Love is in the air, chocolates are heart shaped, and fresh flowers are everywhere; it’s Valentine’s Day!
This year, February 14th lands on a Wednesday, and as per usual, this is smack in the middle of starting the new semester. Meaning that making plans can often be a tad difficult if you have a lot of daily responsibilities.
Making plans for Valentine’s can also be an overwhelming task: you become surrounded by pink and hearts galore, expectations for what are good or bad plans, and the overall commercialization of the entire festivity drives many to end up with decision fatigue. For some, these and a few other reasons have guided them to absolutely hate the holiday, vowing to not touch anything that resembles it during the entire month. However, I’m here to save the day with a list of fun and simple last minute ideas for you to reconsider your afternoon and have a little treat.
HOST a bake-off
Go to your closest grocery store, grab some boxed cake mix (or cookies, go crazy), frosting, and decorations, and channel your inner baking show competitor (gotta put all those hours of watching The Great British Baking Show to use, lol!). You can look up decoration inspo on Pinterest, or just follow your heart’s desire and let your creativity guide you. This can be done by yourself, blasting music and accompanied by a little drink, or with some friends (or significant other) making it an actual competition.
AT home cinema
It’s time to finally start crossing off some movies from your watchlist. Buy your favorite sweets, make some popcorn (or nachos) and dip, and give yourself the full movie experience. You can select a romance movie that fits the holiday (read this HerCampus article), watch something with the complete opposite aesthetic (try this HerCampus article instead), or just pick a random film and press play!
If you do this with friends, you can assign each other a treat to bring and be extra with your assignments! For example, if you were assigned popcorn, you can bring salty and sweet for variety (tossing some m&m’s with your popcorn is great, just saying!). If you want to stick with candy, assign everyone a color and create a rainbow board of sweets!
wine and paint
Channel all of your artistry and have a paint date with yourself, friends, or significant other. Buy some acrylic paints, simple canvases (some poster boards do the trick too), and pick your favorite wine to go. You can also buy paint brushes or opt for fingerpainting (if your paints are appropriate for it). All that’s left now is to pour yourself a glass, set the ambiance with music or lights, and paint your heart out! Remember to drink responsibly!
game night
Call your friends, bring out all your stored away board or card games, and have a game night! You can alter the rules, make it a drinking game, or buy some of those (questionably) flavored jelly beans and have them be a challenge during the game. If you have no games available, you can pick a tv show and make a drinking game based on keywords or phrases mentioned! This idea works with friends or a significant other. Have fun!
At the end of the day, the societal expectations on holidays can be extremely draining, and can easily turn nice moments sour. But I think that setting all these pressures aside and allowing yourself to indulge a little can help you have an enjoyable time! While Valentine’s has mostly been marketed as a couples holiday, love and appreciation isn’t couple-exclusive. Use the day to celebrate the bonds you have created with your friends, and most importantly, with yourself, because at the end of the day, your one true and never ending love is your precious self!
