February 21, 2012 jennifer, Valentines Day
Looking for ideas for your Valentines Day class party games? We played the BEST game at my daughter’s 2nd grade Valentines Day Party, and I just have to share it. It’s simple, easy to prep, inexpensive, easy to clean up and lots of fun for both girls and boys.
It’s called Cupid’s Arrow and here’s what you need:
Q-tips and straws. I went to my local dollar store and found q-tips in different colors. Score! We used two boxes, or 800 q-tips for our class (I took twice that many with me, you never know how fast they will shoot their q-tips!). You also need straws, but I found that all the straws for sale at local stores, including the adorable paper straws we all love, were too narrow to fit q-tips inside them. I ended up going to a local fast food chain and buying some milkshake straws for a quarter.
You also need a large bowl and a large blanket or tablecloth that you don’t mind having kids walk on, because they will. Oh, and I recommend a trash bag as well. I’ve learned that taking an extra trash bag to any class party is always helpful, just like bringing your own dish towels to any church kitchen.
To play the game, simply lay the blanket out on the floor and place the bowl on one end. You may need to move desks to make room, or even use the hallway if needed. Line the children up on the other end and give them all a straw and a fistful of q-tips.
When you say “go” they start putting q-tips into one end of the straw and blowing through the straw to “shoot” their arrow. The goal is to get q-tips into the bowl. We had two teams, represented by the two q-tip colors. Stand back and let them shoot. Seriously, you will end up with q-tips all over the place but they will have fun learning how to aim and get them in. I found that the girls enjoyed this activity as much as the boys did.
The blanket on the floor is intended to help the kids stay back an equal distance from the bowl. I found that their excitement caused them to get closer and closer. I let them. The point is to have fun, after all. We didn’t end up counting which team won at the end anyway, because they just wanted to shoot the whole time. At the end of each rotation we collected the q-tips from around the floor and dumped them in the bowl, which I dumped in the trash.
Sometimes planning activities for classroom parties feels intimidating or overwhelming. Playing Cupid’s Arrow reminded me that Valentines Day party games can a lot of fun without being expensive or over-planned.
Before they went to the next station, we also did a quick Jello Slurping contest. They kept their straws, sat on my blanket (to protect the classroom carpet), got a cup of jello and waited for “go”. It was fun to watch them.
My daughter and her cute friend…they make me smile.
Cupid’s Arrow was a really fun Valentines Day party game! I wanted to play it later as a family but the night was just too crazy. Instead, we’re going to have a q-tip war sometime soon. I can just picture it: ten people blowing hundreds of q-tips around my family room. It’s going to be great!
Hopeful Homemaker
27 commentsvalentine
27 comments
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MelanieJanuary 28, 2016 at 8:20 pm
Adorable girls and just the type of activity I was looking for- thank you for sharing! :0)
- Stacy
February 4, 2016 at 12:43 pm
Love this! Thank you for sharing!!
- Liberty Boblett
February 4, 2016 at 10:23 pm
This is a great idea! I am in charge of games for my daughter’s Valentine’s Day party. I am so excited to play this game!
- Jill Gobel
February 7, 2016 at 7:43 am
I am a 2nd grade teacher and LOVE any game that doesn’t require a lot of prep or money. This hits the spot! Thank you for sharing!
- Jennifer
February 14, 2016 at 11:10 am
These ideas are SO cute! I will be using them next year in class for sure!
- Stacy
January 26, 2017 at 8:45 pm
We played something similar at the library. We hung one of those sticky fly tapes from the ceiling and you had to shoot your qtip up to get it to stick on the paper. So much fun!
- Rebecca
January 31, 2017 at 4:50 am
My Girl Scout Troop will LOVE this game…it’s perfect as our scheduled monthly meeting falls on Valentine’s day! Thanks for sharing! Happy Valentine’s Day to you and yours!
- Amy
February 8, 2017 at 9:47 pm
Is there any danger of them possibly sucking the q-tip down their throat. I love how fun this game sounds, but I have a “choking paranoia.”
