Skip the crowded restaurants and overpriced Valentine's Day dinners this year. This Valentine's Day Pizza Party brings the celebration home with heart-shaped pizza, simple DIY decorations, and a dessert pizza recipe your whole family will love.
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Quick Look
- 🍕 What is it: Family Valentine's Day celebration at home with heart-shaped pizza and Nutella dessert pizza
- ⏰ Time: About 1 hour start to finish
- 👨🍳 Skill level: Beginner-friendly
- 🎯 Perfect for: Budget-friendly family celebration-way cheaper than dining out, no restaurant hassles or babysitter needed
- ✨ Special touch: Heart-shaped pizza and pepperoni, plus easy decorations
WHY YOU'LL LOVE THIS VALENTINE'S DAY PIZZA PARTY:
- Budget-Friendly: Skip the $200 restaurant bill and create a memorable celebration at home for a fraction of the cost.
- Family-Inclusive: No babysitter needed -this party is designed for the whole family to enjoy together, from toddlers to grandparents.
- Quick to Pull Together: With store-bought dough and simple decorations, you can pull this off even on a busy weeknight.
- Kid-Approved: Heart-shaped pizza and Nutella dessert pizza? Kids will be talking about this dinner for weeks.
- Customizable: Easy to adapt for dietary preferences, picky eaters, or different group sizes.
- Memory-Making: The simple act of making heart-shaped food together creates lasting Valentine's Day traditions.
Valentine's Day doesn't have to mean an expensive dinner out, fighting for reservations, or scrambling to find a babysitter.
Sometimes the best celebrations happen right at home, where you can create special memories without the stress or the price tag. This Valentine's Day Pizza Party is perfect for families who want to celebrate together with heart-shaped pizza, fun decorations you can make in minutes, and activities that even the youngest helpers can enjoy.
Whether you're hosting a cozy family dinner or a casual get-together with friends, this party proves that a little creativity and some delicious pizza can make any night feel special. Plus, you'll find my Nutella dessert pizza recipe that's become a family favorite every year.
You might also like our ideas for a Valentine's Day Breakfast, Valentine's Day Breakfast Board, Valentine's Day Movie Night, and Valentine's Day Tea Party.
Valentine's Day Pizza Party Decor
You don't need elaborate decorations to make your Valentine's Day pizza party feel special. I kept things simple with just a few key elements that made a big impact.
- Balloon Garland: I picked up some X and O balloons from the party store and created a simple garland. You could also use red, pink, and white balloons in heart shapes for an easy festive touch.
- DIY Doily Bunting: One of the easiest decorations I've ever made! I strung pink paper heart doilies together with baker's twine to create a sweet bunting. The doilies cost just a few dollars at the craft store and the whole banner took less than 10 minutes to assemble.
- "You Stole A Pizza My Heart" Banner: This is my favorite decoration and it's so easy to recreate. I made mine using my Cricut cutting machine with grey cardstock, connecting each letter with small brad fasteners. You can download the free Cricut cut file here to make your own. If you don't have a Cricut, write this cute phrase on a small chalkboard or create it using a letter board-both options look adorable and take just minutes.
Table Settings: I kept the table simple with:
- A pink table runner
- Fresh tulips in a vase
- Pink paper doilies
- Pizza-themed sticker books from the craft store as small gifts for the kids
The key to easy party decorating is choosing a simple color palette (I used pink, white, and red) and repeating it throughout your space.
Heart Shaped Pizza
Making heart-shaped pizza is surprisingly easy, even if you've never shaped pizza dough before. Here's exactly how to do it:
Ingredients for Heart-Shaped Pizza:
- 1 package store-bought pizza dough (or homemade)
- ½ cup pizza sauce
- 2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese
- Pepperoni slices
Instructions:
- Preheat your oven to 425°F.
- Shape the dough: Roll or stretch your pizza dough into a heart shape on a floured surface, about 12-14 inches in diameter. Don't worry about making it perfect -rustic hearts look just as charming!
- Transfer to baking sheet: Carefully move your heart-shaped dough to a parchment-lined baking sheet or pizza stone.
- Add toppings: Spread pizza sauce evenly over the dough, leaving about a half-inch border for the crust. Sprinkle generously with mozzarella cheese.
- Create heart-shaped pepperoni: Use a small heart-shaped cookie cutter to cut pepperoni slices into hearts. This extra touch makes the pizza so much more special for Valentine's Day! Arrange the heart pepperonis on top of the cheese.
- Bake: Bake for 8-12 minutes until the crust is golden brown and the cheese is bubbling and starting to brown in spots.
- Serve: Let the pizza cool for 2-3 minutes before slicing. We served ours with a simple Caesar salad on the side.
Valentine Mocktails
We made the evening extra special by serving mocktails in pretty wine glasses. The kids felt so grown-up!
