Valentine's Banquet

*Update: Click here to get details on our Valentine Luau!

We're putting on a Valentine's banquet for our church this year. This is our first event that we are organizing completely on our own. And neither one of us have ever been to a Valentine's banquet before...

The good news is that our church, to our knowledge, hasn't ever had one.

There is a lot of planning involved, but we've been having a lot of fun with it. We probably aren't the only people planning a Valentine's banquet, so I thought I'd share some of our ideas here.

We have quite a few people who are widowed, so we want our banquet to be both couple and single friendly. We made sure to announce that in church and also to print it on the flier.

We are charging $5 per ticket, which will cover the cost of the dinner. I've been tossing around several different ideas of what that dinner will consist of, but here's what I have so far:

{Image credit: cheesecake, salad, green beans, chicken, rice krispie pops, strawberries, breadsticks}

How am I keeping it at $5 per plate?  Aldi.

I'm either making the decorations myself or using things I already have on hand.  This is what I have in mind:

{Image credit: pom poms, heart doilies, rosette ball, vases, milk glass}

Marshall will give a short message at some point during the evening. And, of course, no banquet would be complete without games. We are going to do guess-how-many-are-in-the-jar, a Bible verse and reference matching game, and The Newlywed Game. Gift baskets will be awarded for the latter two games, and then we'll do a drawing for a third gift basket. Everyone will have a chance at winning something. We'll also give away some small favors; nobody will leave empty-handed.

I'm really looking forward to it! I think it will be a fun evening for everyone. Have you ever thrown a Valentine's Banquet?  If so, I'd love to hear some of your ideas! Leave a comment below!