Also known as a Heaven & Hell or Angel & Devil Party, this style of Valentine’s Party is a good way to bring both couples and singles together in a fun, low-pressure environment and have a little fun.

Invitations will ask the guests to come as either angels or devils. Now, depending on your friends this could mean anything from a halo or a pair of horns to fabulous costumes or even just wearing white and pink versus black and red. As long as they get into the spirit, it can be fun. Having some spare halos and horns (both very easy to construct if the party store isn’t helpful) is a good idea, though, for those who “forget” to embrace the theme.

Party rooms are to be divided in half–one side for Heaven, one side Hell, the former decorated in pastels and white and the latter decorated in bold shades of red and black. Colorful masking or painters tape is good for creating the dividing lines to keep it simple or you can go all out with spliced tablecloths , rug covers and sofa throws. Don’t restrict the decorations to the living room, either, feel free to divide any room your guests might wander into.

Potential foods for the angelic side of the table would be anything white, fluffy or sweet. Angel food cake, marshmallows, finger sandwiches , hummus & pita chips would all work well along with steamed dumplings, beggar’s purses and chicken salad puffs; all served on doilies or course. For the other side of the table, everything dark and spicy and decadent should be piled high on industrial looking serving-ware. Dark chocolates, devil’s food and red velvet cupcakes, deviled eggs (consider adding some onion skins to the boiling water and cracking the shells around before draining them to get a wicked-looking marbled effect), spicy shrimp on sugar cane skewers, meatballs in chili sauce… you get the picture.

One other idea, and I’ll leave the rest to your imagination: the party I attended of this sort had 2 colors of plastic cups and the instructions were given that single folks were to use the blue cups and those in a relationship or otherwise unavailable to use the red ones. What a great idea for eliminating the guessing in such a charged situation! Granted, if you didn’t want to use plastic cups at your party, wine glass charms in 2 distinct designs would work just as well.

This sort of shindig doesn’t have to be limited to Valentine’s Day, but it is as good an excuse as any!