Games For a Church Valentine's Banquet

Churches can help their members celebrate Valetine's Day by planning an evening of food and games.

Valentine's Day is the day for couples and families to connect in a more loving, but also fun way. However, not all Valentine's Day activities are family friendly, and for church families often celebrating Valentine's Day means celebrating it together. Therefore, churches can plan fun games for their members that appeal to a wide range of ages and are appropriate for family Valentine's Day fun.

Concentration

This game is a variation on the kids' matching game "Concentration." However, instead of using a regular set of concentration cards, photos of couples will be used. If people from the church know ahead of time that they'll be attending the function the photos of all the couples who will be there will be used. Otherwise, photos of famous celebrity couples can be used. Unlike the regular game of "Concentration" where the images are the same, in this version of the game, each person in the couple has a photo in the game. For example, if people are playing the game and they draw the photo of the husband in a couple, they should look for the wife's photo as the match. Additional variations can be photos of the couple when they were children. This will require a bit of advanced planning in order to collect all the photos.

Musical Hearts

This game is like the Valentine's Day version of musical chairs, but instead of using chairs a heart will be substituted. The game's moderator will play a selection of music, and the game's participants will pass the heart around while the music plays. Once the music stops, the person "caught" with the heart will be out. The game will progress until there is only one person left holding the heart. That person is the winner and should be given a Valentine's Day appropriate gift like chocolate or candy hearts.

Be My Valentine Smile

Another name for this game might be "the forbidden smile" game. All the participants should be seated in a circle with the person who is "IT" in the middle. The person who's "IT" will say, "If you can be my Valentine, please smile." The participants in the game are to respond, "I'm sorry, but I cannot be your Valentine. I cannot smile." Whoever is asked to be the Valentine cannot smile or laugh. If he or she does, it is his or her turn to take the place of the person in the middle of the circle and the game progresses from there.

Find the Shoes

Find the shoes is a fun couple's game, particularly for church singles who are trying to get to know one another better. People should be divided up into two person teams. First the men should look at the shoes of the women they've been paired with. Once that is done, then the women are to be instructed to remove their shoes and throw them into a pile in the middle of the room. Once the pile has been mixed up, the men will then be blindfolded and instructed to go and find the shoes of the person they've been paired with. Whoever finds both shoes first wins the game.

References

• Step Ducks: Valentine's Games

Resources

• Brad Zockoll: Youth Worker
• Pastor's Wife