Recreation Guy

One of our most popular events of the year is the Father-Daughter Valentine’s Dance. Here is how we run ours.

The Set-Up

The day of the event we set up the community room with tables and chairs for people to sit at. In the back of the room we have a few tables for crafts. At the front of the room we have a large area for dancing and the DJ. On the side of the room we have tables for food and drinks. In an adjoining room we have the check in area where the dads and daughters first come in. We also have an area for photos.

The Decorations

Decorations are purchased at Party City and include table covers, hearts that are placed around the room, and balloons that are tied to small buckets holding candy. One bucket per table with 4 heart balloons tied to them is the norm. We also have red and white Christmas lights that we hang up around the room.

The Food

We have tried all kinds of things, from dinner to healthy snacks to party snacks. What we have found is that cookies, pastries, water, punch and coffee are the winners. That doesn’t stop us from setting out small cupcakes and brownies, too. These go pretty well, but not like the cookies do. We bought a nice (and tasty) Valentine’s cake last year. Nobody touched it. In our experience, it has to be finger food.

The Event

• Fathers and daughters arrive in suit and ties (one father comes every year in his kilt) and party dresses.
• They check in and the girls are given roses. We find that they prefer the fake roses that they can keep forever.
• After checking in they get their picture taken from a professional photographer. The photographs can be picked up from our office.
• Then they move to the main room where the DJ is playing music and has the “disco ” lights” going. It takes about 15 minutes and a little encouragement from the host (me) to get the fathers out on the dance floor. Once they start dancing, though, they don’t stop.
• Daughters can visit the crafts table where we have 2-3 Valentine craft choices.
• We also have  a roaming magician. She walks around and does close-up magic for small groups of fathers and daughters.
• The last song is always Father and Daughter by Paul Simon. It’s tradition and the fathers love it. They are all on the dance floor dancing with their daughters in their arms. Very cute.

The event lasts an hour and a half. It’s a very easy event compared to our Halloween or Easter events.

Do you do a father daughter dance? If so, what do you differently?