- jennifer
February 9, 2017 at 12:06 pm
Rebecca, I hope they love it! The kids I played it with had so much fun and wanted to do it over and over. Thanks for visiting! -Jennifer
- jennifer
February 9, 2017 at 12:09 pm
Amy, I never once have had a child suck the q-tip instead of blow. I really don’t think there is a danger of it going down a throat because of the length of a q-tip and the fact that it doesn’t bend that easily. If someone accidentally sucked in, they might feel the cotton in their mouth but I don’t think they would choke before they could easily pull it out. I feel like it’s a safe, fun game, and my experiences in classrooms have never been anything but fun. Thanks!
February 1, 2018 at 5:58 pm
Thanks for the wonderful, inexpensive idea. I plan to use it for my Childs sleep over party for sure.?
- JoAnn H.
February 9, 2018 at 12:29 am
I love this game! I teach children’s ministry at church and I think this would be a great game for Valentine’s Day. I can also think of other twist to make and it would work great for other days for the children at church. Thanks so much for sharing.
- Jill
February 11, 2018 at 6:03 pm
Was it normal Jello that you used to suck up in the straw? I love the idea of reusing the straws for another activity.
- Angela
February 14, 2018 at 8:27 am
Where did you find the different colored q-tips?
- Ellen
February 20, 2018 at 1:21 pm
This was SUCH a great idea! I used this in my daughter’s class for her Valentine’s Party and the laughter and fun was out of control! But in a good way! Her classroom is mixed, and one non-verbal special needs little boy was literally belly laughing watching all the kids and teacher’s too shooting their q-tips, which made us all laugh with joy! Best game ever! And thanks so much for the tip on the straws, I raided the local McDonald’s on my mad dash to the school! We also played all sitting down in a circle with the bowl in the middle, I just had them pick which “team” they wanted to be on – the pink q-tips or the green ones – and after that it didn’t even matter what team was what! Thanks again!
- jennifer
March 3, 2018 at 3:54 pm
Angela, I found the colored q-tips at my local dollar store. They had 4-5 different colors to choose from.
- jennifer
March 3, 2018 at 3:55 pm
Yes, it was normal jello.
- Melissa
January 24, 2019 at 8:56 pm
I’m going to do this game this Valentine’s day but I’m already picturing wearing gloves to pic up all the q tips.
- Kathy
February 11, 2019 at 1:35 am
This sounds like such fun! I’m gonna use it at my Red Hat lady gathering this week. ❤️
- Aubree
February 11, 2019 at 6:13 pm
Do you think kindergartners would like this?
- Shawnna Burgess
February 13, 2019 at 7:50 pm
Hi! Thanks so much for the game idea! I changed it up a little for my daughters 5th grade party. I cut out 3 hearts from construction paper, punched 2 holes in the tops and put ribbon through them to make a heart necklace. (I made the ribbons long enough so that the hearts actually hung mid torso in order to stay away from the face. We split the class up into 3 teams and one kid from each team wore the hearts while the rest of the kids tried to blow the q-tips through the straws and hit the hearts. Team with the most “bullseye hits” wins! Super fun.
- Lisa
February 15, 2019 at 7:12 am
Thank you so much for this game! This was the perfect game for my son’s 2nd grade valentines day party! The colored Qtips (from Dollar Store) was a perfect idea (note: at our Dollar Store they were in the baby section). Only thing I would add to this is I wish I would have brought a pair of disposable gloves to put on to pick up the used Qtips. There was some spit on them and it was spreading germs. Other than that this game is perfect!
- Diane Tyree
February 13, 2020 at 9:29 am
What a great idea! So fun!
- Kerry
February 13, 2020 at 1:58 pm
Thank you so much! The Cupid’s Arrow game was a big hit in my daughter’s 3rd grade class!
January 22, 2024 at 5:40 pm
What a fabulous idea!! I’m so excited to play this game, it looks like a lot of laughs!!!
THANK YOU FOR SHARING!!😍
- Marilyn
February 16, 2024 at 9:41 am
So glad you shared this idea! I have played it a few times at our library’s Valentine after school party. It’s always a favorite!
We plan on doing it again this afternoon.
