Valentine’s Day is the time of the year when people are buying dark chocolate candies and taking their loved ones on dates to romantic restaurants with the dim candles lighting the tables they eat at. It’s generally a happy day, but for some it can also be quite obnoxious with the repetitive mushy Hallmark cards you see every year. For young single women, like myself we tend to despise this day of love and sit around stuffing our faces while watching romance movies and complaining how what we see in the movies is never going to happen in real life. Come on John Cusack, nobody in 2017 is going to come serenade me with a boom box outside my window playing In Your Eyes for my love. We are no longer in the eighties where that was maybe a slight possibility, but just because we are single does not mean we have to spend Valentine’s moping around. Here are five alternative plans you can make and still have a successful single Valentine’s Day.
1. Have a group date at a friend’s home. This could mean just grabbing a few of your closest girlfriends and making a girl’s night out of it. Yes, bring out the cheap boxed wine (if you’re over age), turn on old classics and belt it out to Girls Just Wanna Have Fun because it’s the truth. Make it a baking night. Bake some of your favorite sweets and enjoy the time your spending with the girls. Forget about the guy that “forgot to call back” you’re having a way better time tonight.
2. Send your love out. Maybe you’re not the Hallmark type, but you can still send special gifts like baskets of food to friends or loved ones. You can even volunteer locally to shed some light on someone’s day. I know what you’re thinking. You want to spend your day doing things that make you forget about what day it is, but I promise that by making someone else’s day, it can also brighten yours. Give it a try and see how it feels.
3. Shake things up a bit. You know that new park that you’ve been dying to stroll through, but haven’t had the time? Make the time today. Sport your cutest leggings and Nike’s and make this adventurous day all about you. You’ll feel good about yourself when you hit that step goal on your Fitbit. You may even begin to feel like Kate Hudson.
4. Treat yourself. You don’t need a significant other to buy you gifts, buy something yourself. Go buy that pair of earrings you have been eye balling every time you walk into Tjmaxx. This is the one day you are allowed to splurge a little on yourself. Go to that fancy spa you see in the ads. Have someone treat you like never before.
5. Take a friend out. Get dressed up in that new dress you’ve been saving to wear for a special occasion. You and your best girlfriend can go out for dinner and drinks. Maybe end the night with some karaoke for the laughter and the comical stories you can tell to your coworkers the next day. This night is full of endless possibilities.
So just because you’re not in a committed relationship does not mean that you have to spend your Valentine’s day sulking around in your pajamas and crying as you scroll through Instagram. You can make it a fun day, that way you might actually look forward to Valentine’s each year. Who knows, maybe one day you’ll decide to share these ideas with someone special.
