Throw an Army Themed Family Valentine’s Dinner for Your Troops: Love is a Battlefield -

Valentine’s Day is a day that we enjoy celebrating as a family. Don’t get me wrong, my hubby and I still go out another night too. However with a house full of all boys, it can be challenge to get them excited for Valentine’s Day. They are just not that into fluffy teddy bears or heart shaped boxes so I had to come up with a different plan. I actually got the decorating idea for this ‘Love is a Battlefield’ dinner while making their Valentines for school.

Valentines

For me, I enjoy finding fun unique Valentines for the boys to pass out at school. Honestly, they don’t really care what I pick but once I come up with a fun idea, they are all about it. Noted Party Printables made these cute printable Valentines that are army themed. Just add green army men or paratroopers and you are all done. Check out a recent post, Creative School Valentine Ideas For Boys and Girls, to see other unique ideas that we have done in the past like superhero masks and Star Wars candy swords.

The Set Up

Can you see all the details of the table and food buffet since it is incognito?? The set up involved lots of camouflage, military toys, and a splash of red hearts. All three boys have been super into playing with the green army men and anything related to army really. In case you were wondering, stepping on little green guys will hurt worse than legos.

On the table, I used a tan tablecloth, camouflage runner, and army toys down the middle with a tank as the centerpiece. The place setting was accomplished by layering a wooden circle cut out, black plate, camouflage paper plate, and topped with a kraft gable box. For the dessert table, I used things that I had already from previous parties. The key to staging a cake table is creating dimension and texture. I used the burlap, wood circles, and leaf garland for texture. Then used the same wood circles along with glass jars, wooden box, and cake stand for different heights. Here is a list of everything you might need.

Cake Table

Black tablecloth
Burlap table runner
Wood circles
Wooden box
Galvanized cake stand
Iron skillet
Chicken wire basket
Glass jars
Camouflage netting
Wooden sign (Added ‘Mess Hall’ with paint and cricut machine)
Hearts
Camouflage balloons
Heart balloons

Table Setting

Tan tablecloth
Burlap table runner
Camouflage table runner
Army Tank toy set
Military vehicle toy set
Oversized Army Men
Ammo
Green leaf garland
Wooden circles
Black plate
Army paper plates
Army napkins
Heart shaped iron skillet
Camouflage cupcake wrappers
Stainless tumblers (added names with cricut and vinyl)
Camouflage permanent vinyl
Army helmets
Binoculars
Military dog tags

Food

Everything is better when it is heart shaped, right? We served up heart shaped homemade pizzas with heart shaped pepperoni as the main course. For the sides, the menu included heart shaped carrots, red grapes, red raspberries, and a warm heart shaped cookie in an iron skillet. I wasn’t sure if they even cared about all the details until my oldest insisted on adding heart shaped pepperoni to his pizza while making it.

Dessert Table

We may be eating and sharing all these goodies for a long time but they were all so good. The focal point for the table was the camouflage cake from Halls Takes the Cake. Do you see it? The cake was strawberry flavored which is the boys’ favorite. Our talented friend at T’s Homemade Cookies made these yummy funfetti camo and heart shaped cookies. Other sugary treats included camouflage chocolate covered pretzels, camo brownie bites, Army trail mix, peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, Army bullets (whoppers), camouflage popcorn, and green army men gummies. When I found these green army men candy from Albanese Candy Store, I knew we had to have them.

Matching Outfits

Siblings in matching outfits might just be the cutest thing ever. Not sure how long they will let me do this but I will take it as long as I can. Each boy wore a similar shirt that said ‘Love is a Battlefield’ from different shops on Etsy. The shops were Ellie West Studios, 3 Little Pigs Designs, and Chark Attack Threads. Old Navy sells identical camo pants in all sizes and they worked out perfectly. We topped it all off with military hats and black face paint purchased from Amazon.

Love Buckets

Every year we fill their love buckets. I came up with this idea a few years ago because I felt like this holiday needed something. There are Easter baskets for Easter, stockings for Christmas, and trick or treat bags for Halloween. My goal is to only buy items that will fit into the bucket. However, I failed miserably this year. I included military vehicle coloring books, colored pencils, books, camouflage binoculars, more activity books, Valentine candy and army toys that I used to decorate. See the previous post, Love Buckets for Valentine’s Day, for how to make these for your kids too.

The memories we make as a family are priceless. As each year seems to fly by I am more intentional with our time together. Our family loves to celebrate holidays and just about any day that we can. Because well why not? Let me know in the comments how you celebrate this day of love.