Planning a Classroom Valentine’s Day Party? Turn It Into a Service Project Kids Will Love

Before the dreaded virus hit (we shall not speak its name), I always loved going to my daughter's school and hosting classroom parties. On Valentine's Day, her school has "friendship" parties. Everyone needs friends, right? Since this is the first year parents have been invited to host the parties since 2020, I'm stoked!

When my co-planner Katie texted me this morning about what we should do for the party, I of course started Pinteresting. We could make love bug hats or heart door hangers. The synapses in my brain fired off like an Olympic relay race. But then I drifted back to the last time I hosted a friendship party in my daughter's class.

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What's a Fun Way to Give Back at Your Friendship Party?

I always try to teach my daughter that it's important to give back. So, we decided to extend our friendship beyond the classroom. We decided to have the kids make paper flowers and valentines for some fine folks at our local nursing home.

Nursing home administrators estimate that 2/3 of residents don't have regular visitors and holidays like Valentine's Day are especially hard. The virus made it even worse.

How Do You Get Started with Your Friendship Party Service Project?

We picked a local assisted living facility and are making some sweet treats for the residents.

Step One: Decide on a Facility

If you plan on doing this project with your classroom, it's pretty easy. First, you'll need to decide on a nursing home or assisted living home and find out how many residents you'll be serving. And it's always nice to include staff too!

Step Two: Gather Supplies

You'll need:

• Tissue Paper
• Pipe Cleaners
• Valentines
• Hole Punch
• String

Step Three: Execution

Here are the directions to make the flowers. It's pretty easy. This was a first-grade class making flowers.

First, you fold them back and forth like a fan.

Pinch in the middle and secure it with a pipe cleaner leaving one end as the "stem." .

Finally, fluff your petals.

Decorate your valentine, punch a hole in the top left corner and attach it to your flower using the string.

Here are the products we used. (As Amazon affiliates, we earn on qualifying purchases. The money made here helps us continue to make content).

Step Four: Take to the Nursing Home and Enjoy!

Not Feeling Flowers?

Another fun thing you can do is use the string and make friendship bracelets. All you need is some elastic cord and beads. Here's a quick tutorial on how to make a friendship bracelet. 

I'm super excited to do this again with the kids and play Cupid at the assisted living home we will be visiting. If you do this with your class, we'd love to see photos! Send them over to us right here.