Party Series: An UnValentine's Day Party

Alicia here! Each month I'm going to be sharing with you an idea I have for a fun party with options to make it kid friendly or a date!

My first idea came to me as I thought of how it seems a lot of people now-a-days aren't that into Valentine's Day. I get it. So I decided to see what other holidays or events fall on February 14th. And there are quite a few.

Just to name a few:

• Oregon Statehood (1859)
  
• Arizona Statehood (1912)
  
• Launch of YouTube (2005)
  
• Voyager 1 takes the famous 'Pale Blue Dot' photo
• Extraterrestrial Culture Day (A New Mexico Holiday that I think should be adopted by the whole country)
• International Book Giving Day
• Library Lovers Day
• National Ferris Wheel Day (Because it's the Birthday of George Ferris, the inventor of the Ferris Wheel)

I thought then that we could celebrate these other things instead of Valentine's and it's a win-win-win!

I have decided to focus on a few of these events/holidays for the party. This won't be a typical UnValentine's Day Party, because instead of being full of things like broken hearts, Valentine's just gets ignored altogether. I guess it's more of a "It's More Than Just Valentine's Day Party."

First you'll need invitations. I have designed these ones for the occasion, but you could make your own too! Make sure to let us know if you do.

UnValentine's Invitation

Food: Inspiration, Oregon and Arizona statehood, National Ferris Wheel Day and ET Culture Day.

Photo by Scott Goodwin Food Styling by Rowena Day/Ennis

From Arizona we have two famous foods that are so easy to put together: Sonoran Hot Dogs, and Cheese Crisp.

I suggest a Sonoran Hot Dog Bar if you want to serve dinner at your party (or lunch). If you're unfamiliar with what a Sonoran Hotdog is, this article in Boston Magazine explains it well. If you don't want to serve dinner and just have appetizers, try making these into bites with tomatillo dipping sauce.

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from whatsgabycooking at Tasty Kitchen

A Cheese Crisp is a tortilla with cheese. (But wait, isn't that a quesadilla? No cheese crisps are open faced and quesadillas are folded over). Make mini ones by using a round cookie cutter to cut out small rounds out of regular flour tortillas (or just buy little flour tortillas). Lay them on a foil covered cookie sheet. Sprinkle each tortilla with cheese, and bake at 350 until the cheese has melted. Alternatively, Just make a large Cheese Crisp and cut it into triangles with your pizza cutter. You could add toppings as Gaby did over at Tasty Kitchen. Look how delicious her's are!

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From Oregon, I thought we would try making quick and easy Voodoo Donuts. If you live close to VooDoo Donuts, it might be worth just buying them to have at your party. Click through the gallery to get instructions and ideas for what I did!

Another famous food from Oregon is Tillamook Cheese. I have two options to include this. One is to just have little cubes cut up and out for people to eat. Or use it as the cheese for the Cheese Crisp!

You could put the cheese or other snacks in cups on a Ferris wheel. Like this one they made over at Oh Happy Day!  Or they have this cool one on amazon that you can buy. I attempted to make one. Mine does actually spin, but is still a prototype.

My attempt at a Ferris wheel. My husband made me the stand. Looks like the Party Beaver wants to go for a ride.

For drinks a bit of ET Punch seems to be in order. Just mix Sprite, green sherbet,  green Hawaiian Punch and pineapple juice together to taste. For an added flair try floating a UFO in the punch. They have these cool UFO ice molds on amazon.

Pale Blue Dot Photo captured by Voyager 1 on 2-14-1990.

Activities:
Inspired by YouTube, International Book Giving Day, & the "Pale Blue Dot" photo

Used Book White Elephant- Everyone brings a book they love to exchange. Set a limit on how much guests can spend so there's no disparity and hurt feelings. Browsing used book stores is one of my favorite activities, but if you don't have any good one's near by, Amazon has a ton.

Pale Blue Darts- If you don't know what the picture of "Pale Blue Dot" is, this page from NASA can fill you in. I love space so I had to include this. My idea is that you have the photo up on a dart board and see how close people can get to hitting Earth. Each person can have their own dart picture or everyone can use the same. I made a dart board with the picture as the background. Click below to get the image. If you need a dart board, my brother used to have a dart board similar to this one and it was pretty fun! Or for a safer route there are magnetic dart boards.

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Pale Blue Darts

Viral Video Charades- A nod to YouTube, this game will be loads of fun. Especially with the right group of people, Charades is a great party game. Maybe I'm biased because I LOVED Charades growing up (so much so that I got Guestures one year for Christmas and forced my family to play it every chance I got). But this version each team puts the title or description of their favorite viral videos in a 'hat' (container, bag, whatevs). Play continues like normal. Just think wouldn't it be hilarious to see your friends act out Charlie Bit Me, Gangham Style, or Potter Puppet Pals?

Decorations- Inspiration from Oregon and Arizona Statehood, International Book Giving Day, & National Ferris Wheel Day

Here's a general list of the party supplies:

• Polka dot balloons (I think they just add something fun)
• Streamers (I like these green ones because they add to the ET Culture Day Celebration)
• Table Cloth
  
• The Party Beaver and Party Saguaro printable I created

Party Beaver

Party Saguaro

Other ideas:

• It could be fun to create a little photo booth area with props for people to get into the spirit. Just set up a background, put out the props, and let guests take pictures with their phones. When they post it on Instagram, twitter or Facebook they could use a hashtag for your party! (#UnValentinesParty2017) If you need props there are some great nerd props on Amazon. As well you can put out some books for people to take their picture with.
  
• For a Kids Party- I would focus on a few of the holidays. I would also swap out "Pale Blue Darts" for "Pin the Earth in Space" Similar to "Pin the Tail on the Donkey" only each kid gets a small blue sticker (like these cool gem stickers) and tries to stick it closest to the spot of Earth in the real photo. Another idea would be to let the kids decorate their own VooDoo Donuts.
• For a date night- Don't worry about the decorations as much. Play a round of "Pale Blue Darts". Mix up your own batch of ET Punch to enjoy with a Sonoran Hotdog Dinner. After dinner try making each other a doughnut. End the night by watching your favorite gut busting viral videos. Or, if you have one near by, take a spin on a Ferris wheel.