How to Celebrate Valentine’s Day in Your Community

This February, share the love! While best known for romance, this holiday can also be a great opportunity to show your residents that you appreciate them. With ideas for all ages, this list of fun Valentine’s Day activities includes 14 sweet ways to brighten your residents’ day. Browse the options for inspiration.

1. Raffle off a romantic dinner

Give residents the opportunity to win a fancy night out at a restaurant in your city or neighborhood. Let residents enter to win, in person or online, and then draw names to select a winner. The lucky resident receives a gift card for two. Partner with your local restaurant to secure reservations for Valentine’s Day dinner.

2. Switch on some classic romantic hits

Put on a Valentine’s Day playlist to get your residents feeling the love. From timeless ballads to recent hits, create your own mix of love songs to make it feel like Valentine’s Day. Not sure what songs to choose? Browse these playlists for inspiration.

3. Serve up themed snacks

Set up a snack table to share Valentine’s Day treats in your lobby or other high-traffic location. Think pink lemonade, heart-shaped cookies, and red velvet cake. Want to take your Valentine’s Day treats to the next level? Provide a chocolate fondue station with strawberries, cookies, or pretzels. Yum!

4. Set up an activity station for kids

Invite your young residents to join in the fun. Host stations to cut out paper valentines, decorate cookies or cupcakes, or draw their own Valentine’s Day cards. You can also print out Valentine’s Day coloring sheets and provide ample markers, crayons, and coloring pages.

5. Show off your community’s artwork

The perfect follow-up to a successful arts and crafts workshop, display the results for your whole community to enjoy! Show off a selection of your community’s artistic creations in your leasing office or community room.

If you’re not hosting a workshop, hold an art contest for all ages, and post your residents’ winning drawings, paintings, and collages.

This is also a great way to gather new content for your social media channels. Just snap a pic of some of your favorites, and post them to Facebook or Instagram.

6. Give residents a sweet surprise

There’s nothing like receiving a card or note in the mail. What better way to show your residents how much you appreciate them than by slipping a card in each mailbox? For an added touch, stock up on individually wrapped chocolates and include one inside each envelope.

7. Host a card-making workshop

Fun for all ages, host a hands-on crafts workshop a week or two before Valentine’s Day. Invite residents to stop by your community room to create their own cards. Provide supplies like paper, scissors, glue, ribbons, lace trim, stickers, markers, and yarn.

8. Let residents guess how many

This no-fuss option is perfect if you don’t have the time or resources to host an onsite event. Just set up a jar of your favorite treats — pink or red jellybeans are always a fun option, but you can try chocolates, marshmallows, candy hearts, or even gummy bears.

At the beginning of the month, put the jar in a high-traffic area, like your lobby, and let your residents enter their guesses on a clipboard or bulletin board nearby. Once Valentine’s Day arrives, award the jar (or a gift card) to the person who had the closest guess.

9. Host a romcom movie night

Queue up everyone’s favorite romantic comedies in the community room! Host a Valentine’s movie marathon with all the classics. For more tips, check out these tips for hosting a winter movie night.

10. Host a wine-tasting event for couples

Elevate Valentine’s Day with a sophisticated wine and cheese pairing event. Advertise your event in advance and have residents RSVP to get an accurate headcount. Curate a diverse selection of wines — including red, white, and rosé — and cheeses for different palates. To kick it up a notch, partner with a local winery to walk attendees through the wine options and offer professional pairing tips.

11. Give out treats to pets

Is your community home to four-legged residents, too? Don’t let these furry residents miss out on the fun! Put out a jar of dog-friendly treats for residents to share with their pets. Look for red or heart-shaped treats, or just add Valentine’s Day stickers to the jar.

12. Set up a photo booth

Create a Valentine’s Day photo booth in your lobby to let couples, friends, and singles snap a shot. Designate a corner of your lobby, community room, or leasing office. Provide a themed backdrop, set up good lighting, and let people take their own photos. For added fun, provide props like balloons and heart-shaped glasses, and encourage residents to dress up in their favorite fancy-dress wear!

To make it even easier, consider providing a smartphone-friendly tripod or selfie stick. You can also post a suggested hashtag and encourage residents to tag their photos and your community on social media.

13. Create a puzzle corner

Let the jigsaw fun begin! Designate a puzzle corner in your lobby or community room. Set up a table with a large puzzle of 1,000 or more pieces, open for all to contribute to. For a Valentine’s Day touch, select a themed image featuring flowers, hearts, or delicious sweets.

14. Host a floral arrangement workshop

It’s not Valentine’s Day without hearts, chocolates, and flowers. Offer your residents a fun and useful activity by inviting a floral expert to your community to share tips on how to create the perfect romantic floral arrangement. Consider hosting this at least a few days in advance of Valentine’s Day so that residents can apply their newly learned skills to creating their own bouquets for their loved ones.

Looking for more event inspiration?

Check out 11 ideas for resident events this winter.