Thursday, January 10, 2008

Rescue Me Again

In a particularly manic moment, I decided to throw a Valentine's Day party for Big Kid and his friends. I became absolutely convinced when I saw cute little metal mailboxes at Target's $ spot and bought 20 of them. So now I'm committed. Oh the guilt of summer birthdays! No more sex for me in November.

So I figure I will invite his class, his crew of girl friends and their sibs to a park and have a Valentine's play date. Maybe we'll play games. There will be cupcakes. I was thinking of reading Pinkalicious (just because Big Kid and I love it). Then I was thinking maybe cupcake or cookie decorating or Valentine making? Definitely exchanging Valentine's, although I'm not sure how to tell everyone how many Valentines to bring until everyone RSVPS, know what I mean?

Mostly I need help with thinking of a cute invite that's not lame. Nothing too girly, that is a challenge on V-day. I was thinking something like trains and "I choo-choose you", something like that, inspired by the Simpsons. I don't know if I love the choo choo thing though, just trying to spark your creativity.

I was also thinking along the lines of "Roses are red, violets are blue, I'm having a party and inviting you!" but what will the invite look like?

Why am I doing this again??? Oh yeah, we ordered stamps with a really cute photo of Big Kid and Emmers for the awesome Mad Hatter Tea Party I'm planning for Emmers. Notice I say I, because it's pretty much out of LK's hands, like it or not. Anyway, we got a discount on a second sheet of stamps and I thought they'd be cute on Valentines, then I realized we don't mail many Valentines and then I thought of party invites and how fun it is to exchange cards when you're little and how Big Kid won't ever get to have a party with his class since he has a summer birthday and all...

and that's why we're all trying to (quickly) think of a really cute (spectacularly cute) invitation idea. So I can use these stamps.

Thanks for your help.

12 comments:

Sasha said...

Oh hell- you know I'll be no help. But I do like cookies and cupcakes, so decorating them sounds fab, as long as someone else supplies the stuff, cause I'm just not creative like that.

My kids are lucky to get birthday parties, and I didn't even manage to send out invites for The Wild Child's party last week- just a lousy email to two other parents, although I did change the color of the letting to pink.

Anonymous said...

Just tell parents how many kids have been invited, and don't have them fill in names on the cards or anything.

I think you are insane, but I actually considered doing a party after reading this. But, the sane part of me quickly stopped that thought process.

Judy said...

Ugh, I'm not in the mode for this today, but here are a couple - maybe they will at least make someone else post some GOOD ones!

Swing on over for a Valentine Party (swingset = park)

Slide into the Love Bucket (aka the park...oh geez, I really need more than 2.5 hours of sleep a night I guess)

What about a secret code Valentine invitation? Something easy or even a rebus-type code...

I made valentines for my class when I was in 2nd grade that were hearts that read, "I 'chews' you to be my Valentine" and had a stick of Big Red threaded through the middle...that could work - somehow.

Off to sleep - I obviously need it!

Melodie said...

My girls are all summer babies, so I have always felt the need to send cupcakes in to school for Valentine's Day since I can't do it for their birthdays. Of course, I don't think I'd go so far as to throw a party for Valentine's Day.
FYI, if you stuff a little ball of aluminum foil on the side of the cupcake paper, your cupcakes will bake with a dent in them that makes the cakes look more heart-shaped than round.

Rebecca said...

Sounds like fun! I can't help you with the invite, but I do want to remind you to make sure the food is kosher! :)

Unknown said...

Why can't you just use the stamps to send me a Valentine? Eliminate the whole party thing. Really, this is insane and you will regret this and probably end up putting tights on your son and making him play cupid. Which could turn him gay, not there is anything wrong with that! I'm just saying...

Somewhere Between Pinot and Pacifiers said...

Saw the little mailboxes at Target. I got some too...too hard to pass up. As for the invite, I saw something w/ a lion today that was cute and went something like this:
Valentine, I like you (or I think you're cute, etc.) and I'm not "lion"!
I thought it was cute and different.
Good luck!

Anonymous said...

My daughter, M, has a Summer birthday too. Her 1/2 birthday falls on Valentine's Day but I have to wait for her to get back in school next year before I even try anything like this.

Good luck! Sorry I can't be of anymore help.

Renee said...

I'm confident that you'll come up with something very cute for the invites. You're creative like that. (And I'm not, for the most part.) I think the park playdate idea is great and should not be too much pressure. I've been attending theme playdates once a month with my homeschool group here, and we usually have about 3-4 different activities (a story, art/craft, game or other activity like a treasure hunt, and a snack that fits with the theme). Then the kids just want to run around and play on the playground while the mommies chat with each other. So that's my advice - come up with a book, craft, 1 other activity or game, and then a snack that all fits with the theme and voila - you're done. The "1 other activity" should probably be putting the Valentines in the mailboxes, eh? I don't know how big those mailboxes are, but maybe you'll also need some little goodie bags (just put one or two things in them to get them started) because you know people like to give out candy valentines these days - little boxes of those candy hearts that say I Love You and whatnot, bubbles on a string, M&Ms, etc. etc. So they might need a way to carry those types of things home, if the mailbox is kinda small.

I wish we could attend! Maybe next year - Tony is dreaming about being somewhere warm next February. If we're there, you'll have to do it again. Make it a tradition. The Annual Ashley Valentine's Day Party. :)

-The Renee

Anonymous said...

Hello, my name is Kate, and I am a lurker. I pledge to comment more frequently.

Check out these heart cupcake tins-they are positively adorable! http://www.williams-sonoma.com/products/sku5027479/index.cfm?pkey=cvalbkgi

Good luck with the party!

Anonymous said...

Careful with any "choo-choo-choose" theme... didn't you see that Simpsons episode where Ralph Wiggum fell in love with Lisa because a Valentine that said just that? You don't want any of the other kids to think they have a chance against Emmers.

Anonymous said...

Ok, this may be a little too involved, but what if the invitation looked like the King of Hearts from a deck of cards. You could put Big Kid's face on the king. That seems pretty manly. I don't know what the message would be, and I don't know how to tie in with a theme (except the heart shaped cupcakes)...ok so actually I'm no help here.