure to have plenty of inflated balloons on hand to replace the ones that get broken.

If your party involves a meal, make it a potluck and make it interesting. Tell everyone that the food they bring must be red. Whatever it is, it must be red. This can create some interesting dishes. Certainly, someone can bring lasagna or someone else can bring red velvet cake. And you’ll always get someone who takes this opportunity to make jello. What about a salad? That must be radicchio. Or someone could bring strawberries for desert. Assign someone the task of bringing the bread and see what happens.

For a little fun event, consider a scavenger hunt where your guests must head out into the neighborhood or on the town for many Valentine’s Day items. Your list might include things like a bag of Hershey’s Kisses, a red heart shaped Mylar balloon, one red rose, a stuffed Cupid or a kid’s Valentine card. You can send the couples out as teams, or pit the men against the women. Be sure to include something that requires photo proof, like “kiss one stranger on the arm” or “give love advice to a complete stranger”.

If your party goers all know each other well, it’s OK to play a simple game of “truth or dare”. You might impose rules on the game, such as all the “truth” questions must originate from the college years, particularly fun if this group of friends met in college or must be about the current spouse. Keep the “dare” challenges clean if you think your group would prefer that or by all means, keep them racy, if that’s fun too.

If you are planning a Valentine’s Day party for children, games are essential. Here are some games appropriate for the elementary age crowd.

Bring in two large stuffed hearts, either pillows or just plush stuffed hearts. Divide the kids into two teams and tell them they must run to the finish line with the heart between their legs. So they won’t run as much as stumbled forth. Once they return to the group, they should take the heart and give it to the next child, who puts it between their legs and so on. Whichever group finishes the entire relay first wins.

Give the children a couple rolls of toilet paper and instruct them to wrap another child mummy style. This is a popular game at Halloween, but in this case they are wrapping a present. Divide the kids into two teams and time them. The team that finishes first, wins and gets to put a big red bow on their “package”.

Help elementary students remember some of the great couples by having them complete the match to a famous other half. For example, if you say “Romeo” their answer would be “Juliet”, hopefully. To play this game, divide the kids into two groups and give each a buzzer or similar type item. Present the famous start of the pair. You might say, “peanut butter” and if one of the teams knows the match is “jelly” they will buzz in with their answer.
Some other options are:
“Eggs and (bacon)”
“Coffee and (sugar or cream is OK here)”
“Cinderella and (Prince Charming)”
“Cookies and (milk)”

Kids love those little Valentine’s candy conversation hearts available everywhere around Valentine’s Day. Create a heart stacking contest, which is a lot of fun and can create some team spirit. Initially, each child will get many hearts. Plan to have a few bags on hand if you are doing this game with a classroom full of kids. Have them build as high as they can with the hearts within in a given period of time, 30 seconds to a minute is plenty. If their contraption falls, they are out. Keep playing the game over and over again until you are down to two final contestants. Have everyone cheer him or her on as they try to build the highest and longest lasting tower of hearts. Be sure to have a prize for the winning architect.

This game is always a hit with kids because what kid doesn’t love a good balloon? Give each child a balloon not inflated and have him or her blow it up. Have a target somewhere in the room, in this case a big heart will do. Have them let go of their untied balloon in the direction of the target. Whoever gets their balloon the closest to the target gets a prize. If someone gets a direct hit, that’s two prizes. Keep the target on the ground to make this game easier. Based on the ages and abilities of the kids in the group, you can have them stand close or somewhat far away from the target when they let their balloon go.

A good game of Bingo is great idea for a seated game that might help the kids rest for a minute. Play a game of Valentine’s Day themed bingo. The bingo squares might have pictures on them like hearts, flowers, cupid, arrows and the like. Be sure to have a prize for the winner and play the game over and over so the kids can all have a turn at winning.

To make everyone happy on this day of love, play a game of “throwing the smile”. Sit everyone in a circle and have one person smile wildly at the rest of the group. Everyone else must sit as stone faced as possible. Then the person smiling dramatically wipes the smile off their face by literally using their hand over their mouth in a swiping motion. Then they “throws” the smile to the next person in the circle. That person puts the smile on and again makes a wild, silly smile at the group, then wipes it off and moves on. As soon as someone smirks or smiles that is not supposed to be smiling at that moment, they are out. It’s harder than it sounds and kids often end up in gales of laughter, even when they’re trying to be serious.