February marks the beginning of a very exciting holiday season: Valentine’s Day! Traditionally, couples around the world celebrate their love on February 14, using the day as an opportunity to show a little extra appreciation for that special someone.
Valentine’s Day is all about love—but it doesn’t have to be romantic love. You can celebrate self-love or friend-love, which we now commonly celebrate as “Galentine’s Day.” So, leave the boys at home, get excited, and prepare for a girls-only day with your besties!
Need Galentine’s Day ideas? Below, I’ve compiled a list of 10 fun ways you can celebrate Valentine’s Day with your friends.
- Bring your own board night
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Growing in popularity in recent years, “bring your own board” night truly is a hit. The task is simple: gather a group of friends and choose a food theme to create platters of (on cutting boards, for the full effect)! Candy board, fruit board, chicken board, anything you can think of—nothing is off limits. If you really want to emphasize the “board” in “board night”, you could also make it a board game night!
- Spa night
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If you’re looking for a chill, relaxing way to spend time with your friends, a spa night is an excellent idea. You can take spa night as far as you want, from face masks and manicures to hot baths and massages. Just buy some sheet masks, salt scrubs, and nail polish, and you’re all set! If you’re looking for more, you can also set up a foot soak with hot water and bath salts and purchase essential oils to give each other massages with. Finally, dim the lights and light a cozy-scented candle to set the scene.
- Glass painting
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If you’re in the mood for an artsy activity, glass painting is a perfect fit. For materials, you’ll need paint (of course), paintbrushes, cups, something to pour your paint on, and water to clean your paintbrushes with. Play your favorite music and get started! You can paint wine glasses, shot glasses, glass mugs, or ordinary drinking glasses. Some Valentine’s Day fitting patterns include bows, hearts, and fruit, among others. You could also choose to paint pottery instead.
- Bouquet making
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A common Valentine’s Day gesture is to give a bouquet of red roses. For this activity, you can purchase an assortment of different flowers and mix and match them to make a beautiful, unique bouquet. Give them to a friend or keep them for yourself as a decoration for the rest of the month.
- Homemade brunch
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If you ever dreamt of holding a tea party as a little girl, this is as close as you can get. Heart-shaped waffles with whipped cream, strawberries and chocolate, and a plethora of pastries await. Serve the food with coffee, tea, or whatever else you may want. For the full effect, deck out the dining room with Valentine’s Day-themed decorations, including balloons, flowers, table cloths, streamers, and candles.
- Cake decorating
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Time to get creative and lean into your sweet tooth because it’s time for cake decorating. You can choose to bake the cakes or buy them from the store: whichever suits you best. For the fun part, get red, white, and pink icing, a variety of sprinkles, candy, and voilà! Be sure to include some heart-shaped decorations where you can.
- Cocktail/mocktail night
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Depending on your age, a cocktail or mocktail night can be a really fun activity. After all, who doesn’t love a pretty drink? There are lots of fun Valentine’s Day drink recipes on the internet to experiment with. For full enjoyment, you can combine this activity with any of the other activities on this list, such as spa night, glass painting, or cake decorating. You could also do a rendition of “bring your own board” night, where everyone brings a different drink for the whole group to try.
Krista Stucchio - Rom-com night
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Another chill activity: who doesn’t love romantic comedies? Cook some popcorn and settle down for a staple genre in many college girls’ movie rotations. My personal favorite rom-coms are How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days and Breakfast at Tiffany’s, but there’s a vast list to choose from. To experience a rom-com night to the fullest, make it a sleepover with lots of snacks, pajama sets, and a comfortable sleeping area.
- Pizza making
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An activity for the foodies, pizza-making will leave you with a happy stomach. Buy some dough, cheese, sauce, and any other toppings you might want from the grocery store. You and your friends can all make different, smaller pizzas, or you can work together on one large one. For the most Valentine’s Day-themed pizza, try shaping the dough into a heart! Speaking from experience, it’s harder than it looks…
- Gift exchange
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Lastly, if your love language is gift-giving, you might think it’s fun to shop for them. In a similar fashion to Secret Santa, get a group of friends together prior to the 14th and randomly draw names from a hat to find out who’s getting a gift for who. Set a budget and a theme, and get excited to exchange! Some fun themes for Valentine’s Day are Jellycats, candy, lip products, self-care, or even a basket including all of these items. Of course, you could also opt for no theme and do miscellaneous gifts.
If there’s any year to spend Valentine’s Day with your friends, it’s 2026—February 14th finally falls on a Saturday! Use this as an opportunity to take a break from the whirlwind that is college life and spend the weekend loving and appreciating your amazing group of friends. I truly hope this list has inspired you to do just that.