Valentine's Party, 3Rd Grade Classroom

ok being a ex-teacher here are my suggestions:
make sure you have an exact schedule of events (down to the minute), kids need this structure! Believe me you will be thankful for it later as well!
Start with the most structured activities first, then move on to the crazier ones towards the end when they get antsy.
(wait to do exchange of valentines till LAST, it will eliminate a lot of chaos)
Timed stations (10-15 min) at each, of smaller groups of kids rotating doing various activies is also very effective.
-Craft Station
-Math Fun Station - kids do multiply/divide facts using something with redhots/converstaion hearts/ or valentine's math worksheet
-Valentine's Mailbox creation station
-teamwork unscrable words: http://www.abcteach.com/free/u/unscramble_valentines.pdf

Here's a few games:
Valentine's BINGO a winner for every party and can be done in a large group
Small cooperative groups, time race to put a "valentines theme" puzzle together

Treats
Decorating treats - have precut sugar cookies ready - kids ice and decorate thier own valentine cookie!

If you are going to do something where kids are going to be "out" have a quiet activity they can do such as a wordsearch, crossword, or coloring activity

Just Google! its awesome what is already out there! Good Luck to you!

our district (Plainfield 202) doesn't allow sweets of any kind so follow the rules of your district/school in that regard

At our school (Ridge) they have a book of suggested things to do, the PTO supplies the snack as well.

You can run the party 2 ways - whole class or small groups. (or a combo)

For the teacher, no offense to her at all, who suggested learning things - let HER do that if she wants, but you are there for a party, not learning!

Usually at vday parties the kids have already passed out the valentines or will do it one by one while the party is going on. They don't address them anymore, they just put one on each kids' desk or in the kids go home cubby area. Unless there are less then 20 kids in the class doing it one by one is the way to go.

So, treat and games.

NON sugary treats - cut melons into heart shapes, Kashi Heart to Heart cereal, cinnamon raisin bread cut into heart shapes and topped with cream cheese. Ask for donations of whatever you chose, plates and napkins. Play a group game while you set up the food (put plate, napkin and food at each spot) or if allowed set up the food first. I love to start the party with the food as then the kids aren't rushed in that and they will just have fun talking if they are done but waiting for the others to finish.

now on to games, modify the classics. Hot potato with a teddy bear or a heart something. Toss something themed onto a big heart, through a hula hoop or into a box with holes in it. Have a relay race - for valentines day it would be neat to do something like candy hearts or marshmallows or heart shaped foam pieces from one end to the bowl on the other end and see which team can fill up their bowl first.

One game that was fun was stacking heart candy - give them a very short time like 15 seconds and see who can stack the most in that time. Play this a few times so they get to improve. (hate that we can't do this game now that we have the no candy rule!)

Well - Wow - that's a ton of time to fill. Save the eating until the end!

Here's few ideas for the party!

Bingo

Baggos - This was always a hit. The teacher allowed us to push all the desks to the outside of the room and parents brought in 5 baggos games and we would have a baggos tourney with the kids. The kids would beg to play more and more it would alwasy fill a ton of time. It's a game everyone can play!

Guessing Jars: We would ask for parent donations - but the kids love it. Have at least half to go around ans one person can only win one. The dollar store has great containers and you can fill it with marbles, ballons, oennies, conversation hearts, etc. Just tape the # on the inside of the lid and make a sheet for the kids to wirte the guessing on!

Familyfun.com is a great resource for crafts! Good Luck and Have fun!

Have some gluten free cupcakes for the children with sensitivity to gluten. Have normal ones that look the same for the other children.
Keep the sweets to a minimum. Go online and see what games there are for a valentines party at school.
Are there other mothers involved in this project. A party needs a few adults.

I'm not great at this kind of thing, but I remember decorating shoe boxes, cutting a slit at the top then the kids put the valentines in there when they pass them out. I'm sure you can find inexpensive materials at the Dollar Store or something.

Get some cheap valentine pencils at Walgreen's (they usually have them like ten for a dollar), some ribbon (red, pink, white), and red, pink, white valentine-themed beads. Give each child a pencil and a 6-8" piece of ribbon with a knot tied at one end, and select a couple of beads. They thread the beads on the ribbon and a parent can help tie and glue (a small dab) the other end onto the pencil. I got it from Family Fun Magazine.