Unless you're preparing a gymnasium for a dance, Valentine's Day isn't a holiday that typically calls for elaborate decorations. But when a friend asked if I would be interested in whipping up some DIY creations for a worthy cause in our community, I couldn't wait to get started.
This weekend, our friends and neighbors hosted their second annual Love Your Neighbor event, which brings people together to socialize and build welcome kits for refugee families resettling in our area, all through a program run by Lutheran Social Services of the National Capital Area and supported by the State Department. The families benefiting from the kits fled war, poverty or persecution and arrive with very little. The kits include everything from shampoo to pillows to kitchen utensils.
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Given the importance of this cause, a motif of pink and red hearts felt inadequate. I wanted to incorporate global and cultural elements that would make the decorations more significant for guests.
With most of the immigrants coming from Southeast Asia, the Middle East and West Africa, I was able to incorporate some of the patterns and art found in those regions to remind donors of the real people we're helping through the event.
And luckily, there are some gorgeous materials from these regions, making it a very fun challenge!
(Clockwise from top left: Hearts and pom poms handcrafted by the Hmong people of Thailand | Facts about refugees curated by our local, first-grade Girl Scout troop | Dessert trays displayed on Ankara fabric | Tiny hearts made from a map of Southeast Asia.)
The hostess wanted decorations that could be used for future years' events, as well. So, I tried to use some more resilient materials, such as fabrics.
African fabric garland
The fabrics I ordered were so colorful and happy, hardly any crafting was needed to show them off. I opted to use some of it as a table cloth (see above) and the "fat quarters" were cut into thin strips for a garland.
I used my fabric cutter and pad, which is quickly becoming one of my favorite tools, to make the strips. No meticulous measuring for this project.
Once I had all of my pieces, I roughly followed this fabric garland tutorial from Sarah Joy for securing the fabric to my string.
Paper map hearts
For this one, I cut strips of this map, and then stapled them together to form the hearts. I followed this tutorial from Unoriginal Mom to make it happen. When we were putting the space together, our hostess had the brilliant idea to glue them along some ribbon to cover a window and the end result was adorable.
Bubbly heart (or whatever you would call this thing pictured below)
Truth be told, I intended to make two bubbly hearts but I ran out of little balls! So, one got some leftover map instead.
To make these hearts, I started with two pieces of foam that I cut with a paring knife from my kitchen (I pride myself on my use of proper tools).
Then, I used some tinsel-y garland as a border to tidy up the edges and secured it with hot glue.
Next, my hearts were ready for some festive plastic ornaments. We purchased some globe stress balls, as well as a value pack of off-season Christmas balls in red and white.
I couldn't find any great pink ornaments for a reasonable price online, so we just bought some fun pink glitter and I made my own pink balls. I painted on some Modge Podge, sprinkled on some pink glitter and let them dry by delicately placing them in an empty egg carton.
Once they were dry (I waited a whole day), they were ready to be glued to the heart-shaped foam forms.
It's okay that the balls weren't perfectly laid our when I glued them on, because I was able to use the extra tinsel garland as filler to cover the gaps.
Then, I added a few more balls by gluing them onto the first/base layer.
And there you have it: A few fun Valentine's Day decorations that you can put your own spin on or use for future parties of your own.
