Happy Valentine’s Day. I hope you’re having a good one.

The holiday reminded me of a party we held years ago, and I thought I’d recount the story so that you might do something similar at some point down the road.

The party was a great media relations hit, solidified some relationships, and generated referrals for years to come.

We held the party on Valentine’s Day, of course. It ran from about 5 until 8 in the evening. We printed beautiful invitations and mailed out several hundred to friends, referral sources, lawyers, judges, clerks, the media, and some former clients. We held the party in our office and took over the lobby and several conference rooms.

The office was decorated with pink roses. We had a violinist playing in the lobby. We served pink champagne, and the refreshments all tied into the romantic theme (oysters, chocolate-covered strawberries, etc.).

The irony of a divorce law firm holding a Valentine’s Day party appealed to the media, and we had a few TV crews show up at the party. Articles ran in the local paper, and we were mentioned in more than one national media outlet.

The guests had a terrific time, and it was a great chance for our lawyers to chat with some of our trial and appellate judges who also showed up.

Would a Valentine’s Day party work for you? I suspect so.

Get moving. You’ve only got 365 days to make it happen.