Planning an adult Valentine’s Day party is a bit of a no-brainer. Invite a lot of couples, have a few drinks, and decorate with red. Done, right? Yes, and no. You want to put a little more thought into it than that and it’s good to have some games to keep things lively. If you are inviting several couples, there are many fun activities you can plan. 

First, how about the “what’s this item” game? Fill a paper bag with a variety of new undergarments. These should be both men’s and women’s garments and can include anything from a bra to a lace teddy to a jockstrap. 

Each couple feels around in the bag (not on the outside, as this one requires hands-on effort) and makes a list of what they think is in the bag. You can tell people how many items are in the bag, but that’s it. So you might say, there are 10 items in the bag; what are they? 

Once all the lists are made, pour the bag’s contents out on a table. Let everyone go through the items and see who has the most number of items right. The winning couple gets, you guessed it, the bag of goodies.

You can create a drinking game at the party that requires you to take a drink whenever someone kisses you. The kiss can be from the other gender or the same sex, and anytime anyone kisses you anywhere, you have to take a drink or your drink, or to really get things going, from a shot glass. 

Create a dartboard with balloons. Cut the cardboard into a heart shape and staple red balloons (inflated) to the dartboard and let people take a shot at breaking a heart. Be sure to have plenty of inflated balloons on hand to replace the ones that get broken.

If your party involves a meal, make it a potluck and make it interesting. Tell everyone that the food they bring must be red. Whatever it is, it must be red. This can create some interesting dishes. Certainly, someone can bring lasagna or someone else can bring red velvet cake. 

And you’ll always get someone who takes this opportunity to make jello. What about a salad? That must be radicchio. Or someone could bring strawberries for dessert. Assign someone the task of bringing the bread and see what happens.

For a little fun event, consider a scavenger hunt where your guests must head out into the neighbourhood or on the town for many Valentine’s Day items. Your list might include things like: a bag of Hershey’s Kisses, a red heart-shaped Mylar balloon, one red rose, a stuffed Cupid, or a kid’s Valentine card. 

You can send the couples out as teams, or pit the men against the women. Be sure to include something that requires photo proof, like “kiss one stranger on the arm” or “give love advice to a complete stranger”.

If your partygoers all know each other well, it’s OK to play a simple game of “truth or dare”. You might impose rules on the game, such as all the “truth” questions must originate from the college years (particularly fun if this group of friends met in college) or must be about the current spouse. Keep the “dare” challenges clean if you think your group would prefer that or by all means, keep them racy if that’s fun too.