It’s that time again where every guy is buying red roses, chocolates, teddy bears and other so-called sweet things for that special someone, but for my boyfriend and me, it isn’t.
I’ve been with my boyfriend for almost five years and Valentine’s Day has never been an important day for us. Personally, I just think of it as another day out of the year.
It just doesn’t make sense. Why do we dedicate one specific day out of the year to be extra compassionate to your special someone when the point of being in a relationship is to be dedicated to that individual every day? I personally believe that it is not the holiday that is important, it’s the time spent together.
On our first Valentine’s Day I gave my boyfriend a homemade card and he bought me a massive teddy bear, a bunch of chocolates and a card, just because that’s what he thought he was supposed to get for me. Don’t get me wrong, it was extremely sweet and thoughtful but it just was not me or us for that matter, but what else was he supposed to think? But fast forward to right now, five years later, we are just spending the weekend together, enjoying each other’s company.
In society today, it seems like Valentine’s Day is made to be this lavish day, and for some I’m sure it is, but I personally don’t think it really needs to be. I think with our younger generation, the millennials, we are more fiscally responsible and are frugal with our money. Therefore, we would rather save our money and stay in to make a special meal rather than go out and spend a copious amount of money.
Are you looking for creative ways to celebrate Valentine’s Day this year, to do something out of the ordinary and non-cliché?
- Indoor picnic: Spend the time figuring out what you want to make for dinner. Go to the grocery store and pick out the ingredients. Then come back, cook dinner and set-up a candlelight dinner on the floor. This skips the rush and madness of going out for dinner.
- Roller Skating: Stay indoors and hold each other’s hand!
- Make a drinking game out of mushy-gushy-lovey movies
- ColorMe Mine: Get your creative juices following and go out and paint a pretty plate!
- Comedy Show: Valentine’s Day should not just be sappy it can be funny as well!
- Change the date of Valentine’s Day: Feb. 14 is always extremely hectic so why don’t you take the pressure off of your significant other and just go another day?
- Laser Tag: Spend quality time playing a nice competitive game of hide and seek while also trying to get the other person out.
- Indoor waterpark: Lancaster and South Jersey offer indoor waterparks that are fun for all!
- Paintballing/Nerf Gun War: Take your brothers, sisters and parents out for a fun game of capture the flag while dodging little balls full of neon paint or stay in and have a Nerf gun war!
- Weekend Road Trip: Go to a friend’s beach house or a mountain house for the weekend and take a walk on the boardwalk or even spend your weekend skiing down the slopes.
I remember one time we decided we wanted to be chefs and we tried making crème brulee as our dessert and it came out completely wrong. Another time, I almost broke my ankle running down the steps to chase my brothers around while we were having a nerf war.
No matter what you decide to do this year, spending time with people you truly care about is what is most important. There are definitely so many creative ideas you can come up with or you could do the typical Valentine’s Day get-together, but spending quality time with that special person is what truly matters.
