CREATING A PERFECT PANDEMIC VALENTINE’S DAY

It’s February, so you’ve probably already noticed that your local CVS is lined with red and pink decorations and an obnoxious amount of heart-shaped and glitter-smeared chocolate boxes.

With Valentine’s Day just around the corner, you can’t help but feel some sort of anticipated distress––I can relate. Whether the love-centered day makes your free-spirited single self gag or you have been nervously racking your brain to plan the perfect day for you and your beau, I’m here to help.

Let’s delve right into my recommendations for how to make Valentine’s Day the perfect day, no matter your relationship status.

Single

Let’s be honest, you’ve probably seen a ton of posts or read way too many articles about how you should use Valentine’s Day as a self-care day, and honestly, they’re right. Yeah, it might be cliche, but if you are going to take one day to really focus on yourself, then why not make it the day of love?

My advice starts with really getting dressed up that day. Doing your hair and makeup and putting on a runway-worthy outfit––or whatever you feel confident and comfortable in––immediately makes your day 10 times better.

Then go grab your favorite caffeinated drink to get you energized for the day (I recommend an iced vanilla sweet cream cold brew from Starbucks).

If the weather isn’t too cold, I suggest doing some COVID-safe shopping. Give yourself a budget, and just get what you think will really make you happy. Retail therapy truly solves everything.

If the weather is abysmal, that’s no problem. Get cozy at home, make yourself a snack, put on your favorite playlist, and just vibe for a bit. This might include picking up that book you’ve been planning on reading, working on your Pinterest mood board, or just indulging in journaling.

No matter what you do, make it something that you’ll thank yourself for later.

For dinner, you can go two routes: your comfort favorites or something new. For comfort foods, I love Taco Bell, but I’ve been meaning to try the Dirty Water Dough Company on Newbury Street.

The day wouldn’t be complete without a movie or TV show binge. For movies, I absolutely adore the serenity of Mamma Mia. If you are a fan of thrillers, then Secret Obsession is worth a try.

Just Starting Out

Congratulations, you are in a relationship! But it's only been a few months, and this is your first Valentine’s Day, so what do you do? Well, considering I’m currently in your shoes, let’s go through this journey together.

Depending on the weather, you could do a cute trendy outdoor picnic with a charcuterie board and your favorite desserts. The delicious gelato-stuffed macarons from Amorino would fit the aesthetic really well.

Make sure to bring a board game or two. I’ve recently learned about the game We’re Not Really Strangers, which is supposed to help foster meaningful connections, so why not give that a try.

If you have to spend the day indoors, I suggest hot cocoa and Belgian waffles from Zinneken’s.

To continue that trend of getting to know each other, you could take turns taking personality quizzes from IDRL labs.

If you are down for a movie or TV show, Titanic is a classic, or I recently fell upon Love, Death + Robots. The latter is a little mind boggling, so beware.

Don’t put too much pressure on yourself or your significant other to have the perfect day. Just spend quality time together and I promise it will be a day to remember.

Basically Married

Now, you two probably know every little thing about each other and have already spent your fair share of Valentine’s Days together. So, I’m going to spice things up a little.

There’s a TikTok trend going around where people play a few rounds of Rock, Paper, Scissors, and the winner of each round chooses what drinks, entree or dessert they will get. This could be a fun way to not spend hours trying to make a decision. I know my significant other sure would appreciate it if I made decisions faster.

Now this idea is a little more saucy, but it will definitely be a lot of fun. If you have any art materials, preferably canvas and paint, you could paint each other's risqué photos for some modern art pieces.

If you want some downtime, put on a fun playlist or maybe make playlists that remind you of each other. Plan your dream trip for when the world (hopefully) returns to normal.