cupid's banquet and brawl

This is the busiest "Valentine's season" I have ever had.

We decided (with the help of another couple), that it would be fun to throw a Valentine's party for our church's Young Families class.  I saw some super cute ideas on Kara's Party Ideas for a Vintage Valentine's party, so I thought I'd try and put them to good use.  We named our party, "Cupid's Banquet and Brawl," because we felt that it definitely needed a little spicing up with some good competition after the nice dinner.

I found these adorable vintage Valentines on Craigslist from a lady who lives only about 15 minutes away.  She was selling most of them for just a quarter a piece!

We held the party in our church's "Fireside Room," so it would be cozy and romantic.  :)

I wish I would've gotten a closer shot of those red pom-pom things on the mantel.  They were adorable and sooo easy to make.  Again, I got the idea from here.

These soda-fountain centerpieces were so easy to make.  Go here for a tutorial.  They're not quite as cute as the one's from Kara's blog, but they were much cheaper!  I couldn't find taffy without the hearts on them.  And instead of filling up the glass with M&M's ($$$), I swapped them for the new Strawberry Milkshake Malted Milk Balls (about 1/5 of the price of the M&Ms since they filled the glass fuller too!).

I wish I would've gotten a picture of my sweet friend, Dana.  While I was setting up the games and decorations, she was busy in the kitchen prepping the salads, getting lasagnas in and out of the oven, getting the garlic bread ready and slicing the dessert.  And since her husband ended up with strep, she even had to be without her Valentine for the night.  :(  Poor girl.  But she was definitely a life saver!

The guests finally arrived... 26 of us total!

The couple in this picture on the left (Jason and Amy) CRACKED. ME. UP by arriving in full "competitive gear." Complete with sweatbands, jerseys, tube socks and all.  Ha!

After a lovely meal, we broke for up into 4 teams - Team Amoré, Team Liefde, Team Mohabbat and Team Sayang.  All those words mean "love" and the teams got extra points for figuring out which language it was in.  (Yes, Team Amoré got flack for being the easiest one to guess, but they just got lucky for drawing an easier name! )

Each couple also had a number (1, 2, or 3) so we started out with a team competition and then for the next round, we broke up and went with other couples who had our same number to compete against them for more points for our team.  We had 6 rounds total before our grand finale.

The "I Give You This Ring..." Relay

We had to pass a cup and then a ring down the line using only straws.  And don't worry... we tried to line up husband-wife-wife-husband-husband-wife, etc. so it didn't get too awkward.  ;)

Another round was Just Dance so we could get our groove thing on.

You go, girls!

... and boys!

Oh how I wish Chad would've let me video this one... the Chipmunk Serenade.

 The men had to draw a love song out of a bowl and then attempt to sing it to their wives with their mouths stuffed full of crackers.  The last wife to crack a smile was the winner.  Sorry for the terrible picture with Chad's face pretty much completely chopped off... I was trying to get my "game face" on.

The Ring Drawing Game

The men had to try and draw their wives wedding rings without seeing them and without help from their wives.  

The other competitions included The Wedding Picture Match-Up (trying to figure out whose wedding picture is whose with the faces cut out of the pictures) and Give Me Some Sugar (one spouse feeds the other a Little Debbie cake using only their mouths - first one done is the winner).

And for the grand finale...

The Not-So-Newlywed Game!

Thanks to the brave couples who attempted this, in hopes to win more points for their teams!  I hope none of you needed counseling after this one... ;)

The big winners of the night received...

A large assortment of chocolates (for the winners of the Not-so-Newlywed Game), and the three couples from the winning team got to each have a $10 gift card to either Panera, Olive Garden, or Victoria's Secret.  Ooh là là!

And now I'm excited for my two biggest Valentines (Chad and Addie) to get home from school so we can have our own family Valentine's activity (more about that in tomorrow's post).

And, of course, I must leave you with these pictures of my sweet little Valentine girls.

Happy Valentine's Day!!!