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Valentine’s Day is a holiday with high expectations for some. The first link between romance and Valentine’s Day was written by Geoffery Chaucer starting way back in the 1300s. He penned a line in a poem “For this was on St. Valentine’s Day, when every bird cometh there to choose his mate.” According to Wikipedia, “This poem was written to honor the first anniversary of the engagement of King Richard II of England to Anne of Bohemia. A treaty providing for a marriage was signed on May 2, 1381.”
It’s hard to come up with what could be a centuries famous poem for the one you love. Especially since most of us aren’t writing romantic poetry for our full time gig, right? So what is the best way to make a memorable Valentine’s Day for the one you love? Use these ideas to take the pressure off of yourself and create a night of romance.
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The Gift
Valentine’s Day is one of the easiest holidays to find special gifts because it is a day to profess your love. In the 1800s tokens of love were created by painstakingly carving initials with ornate designs onto coins. Nowadays, tokens of love can be personalized on items your loved one will use every day to reminded of your adoration. These can be anything from personalized photo cubs with pictures of you and your love to engraved watches with special messages. Valentine’s Day gifts come in many different forms and can have many different messages added to them like on the website Just-Love-Gifts.com. Anyone can pick up a generic present, but I like the idea of making it meaningful between the gift giver and receiver.
Here are just a couple of my favorite choices (click on the photo for the link):
Gift a key ring with calendar of a special day in your lives like the day you met, married, took an unbelievable vacation, or said “I love you” for the first time.
Do you love someone that loves tea or coffee and enjoys humor?
Make Valentine’s last year round with this 30 days of kisses photo cube.
I just, well, LOVE this token of love!
Gift a watch with a personalized engraving.
These are just a sample of the gift choices you can have created for your love.
The Location
Are you looking for the perfect location to enjoy Valentine’s Day? For overnight stays, there is nothing quite like Bed and Breakfasts. These stays obviously should come with breakfast and are usually in quaint converted houses or manners. If you don’t have the time or money for a weekend getaway, a nice restaurant would be lovely. Be sure to book a reservation ahead of time, so the wait will not be hours long. Even our local breakfast dinner has a Valentine’s Day reservation wait list!
If you are wanting a more spontaneous rendezvous, plan out a trip to somewhere you don’t normally visit like a trip to a local aquarium, zoo, or favorite museum. Check ahead of time if there are places to sit and rest during your visit and you could have a picnic on the go in a backpack with you. Other ideas could be hiking at a local park, taking a river cruise boat ride, taking a carriage ride through a downtown area, going to the movies, and more.
Not wanting to venture out? No problem! It’s a crazy day to try to go out to eat with everyone else trying to do the same. Staying in might just be the most romantic thing you can do. If you want to make it a little more starry-eyed event, get a table cloth and some candles and set the table for love. You could even try cooking dinner or ordering take out. Either way, enjoy your time with each other by doing something you both enjoy.
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What To Wear
Lots of women love to dress up for Valentine’s Day especially when they know there is a romantic date to happen soon. But what about you guys? When was the last time you wore dress pants or khakis and a button-down shirt? If it’s been more than a hot minute, surprise the woman you love by looking good for her. Don’t be offended if she doesn’t recognize you though! If you are planning the date as a surprise, be sure to inform your date what type of attire is needed. If you are going to a fancy restaurant, your date might be irritated if you just tell them to wear jeans when a dinner jacket is a requirement. Or on the flip slide, if you are going to play putt putt golf and have a picnic, spike heels might not be the best shoes to be wearing.
The Card (or a sweet love note)
Thank goodness for greeting cards that help us profess our love! We are not all poets but do want to shower our love with words of affection. Valentine’s Day cards are plentiful during January and February. There are so many to choose from these days but guess what! You can have Valentine’s Day cards personalized too. Some are already created with a catchy or sweet message and your names can be added in the card. Now that you have the perfect card, I bet you might need a little help with what to write. Of course, writing “Sincerely Yours” or “All My Love” are sweet sayings to add; you can kick it up a notch this year with writing in a favorite movie quote or poem (<<<click for my favorite poem). The quote doesn’t even have to be romantic but could be from a shared favorite movie or event you attended together. This is just one more way to show how you cherish your memories together.
Flowers or No Flowers – That Is The Question
For some flowers equal a perfect Valentine’s Day. To others, they sneeze at the idea – literally! If you are new in love, then you may not know yet if your sweetheart is a fan of flowers or is allergic. Roses are your best bet. Most people are not allergic to them and the traditional red rose is a perfect flower to present on Valentine’s Day. If you have been married for 53+ years like my parents, then you probably know what her favorite flower is. My mom gets daisies almost every year. That’s not the secret to their 53 years together but knowing little things about the one you love definitely helps show you care. Flowers are just one more element you can add on the big day.
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Valentine’s Day can be a fun, romantic day to celebrate your love for each other. The best tip I have for making this day special is to find out from your love what they feel makes the day special. Maybe they would prefer a night in watching old reruns of a favorite TV show or maybe they have always dreamed of a carriage ride around the park. Romance can mean so many different things to so many different people. When it comes to creating the most romantic day, making it special just for your relationship will be the best Valentine’s Day you can give the one you love.
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Fun ideas! We decided year ago, to rename Valentine’s Day “Crab Day.” We enjoy all things crab (fake crab meat, crabcakes, etc.). Yes, it was kind of a cynical idea, but it has turned into a fun tradition!
LOL! That sounds like so much fun! And so much less pressure! LOVE IT!