When you think about Valentine’s Day, you think of flowers, chocolate, and pink and red everything! But if you’re in a relationship you might also be stressing about what to do on February 14. Sure, Valentine’s Day is supposed to be a romantic, love-filled holiday, designed to unite you and your significant other. But thanks to cheesy rom-coms and an excessive amount of advertising, Valentine’s Day is expected to be over-the-top and truly unique—which puts a lot of pressure for those of us planning this special day.
Of course, we want our Valentine’s Day dates to be especially magical, beautiful, romantic, and, well, perfect. But what is the ideal date?
This year, I was on a quest to find out! I asked both men and women, ranging from ages 12 to 83, asking: WHAT IS YOUR IDEAL DATE? The question was open-ended so that people could reply with plans as simple or elaborate as they wanted. Some answers might surprise you…
WHAT IS YOUR IDEAL DATE?
“A hike and a picnic at sunset!”
“I love something fun like mini golf or like an amusement park. I think that would be my ideal date.”
“Dinner at The Fish Company in Los Alamitos, and then we would go to the beach. I don’t know, how personal do you want to get?”
“It would begin early in the morning. Before the sun rises, I would go pick up my girlfriend and we would take a nice, leisurely walk to the beach. We would come prepared with blankets and set one up on the sand and lay there, watching the picturesque ball of gold rise and cast its shining arms all across the shimmering water and the backdrop of clear blue sky. The sunrise would be followed by an afternoon picnic in a serene, quiet park. After relaxing and taking a walk around the park and all its accompanying activity and greenery, we would get dressed up for the night. Once dressed, we would head to a fancy, high-end restaurant for a romantic dinner. This dinner would be followed by a simultaneously sweet and funny movie and some popcorn. To finish up the night, we would go outside and lay on the grass, simply snuggling and stargazing.”
“Taco Bell.”
Going to random places along PCH during the day and then going out for a nice dinner, and then ending the night hanging out somewhere under the stars.”
“I would say April 25th. It’s not too hot, not too cold. All you need is a light sweater!”
“I haven’t really thought about this but I guess it would just be to watch a movie and get ice cream afterwards?”
“I’d want to learn how to do something we’ve both never done before like how to dance hip hop or swing, because you can get to know a lot about someone’s personality, patience, and willingness to be vulnerable that way. It’d end with cooking something together and then bringing it to eat at a drive-in movie.”
“Driving somewhere where you can see the stars, and laying in the back of a tailgate with a bunch of blankets and music and food, watching the stars! “
“I guess my ideal date would start out as something sort of traditional. Like, he would come to my house (or dorm) and politely knock on the door. Then, he would open my car door and take me to dinner (where he would pay! Sorry, but I like that stuff)! This is where the traditional part would end. After dinner, I would want to do something spontaneous. Like randomly go bridge jumping or something like that. Mostly, I would want it to just be a fun time where we laughed a lot and got to see each other be silly. At the end of the night, I would like to be walked to the door and kissed on the cheek.”
“My ideal date takes place in Lisbon, Portugal. My boyfriend and I would start our day off by taking an hour train ride to Sintra, a charming town west of Lisbon that is home to different palaces and estates that the Portuguese nobility lived in. Then we would take a bus tour to visit Pena Palace, Moorish Castle and Monserrate Palace. After eating lunch in the terrace café of the Quinta da Regaleira, we’d leave for Cabo da Roca. This is the westernmost part of Europe where we would lookout at the Atlantic Ocean. To finish off our date, we would take the train back to Lisbon and eat at Restaurante Vicente which is a quaint restaurant tucked away from the public eye.”
“My ideal date is dinner/lunch at Super Mex on Second St. and then Creamistry and walking up and down Second going in all the little shops and just enjoying each others company.”
“My ideal date would probably go out and eat sushi. Then prob go walk on the beach and have the opportunity to connect with the person. Finally go get dessert that contains…CHOCOLATE!”
“Either a day at Disneyland or dinner and a walk on the beach!”
“My Ideal first date would probably be taking a girl out to the beach and hanging out there and grab something to eat and then watch the sunset.”
There you have it! Everyone in my survey essentially wanted to just spend time with the person they cared about. Whether it was as simple as a day at the beach or as exotic as a day in Portugal, people’s “ideal date” really just consisted of good, quality time with the person he or she cared about, doing something that complimented either their fun interests or laid-back personalities.
So I vote to stop stressing about Valentine’s Day! It turns out that spending time with the person you love is really more than enough!