Valentine’s Day is a holiday that commemorates the love between two people. But if you really love someone, you should be able to express that everyday, and not have to spend $300 on dinner and a gift for one day. Furthermore, if you do not have a significant other, it can be a hard day to get through. So here are some ideas for dates you can do with your significant other or some friends on Valentine’s Day. They are creative to show whoever you are spending this day with that you really care about them.
Dates:
1. Create an indoor picnic with a tablecloth and paper goods. Share finger foods and favorite treats, along with a glass of wine. If you have a significant other, you can spice up “dessert.” Enjoy your picnic on the living room floor or in bed. Play card games, board games, or make up your own.
2. Take a 2-hour, one-time salsa or tango dancing lesson together. If dancing is not for you, identify some other interest you share, and find a place to give you one-time extended lesson on Valentine’s Day (ex: yoga, rock climbing, skiing/snowboarding, cycling, ceramics, or bowling).
3. Make the entire day full of his/her favorites: the breakfast of his/her dreams, the dinner of his/her dreams, waiting his/her favorite TV show, or bringing him/her to listen to their favorite type of music, etc. Don’t say anything about it, make it a day of surprises. You could even do this with your friends. You can each pick something you love to do, and all go do the activity together.
4. Create an at-home spa day for your partner or friends. For your partner, deliver the gift in a basket filled with inexpensive candles, bubble bath, rose petals, facial mask, and scrub. Then give your special someone time to enjoy it. When he/she is done, heat up towels in the dryer for drying off. For your friends you can light candles, and all do facial masks, nails, and toes.
5. Create a favorite drink together. Try all kinds of ingredients. Enjoy taste-testing. Be sure to record the ingredients,so you can make the “your” drink again on Valentine’s Day year after year. Then cozy up in bed and enjoy a good movie together.
6. Make a simple dinner at home, and then go out dancing or to a cheap concert.
7. What did you do on your very first date/hangout? Repeat it.
8. If your partner or friends love chocolate, go on a chocolate tour. Find your hometown chocolate vendor and ask for a behind-the-scenes tour. Next, go to a restaurant that serves lots of chocolate desserts and indulge. Return home to snuggle with a cup of hot chocolate.
9. Since Valentine’s Day falls on a Friday this year, celebrate with a day full of low-cost activities you both enjoy doing(depending upon your location and weather). Do something with your significant other that he/she rarely has time to do but loves.
10. There are many local and national Valentine’s Day giveaway contests with great prizes. Enter as many as you can, and maybe you’ll get lucky.
[pagebreak]
Gifts:
1. Decorate a unique-looking jar or box. The write numerous love notes on small pieces of paper and fill the jar with them.
2. Make homemade chocolate-covered strawberries:
1) Melt a package of chocolate chips in a double boiler and add a small amount of oil;
2) Remove from heat, and quickly dip the strawberries into the chocolate;
3) Place on wax paper, and refrigerate for several hours until chocolate is firm.
3. Get him/her a cheap little token of love, like a spoon that is engraved, a “Good Morning Beautiful/Handsome,” keychain, or a unique bracelet or collar. Etsy.com has many great ideas.
4. Cheap movie or book that he or she has wanted to read/see.
5. Make your own body scrub or face mask, order personalized golf balls, or simply offer to do their laundry.
6. Make a framed group of photos that puts your relationship in chronological order of events by months or years (depending on how long you’ve been together).
7. Make a CD of your partner’s favorite songs, and present it with an ice cream treat.
8. Flowers or wine. It does not have to be an expensive wine or flowers. One can get flowers that are not roses or see if there is a whole sale flower company.
9. Blow up balloons, put love notes in all of them, and fill your partner’s room. Then surprise him or her while waiting in their bed.
10. Make a basket of all the things your partner loves. Movie, food, candy, etc. Valentine’s Day is not about spending the most money; it is about being with people that care about you.
It should not take a certain holiday to feel love from your friends or significant other. It should be a day to do something fun and different that maybe you have not had time to do with them. So enjoy, and remember you should express how much you love your friends/significant other every day.