The “Love” Debut

Months are often depicted by the occasion they are most known for. The month of February for example, is often ushered in with an influx of reds and pinks since it is the “love month”. Although Valentine’s day only happens on February 14, it is actually a month-long celebration!

If you are born in February, there is a big chance that your name is either “Love” or “Heart” or perhaps another name with a mythological, mystical or historical reference on love and Valentine’s day. You are actually lucky if your birthday falls in February because, 1) the whole world celebrates with you and, 2) you already have a prospective theme for your birthday party!

Since the Valentine’s hype is always present at each day of the love month, why not embrace it and celebrate a Valentine’s day themed 18th birthday party?

Here are a few suggestions on how to recreate the love atmosphere in your Debut.

Invitations

The fun thing about making a Valentine’s day themed birthday invitation is that you can’t go wrong with hearts. But while creating a V-day themed invite may be as easy as sprinkling a plain invitation with red and pink heart glitters, it is so much better to be a bit more creative. Use white, pink and red card stocks, laces and ribbons. Yes, those are the usual materials you see but hey, they bring out the Valentine’s day spirit!

Give-away ideas

With the V-day theme in mind, thinking of a proper souvenir or giveaway is easy. Here are some suggestions:

  • Valentine tea bags

    This souvenir is not only a unique giveaway item, it’s also perfect for the not-so-young guests! Other souvenirs like figurines for example, are often taken for granted because they have no use other than as display. But personalized tea bag favors can be consumed by your friends and family, at the same time they can keep a souvenir from it through the customized tags you created!

Heartea

  • Mini cupcakes

    I seem to be rooting for edible items for this theme but I have a reason for that. Love themes should be as sweet as they can get! Plus, these mini cupcakes are just so cute. What’s even more interesting is that they can be adorned with mini cupid’s arrows! So when a guest has finally eaten all of these mini cupcakes, she can still keep the cupid’s arrow as a souvenir for your debut party.

Cupcakes with Bows

  • Potpourri

    Potpourris are lovely giveaways no matter how old your guest is. And the best thing about them is that they often come in colors you love!

  • Heart pendants

    Heart pendants are sweet souvenirs for your debut party. These pendants don’t have to be the expensive ones. There are very cool looking fancy items that make interesting debut party favors, just like these:

Heart Pendants
Heart Pendants
http://mjcraftsdesignstudio.blogspot.com/2004/12/2005-st-valentines-day-handmade-crafts.html

Deserts

Your party food can be anything! But your cakes and deserts can be in sync with your theme. For your Valentine’s day themed 18th birthday party, you can choose among heart-shaped brownies, sugar cookies, cupcakes, chocolate covered strawberries, strawberry ice cream or strawberry shake. V-day is perhaps one of the most interesting events because anything you turn into red or pink automatically becomes part of the Valentine’s day hype! Take advantage of this for your debut party so you can make your party favors more associated with V-day.

Venue

Decorate your venue with white, pink and red balloons. Mix some heart-shaped ones to highlight your Valentine’s theme.

Red and White Heart Balloons

Add a V-day aroma and ambiance by sprinkling red and pink flower petals on different areas in the venue. You can sprinkle some petals on your guests tables and chairs too!

Light some scented candles for your table centrepiece. Or you can simply put some roses on a vase for that timeless Valentine’s effect. Don’t forget to play some love songs while your guests are arriving one-by-one to set them in the mood for love.

Games

Here’s an idea for a game. Print out lyrics of famous love songs but with blanks. See who can fill in the blanks and whoever gets the most correct answers, wins! You can also think of couple games for your parents, titos and titas who are married, and your friends who brought their special someone with them. With such fun games, your birthday party will definitely be an unforgettable one!

18’s

The traditional 18 Roses can be retained since of course, that’s the popular flower during this time of year! Have 18 special men in your life dance with you to your favorite love songs. Otherwise, if you want variety, you can choose to have “18 Flowers” instead. You can also include in your program, 18 Chocolates, where friends and family who know you best give you a piece of chocolate which they can compare you to. For example, they can give you a dark chocolate if you are a deep thinker, or they can present you a tasty cookies and cream chocolate if you are fun and outgoing! For more 18’s, you can choose from the following: 18 Cupids, 18 Bows and Arrows, 18 Hearts, 18 Balloons, 18 Greeting Cards, 18 Romantic Cliches and 18 Romantic Movies.

The Valentine’s Day Theme is a wide territory that you can explore! You can even incorporate another theme in it like the theme of Katy Perry’s California Girls or you can make your debut party patterned after your favorite romance flick like Breakfast at Tiffany’s (for that lovely retro look!), Moulin Rouge, The Notebook, Notting Hill, Pretty Woman, Twilight and period movies such as Gone With the Wind and Pride and Prejudice.

With these ideas in mind, may you plan your debut party wholeHEARTedly and LOVingly and dedicate your birthday to the people you LOVE most!

Photo Credits:

Home page image, by Betsie Van der Meer / Getty Images

2 thoughts on “The “Love” Debut

  1. Any idea about a runway theme debut party? Looks like an america’s next top model concept? THANKS!

  2. Hi Shara,

    Check out the comments here on a runway/fashion show inspired debut birthday theme!

    http://debutideas.com/?p=1062

    Just type Control+F and type the keyword “runway” and you should be able to read them.

    Hope this helps a bit 🙂

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