Valentine "Sock Hop" Party

I was looking through this month's issue of Martha Stewart Living (another of my FREE magazine subscriptions!) when I came across the cutest Valentine party idea - a Sock Hop!  How could I not run with that idea???

I immediately got to work on super simple invitations and invited 9 kids to come "dance the night away" at our sock hop.  To put a fun twist to the "sock hop" theme, I had them each come wearing their favorite silly socks.  I also asked them to bring Valentines to pass out to each other.

Then it was on to my favorite part...the play list!  It may be because when I was growing up my Mom would always have the "oldies" playing when we were in the car, but there is just something about 50's music that makes you jump up and dance!  I tested a few of the songs on my list out on my kids, and sure enough they were dancing immediately.  Some of the songs I added to the list are: Jailhouse Rock, Sugar Sugar, Good Golly Miss Molly, At the Hop, Grease Lightning, La Bamba, Twist and Shout and so many more, I could have gone on and on until we had more songs than time for our party!

We served pigs in a blanket with tater tots, mixed berry applesauce (so it was pink), cheese slices cut out in the shape of a heart, and pink (strawberry) milk. 

Then I had sugar cookies for the kids to decorate and then eat for desert.  We set out pink and white frosting, Valentine's sprinkles, big pink and white heart shaped marshmallows and conversation hearts.  They each ate a cookie and then took a plate of cookies that they decorated home with them.

After decorating cookies we made some fun Valentine paper bag puppets that I ordered from Oriental Trading.  These puppets doubled as our Valentine bags when we turned them upside down.

After our craft we played a few games of Bingo.  I found the cutest downloadable Valentine Bingo Game at Prepared Not Scared.  This version of Bingo is even cuter, because it's called "Be Mine!" and that's what you have to yell out when you win, instead of just "Bingo!"  My little girl picked out Valentine candy corn to use as our markers, and those worked perfect, but you can choose anything you like.  (I noticed after that they also have a darling version for preschoolers that may be better for a young group.  Check it out here.)  I laminated mine so that I will have it to use in years to come, it really is that cute!

Of course we danced all throughout our party, and to end the party the kids were definitely "hopping" when their parents came to get them.  I felt a little guilty about the sugar high I gave these kids, but justified it by hoping they worked out some of their energy with all the dancing they did!  With the Super Bowl being today, I'm glad that the kids were able to have their own fun party last night so I won't feel as bad that they won't be having a blast at the party tonight.