Anti Valentine's Day Party



Room Set Up


1. iPod with music and display on the big screen. (Making up the mix is great to have your Teen Interest 
   Group work on.) My library meeting room has a screen and projector that hangs from the ceiling. I did a
   light show to go with the music. It added light to the room without making it bright. The event calls for a
   club like atmosphere so the lights should be low.

2. Ribbons with hearts hanging from the ceiling.
     a. Hearts will be die cut in purple, black, hot pink, and gray.

3. Bar – Food and drinks at the bar.
     a. Shirley Temple for the girls - Ginger ale over ice and sprinkle grenadine syrup over it. Garnish with a 
         lemon slice and a cherry.
     b. Roy Roger for the guys - 6-8 oz cola, ¼ oz grenadine, maraschino cherry for garnish.
       (We need small plastic cocktail cups for drinks).
     c. Using library popcorn machine. (We need cups for scooping).
     d. Broken Heart Cookies (Bake and then break during the set up).
     e. Candy hearts with sayings. (Need to purchase.)
     f. Chocolate hearts. (Need to purchase.)

Games & Stations


1. Pin the Heart on the Hottie.  Make a poster with a famous hottie and hang it on the wall.  Teens are
    blindfolded and have to pin a heart on the poster as close to the heart as possible.  It's a good idea to
    have more than one poster and mix it up between guys and girls.  (Free)
2. Wii or other gaming system set up in one corner. (Free because we have the equipment and games).

3. Heart Bean Bag Toss. – We have a Bean Bag toss game. We can decorate it with broken hearts and 
   people can play if they want to. Game on one wall. (Free because we have the game and can make the
  decorations).

4. Craft Table at one end of the room for those who want to hang out but not dance.
     a. Friendship bracelets. (We have the stuff already so it’s free).
     b. Makeover Romance Novel Covers (We use romance novels from the used book sale room and art
        supplies that we have so it’s free.)
     c. Deface a romance cover – Use a color printer to print poster sized teen romance novel covers. Place
        these around the room and give the teens markers so that they can change to covers.


Group Games

1. Musical Chairs - The teens love this. 

2. Steal My Heart – Everyone gets a heart taped to their back when they come into the party. No one can
    say “Like”. If you hear someone saying “Like,” you can steal their heart. The person with the most hearts
    at the end of the event wins a prize. (Free)

Staff


1. At least 2 adults (one staff person and one volunteer).

2. Teen Interest Group and other volunteers can run the stations.

     • 2 people working the food and drinks area
     • 1 person at the craft table
     • 1 person for each of the three game stations


Other Considerations

1. Do you have a prize box with left over prizes? If so this is a great event to use up those left over prizes.
   You can put a mixture of prizes at every game station. You can also talk to community business about
   getting small prizes. I had left over books, posters, and stuff from previous events, and one dollar Dairy
   Queen Coupons.

2. The food cost takes up the bulk of the money. You may want to see if there is a local restaurant that
    wants to sponsor your event.

Cost

I spent 42.48 for 36 teens so it was $1.18 per attendee. Food was the main cost. You could skip the bar idea in place of just regular soda and cookies and lower the cost. You might also be able to get a local restaurant to sponsor the event. If you wanted to go bigger you could buy prizes for the games and order pizzas for the food.

Checklists:

Do Ahead

1. Make the Pin the Heart on the Hottie Posters
2. Make the die cut hearts
3. Make the musical mix and load it on an ipod or burn a cd
4. Make food arrangements
5. Make sample of friendship bracelets and print instructions for the table
6. Get romance novels for makeovers
7. Print posters with teen romance novel covers
8. Send request for volunteers
9. Decide what volunteers will do what stations and contact them to make sure they are ready and know
    what to do.

Day Before the Event

1. Gather all supplies don’t forget the following:
     • Markers
     • Art supplies for craft tables
     • Tape
     • Staplers
     • Food
     • All supplies for the stations
     • Sign in sheets for the teens, complete with a space for them to write a parents name and number in case
       of emergency.
     • Poster with a no leave policy. (If you are having this event after library hours, you should make sure that
       as each teen comes in, you mark their and with a little heart in Sharpie. Let them know that if they leave
       the library, they will not be allowed to come back. This cuts down on teens leaving and drinking or
       bringing things into the party.)
     • Tablecloths or paper to cover the food tables for easy clean up.
     • Camera to take pictures
     • Photo release forms
     • Bookmarks or small flyers with your library’s teen bolg, or Flickr page address. (You will post the
       pictures from the event and this is a great way to boost the number of people who visit the site).

     • Pencils and patron program evaluation forms. (It’s always a good idea to include questions about how
       they heard about the event, and if they have ever attended an event before, and what other events they
       would like to have. This will be a useful tool when planning your next event.)

2. Make sure you know your room set up and allow for plenty of time to get everything set up before teens
    arrive.

3. Test your music set up in the room so you know the sound level and you have the set up down. Technical
    difficulties they day before an event are better than the day of the event.


Day of the Event

1. Set the room up.
2. Make sure all of your volunteers are ready and understand what to do at their stations.
3. Make sure you have plenty of trash cans, napkins, and wipes.
4. Have an adult volunteer or a staff person running the sign in table.

After the Event


1. Review the event with your Teen Interest Group. They will give you honest feedback about how much fun
   people had, and what they would do differently.

2. Do a blog post or a Flickr set about the event. Teens love to see stuff they have done online. It will
    increase your online visibility.

3. Evaluate the event yourself and think about if the cost was worth the turnout. How can you do it better? Is
    this something you want to do again.

**If you do an Anti Valentine's Day event at your library respond to the post and let me know how it went or if you have other ideas.**