Hey guys! With Valentine's Day coming up in a couple of weeks, I thought it would be fun to make a post with a few ideas of what you can do to celebrate the day no matter your current relationship status! Valentine's Day is a holiday to celebrate love, but there are many different kinds of love that have nothing to do with romantic and sexual relationships, so anyone can celebrate Valentine's Day and have an awesome time with your favourite person or people!
I didn't want to do make separate lists of things for friends to do and things for couples to do, because I don't think there's any reasons to make such distinctions. Not in a romantic relationship? Still want to dress up fancy and go to a fancy restaurant for dinner? Make it a date with your best friend! So yeah, here are some of my ideas of how to have a fun Valentine's, no matter your relationship status, and no matter whether you want to do something fancy, fun, cute, low-key, romantic, or chill. I'm pretty sure I have at least one idea for you.
1. Date Night Out
I'm clearly starting with the obvious here, but as I started to say above, this is not just for couples! Sure, you can go out with your significant other, but you could also go out with your friends! Whether everyone wants to dress up, or go casual is obviously up to you, as well as how fancy the restaurant you choose. That said, I might caution you to either try to make reservations ahead of time (if possible), or else, maybe schedule your Valentine's date for near the day, instead of right on the 14th, since it's going to be crazy busy at all the restaurants on February 14th, and some of the fancier ones will also have a special set menu for the occasion, so you'll want to be aware of that as well. So do your research, or just celebrate a little earlier or later in the week.
2. Date Night In
Similar idea, but instead of going to a crowded restaurant, you can stay home or go to a friend's house and cook dinner with whoever you're celebrating with. This is more the plan that David and I will be doing this year, since it's less expensive and way easier to actually celebrate this way on Valentine's itself! You could do like we are planning to, and make a fancy steak dinner, or whatever your favourite food is. Fun drinks and dessert is another good addition, whether that's cocktails, wine, or a cutesy Valentine's themed drink is entirely up to you. I've pinned several cute and delicious looking dessert and drink ideas on my new Valentine's Day pinterest board, if you need inspiration.
3. A Pamper Night
This might seem like more of a girl's night type of idea, but depending on the type of pampering, I'm sure some guys would be into it too! This would also be a great Valentine's idea for you to do alone. Self-love and self-care is important too! Your pamper night might include facials, face masks, manicures, pedicures, hair treatments, massages, tea (or wine!), a good bath, or a good book. Pick and choose, or add your own ideas to make sense for who you'll be spending the day or night with!
4. Brunch!
Who doesn't love a good brunch? It kind of suggests that you slept in long enough that breakfast didn't make sense, so you're already starting the day off well-rested, and then celebrating with loved ones over your favourite breakfast foods? Yeah, sounds pretty good to me! Again, I have brunch and breakfast ideas on that Pin board I've mentioned, but you can also head out to your favourite breakfast place, or try a cute new place, if you don't want to make the food yourself! The easiest thing to make at home that I can think of, though, would be pancakes (you can use a mix if you aren't a good cook), and top with strawberries and whipped cream!
5. Valentine's Day party
Here's a good justification for all of that valentine's decor you either already have or want to buy, or to make some fun Valentine's DIYs. Invite over all your friends, eat fun valentine's treats, and just have a good time with all of your favourite people. Or skip the valentine's decor and treats, and just have a regular party with chips and pizza. Whatever is more your style!
6. Netflix and chill -- Literally.
I'm sorry, I couldn't help myself. But seriously, if you and your significant other (or friends) just aren't the valentine's day type of people, but you still want to celebrate somehow, then you really could just be at one of your houses, order food for delivery, and watch a movie, binge a show, or play some games together. Celebrating your love and friendships doesn't have to be extravagant or cutesy. Enjoy each other's company.
7. Go to a movie/play/concert/museum/art gallery/etc.
Alright, concerts usually take more planning, but there's gotta be some kind of play or movie you're interested in going to see, so why not use the day as an excuse to go see one! Play's seem like a good choice if you have an interest and the funds, since they'll be seated, so it won't matter if it's busy because of the holiday. Movies could be good too, especially if you have a VIP cinema nearby that allows you to choose your seats ahead of time, instead of rushing to get seats together day-of. I thought I'd stick museum or gallery in this option as well, since plays are kinda artsy, and if you and your date(s) for the day are interested in those types of things, it could be really cool to take the day to go see whatever exhibits are on display!
8. Make silly/adorable Valentine's Day crafts
You could easily include this in one of the above nights, or make it a thing unto itself. I think it could be really fun, though, to get together and do some fun DIYs and crafts like you're in elementary school again, when holidays like Valentine's Day were always the most fun anyways. Why? Stupid crafts! Get some paper, glue, scissors, paints, crayons, whatever you want, and make stuff! I've pinned some cute ideas to my Valentine's Day board, if you need inspiration, or you could search yourselves or just use your imaginations!
9. Karaoke
This really doesn't have to have anything to do with Valentine's day, but it could! I just really like karaoke and singing in general. I mean, of course, the types of places that give your group a private room, so you aren't embarrassing yourself in front of strangers, but feel free to do whatever type of karaoke appeals to you most. If you don't like the idea of paying to sing stupid songs in a room for a couple hours at a business, you could always just sing and dance around to your favourite songs at home, even if you don't have a special karaoke app or machine. Just pop on songs you know—from CDs, radio, or your computer, wherever—and sing away! Again, no matter where or how you do this, it could easily be an activity for a whole group or for couples. And if you want to make it more valentine's-y, feel free to serenade your friends with your favourite ballads. =P
10. Coffee Date
Again, this is super basic, but I wanted to conclude with something else that's low-key and easy to do, even if you don't have a lot of time. This is a great way to get together with your SO, best friend, or a family member and have a chat over a tasty hot drink for as long as you want or have. And it doesn't have to be expensive, you could do this anywhere from a fancy hipster coffee shop to Starbucks, McDonalds, Tim Horton's, or your house. At home, you could just make a couple cups of coffee from your Keurig (or whatever you use at home), or you could make cheap mochas (what's more Valentine's Day than chocolate?!) with whatever coffee you have and some hot chocolate mix! I like to use the coffee in place of water in the mix's recipe, add cream and sometimes sugar to taste. I recommend the Carnation hot chocolate mix, personally.
***
I mentioned above, but in case you missed it, I also made a little Pinterest board of crafts, treats, and cute Valentine's-y things to take inspiration from for any of the above ideas, in case you're interested. I hated Pinterest for so long, but since I went in most recently and started fresh without any interests and just slowly introducing searches for things I care about (tattoos, food, Overwatch, makeup, and dogs, for the most part) it's been so much more enjoyable. I also only use the app interface, which is far less chaotic and ugly than the full desktop site, so I'm sure that has something to do with it!
None of us is above the idea of love, so I think it's silly to look down on Valentine's Day as a stupid holiday. I'm sure you love someone, whether that's a significant other, best friend, dad, aunt, sister... so spend the day with them, or at least send them a cute text or an adorable cat gif to mark the day!
I'd love to hear about your plans for Valentine's, or what you did (if you're reading this afterwards), so let me know in the comments! I'll also have two very different Valentine's Day makeup looks coming up in the very near future, so look out for those.
Thanks for reading!
