Valentine's Day Party

Adding handcrafted touches to your parties not only adds personality and creates a memorable event, it's just plain fun! Valentine's Day is great holiday to put your Fiskars tools to work with so many heart options among other sweetness.

Crafting little details that make a huge impact can be so simple. Start with something small. Consider adding a punch to your straws. Here I've adhered the limited edition 'Flit On By' butterfly squeeze punch with a one quarter inch heart at the center to the straws with a glue dot. Quick, simple, and oh so sweet. Sometime it's just the little things.

Another way to spice up your party décor is by decorating the napkins. By doing this and placing in the center of the each plate, it turns utilitarian items into a showcase. Stamping and punching napkins are quick options. Here I decided to cut the entire napkin into a shape by tracing the largest heart on the heart shape template onto a paper napkin with a pencil and cutting out right inside the line with scissors being sure to overlap the folded edge. A heart is sweet, but I figured the fork might as well join the festivities, too! By gently folding the napkin and cutting two slits with scissors, I created slots to slide a fork. By adding a triangle punch at the end with a glue dot, I ended up with an easy arrow.

When throwing parties for kids, I always like to build an activity into the table décor. As I was cutting out X's and O's to scatter along the table runner, it dawned on me that a game of tic-tac-toe was definitely in order! This can be accomplished by simply hand-drawing a grid onto kraft paper placemats or temporarily hand-stitching one onto woven placemats as I've done here. Now the "confetti" serves not only as eye candy but functionally as a game.

I like to have a runner down the center of the table to anchor centerpieces and add interest. When I wasn't able to find one in my house to match the décor, I decided to make my own. Not out of fabric, but out of paper. I grabbed the kid's art easel paper roll and used my large craft mat, acrylic square ruler, and rotary cutter to easily cut a long strip to fit down the table. This is a great way to cut paper that is too large to fit into a paper trimmer. To add a little flair, I punched down both sides with the 'Framed in Love' corner border punch. Instant custom runner without leaving the house.

My centerpiece also pulls double-duty as both décor and treats. It's a Pixy Stix bouquet! I added flower punches to the ends of Pixy Stix using the limited edition 'Spring Flora' squeeze punch along with the 'Burst' lever punch and 'Oopsie Daisy' squeeze punch and topped each with a heart center. To create leaves, punch an XL circle and feed it back into the punch to form a leaf shape. You can get three leaves from each circle. Since my jar was taller than the flowers, I padded it with conversation hearts to add height and gently pressed the flowers into the candy. It would be very cute to add a single flower to each place setting with a name on the leaf for an adorable place card.

If you are throwing a Valentine's Day party this year, see what ways you can add some personalization to your one-of-a-kind party. Keep in mind ways to get the most out of your décor by designing multiple uses. And most of all, just have fun!