If I’m being honest, Valentine’s Day has never been my *most* favorite holiday. I generally love it, but for some reason it just doesn’t hold the excitement for me that other holidays do. I think it has something to do with the lead up for it being short— it feels weird to start celebrating it in January, but then you only have two weeks to build up to it during February.
This year lends itself to an even more difficult Valentine’s Day season due to the complications brought along by COVID-19.
Although, when I was making my free February backgrounds, I did feel myself leaning more into the Valentine’s spirit and thinking of a few ways I wanted to celebrate the holiday of love during this isolated season. I think I came up with a few fun and unique ways to celebrate safely this year, and I’m excited to share those today!
Send Valentine’s Snail Mail
I used to send so many cards and letters to my friends when I was in high school, but then I fell out of step with it during college. I put in so much effort to those early cards, I’m talking confetti inside, washi tape covering the entire envelope, hand-drawn cards— the whole nine yards. While I don’t quite have that much time to devote towards snail mail anymore, I did get inspired to send out some cards this Valentine’s season!
These cute, fun cards from Knox Paper Scissors Co. are the ones I went with, and I’m so excited to see what my friends think about them! Etsy has an overwhelming amount of very specific and fun Valentine’s cards, I think you could find something spot on for almost anyone. I’ll link some other fun card sets here just in case you need some snail mail inspiration— I’m a little too obsessed with these!
Host a Virtual Watch Party of Your Favorite RomCom
I’m looking so forward to watching the new To All the Boys: Always and Forever with a couple of my galentines, but I think it could totally turn into a virtual watch party.
With Teleparty, you and all your friends can watch any movie or TV show together with it perfectly synched, no matter your distance. Preston and I did this all the time when I was still in highschool and he was in college, and it honestly helped battle the long distance so well! There is a chat feature on Teleparty, or you can all text at the same time. Plan to zoom or Facetime afterwards and recap all your thoughts with each other!
As a note, everyone involved will have to have an account to the relevant streaming platform to watch this way!
Order A Special Dinner for Takeout
We’ve been on a rotation of getting takeout about once a week. It’s such a treat and break from all the cooking and dishes, and we always go pick it up together which makes it feel like a date. I have even gotten in the habit of slightly elevating whatever I wore for WFH just to feel a little bit more alive, haha.
For Valentine’s Day, we’re still going back and forth between deciding on cooking something special or getting special takeout. I think it will depend on what our favorite restaurants end up doing especially for the holiday. A few we’re trying to keep an eye out for are Kefi, Tako Taco and Family Meal Chef. If we decide to go the at-home route, it will probably be a toss up between Ina Garten’s perfect roast chicken, Halfbaked Harvest coq au vin or Preston’s classic pan-seared steaks. Either way, we will have something yummy and elevated, set the table, light the expensive candle that I usually ration and watch a movie neither of us have seen.
Leave a Note
One of the habits Preston and I have kept throughout our entire marriage (all 13 months of it) has been leaving notes for each other in relevant spots. Preston has left some in my bathroom vanity, where I keep my work computer and materials and inside my iPad case. I usually leave his by the coffee pot for him to find in the morning or on his computer keyboard. This is such a small, tiny act that makes a big difference in both our overall moods. It can be as simple as “you’re the best husband ever!” or “I appreciate you!”
I’ve even thought about getting one of these fun note pads to leave especially for him and as a reminder to myself to do it more often.
I love this because it fits so many love languages at once— words of affirmation, gifts and acts of service. If your partner is all about quality time, maybe leave something on the note about planning to watch a movie later or play your favorite board game.
Order a New Board Game and Play Together
Are we the only couple obsessed with board games?? I hope not, but honestly we’re so obsessed by this point we’ll never be able to go back. I know people were posting a lot about board games for two players in the early part of quarantine, but I think it’s more fun to hear now about what actually stuck. Below are a few of our favorites if you’re looking for a new one, but I encourage you to take a look at your game cabinet to see which games you already own are good for two player, you might be surprised!
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That wraps up my five tips to make Valentine’s Day special this year— I hope these helped you brainstorm ways to make yourself, your friends, your partner and more feel loved this season!