Simple Valentine Mocktail Recipe:
- Ginger ale
- Cranberry-raspberry juice
- Fresh raspberries for garnish
Mix equal parts ginger ale and cranberry-raspberry juice, then garnish with a fresh raspberry. Serve in wine glasses or champagne flutes to make it feel festive. The pretty pink color is perfect for Valentine's Day, and it tastes delicious without being too sweet.
This simple touch made the kids feel like they were part of something really special. They loved drinking from "fancy glasses" and it added virtually no extra work to the meal.
H2: Dessert Pizza Recipe (Nutella and Fresh Fruit)
Since Valentine's Day practically requires dessert, I made these Nutella dessert pizzas that have become a family tradition. They're incredibly easy but taste like you spent hours in the kitchen.
Ingredients: (Full Recipe Card At The Bottom Of This Post)
- Storebought Pizza Dough: Make life easier by using storebought pizza dough, or make your own favorite.
- Nutella: My kids love Nutella and it's the "sauce" for this fruit pizza. Check out below for some varaitons if you're not a chocolate hazelnut spread fan.
- Fresh Fruit: We used raspberries and bananas, but strawberries would be a great choice too, or pineapple, or add a variety of different fruit to one pizza.
Instructions:
1. Cut a regular sized package of store bought pizza dough into quarters, and stretch each piece into a heart shape. So you will have 4 individual dessert pizzas.
2. Brush the dough with some melted butter, this will make the dough brown really nicely.
3. Bake the dough at 425°F for about 8-12 minutes until it's golden brown.
4. Let dough cool slightly and then top with Nutella. Then add fruit on top, we used raspberries and bananas, but strawberries, kiwi, pineapple, or other kinds of fruit would be great choices too. Optional: garnish with a sprinkling of powdered sugar.
Why This Works: The combination of the slightly sweet, buttery crust with creamy Nutella and fresh fruit is absolutely irresistible. It's become the highlight of our Valentine's Day pizza party every year.
Variations to Try:
- Use cookie butter instead of Nutella
- Add mini chocolate chips
- Try a cream cheese frosting base instead of Nutella
- Use a chocolate chip cookie dough base for extra indulgence
My whole family requested we make these more often after our Valentine's party, so they've become a regular treat in our house!
Making Memories: Why Home Celebrations Matter
This Valentine's Day pizza party reminded me of one of my favorite childhood memories. When I was little, we had a snow day around Valentine's Day. My dad still went to work, but my mom was home with my brother, sister, and me. She decided we should bake together.
We walked to the corner store and bought a cake mix and some cherry licorice. My mom had seen in a magazine that you could make a heart-shaped cake by combining a square cake and a circle cake cut in half -we didn't have a heart-shaped pan, but that didn't stop her. We made our cake, iced it with fluffy pink frosting, and decorated it with the licorice so it looked stitched around the edge.
It wasn't really that big of a deal. We just used a cake mix, and she was probably trying to keep us busy during the snow day. It didn't even take all day. But truly, it's one of my happiest memories of growing up.
It's amazing the impact a little heart-shaped treat can have.
That's what I love about this Valentine's Day pizza party -it doesn't require expensive ingredients, elaborate decorations, or hours of preparation. Just some simple, thoughtful touches that show the people you love that they're special. And maybe, just maybe, you're creating a memory that your kids will treasure decades from now.
Frequently Asked Questions
Yes! You can shape the dough and refrigerate it (covered) for up to 24 hours before topping and baking. You can also fully cook the pizzas and reheat them in a 350°F oven for 5-7 minutes.
Use clean kitchen scissors to cut heart shapes freehand, or skip the heart pepperoni entirely -the heart-shaped pizza itself is the star!
Absolutely! Use your favorite gluten-free pizza dough or cauliflower crust. The shaping technique works the same way.
Any of your favorite pizza toppings work great! Try mushrooms, bell peppers, sausage, olives, or keep it simple with just cheese for picky eaters.
More Pizza Inspiration
If you have a Valentine's Day Pizza Party and use our Dessert Pizza recipe, please leave a comment and rating below. Thanks for visiting LIfe is a Party today.
Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 package Store Bought Pizza Dough
- 2 tablespoon Melted Butter
- 1 cup Nutella
- 1 pint Raspberries
- 2 Bananas
Instructions
- Cut a regular sized package of store bought pizza dough into quarters, and stretch each piece into a heart shape. So you will have 4 individual dessert pizzas.
- Brush the dough with some melted butter, this will make the dough brown really nicely.
- Bake the dough at 425 F for about 8-12 minutes until it's golden brown.
- Let dough cool slightly and then top with Nutella. Then add fruit on top, we used raspberries and bananas, but strawberries, kiwi, pineapple, or other kinds of fruit would be great choices too. Optional: garnish with a sprinkling of powdered sugar.
[…] doilies into a simple banner. The “You stole a pizza my heart” banner is extra fun and you can find out how to make your own here or write the cute phrase out on a chalk board for the party. One of our favourite additions to the […]