By Naomi Atwater
While there is no pressure to celebrate, indulging in a day full of red and pink hearts, chocolate, and flowers, is a great way to celebrate anything. Valentine’s Day is exciting and fun-filled whether you are single, dating, engaged, or married.
February 14th is the perfect opportunity to celebrate all the love in our life. And whether that means spending the day treating yourself or baking with your grandma, you have so many options that can be unique to you!
So, break out your calendar and get ready to plan this Valentine’s Day!
Love your community and volunteer
Volunteering isn’t just for the Christmas or Thanksgiving holidays – if you would love to spend this Valentine’s Day with others, look for an opportunity to volunteer or serve. Is there a shelter near you? A community kitchen? An event at a nonprofit? Take your pick and love your community.
If you are not sure where to start, VolunteerMatch and JustServe have some great opportunities that you can find in your area. You can adjust your location and preferences and find things to do near you!
Love your gals and celebrate Galantine’s Day
What better way to celebrate the holiday marked by pink and red than going out with your gal pals? Originated by the show Parks and Recreation, Galantine’s Day is often characterized by brunch, but you can expand on that by going to a trivia night, doing a gift exchange, or a charcuterie board party. Whether you celebrate with one friend or twelve, this is a solid way to make your Valentine’s Day spectacular!
Love yourself and schedule a treat-your-self day
Maybe this is your reminder to go all out, schedule a manicure and pedicure, break out the bath bombs, or do whatever you do to rejuvenate! Put it on the schedule to spend your day doing refreshing activities and taking it slow.
There are a million ways your day could go, and if you get stuck, find some more ideas here!
Love your family and plan an activity with them
It’s so sweet to hang out with your parents, siblings, kids, or nieces and nephews on Valentine’s Day. Maybe that means planning a dinner with everyone, taking your younger siblings to an ice-skating rink, or playing board games with your kids.
You could even schedule a sweet baking day with your grandma and try some new recipes!
Love your passion project and find a group to meet up with
This Valentine’s Day for you could be your call to keep working on the book you are writing, join a pick-up ultimate frisbee game, or get back into digital art again. Meetup has events and groups meeting every day around almost any topic. Find some motivation to kickstart your latest project by finding a group that is also passionate about it!
Love the planet and clean up
Though you can love the planet in many ways, picking up trash is an underrated blessing to our world and community. You love the world we live in and your community by investing time in making it a place we want to be. And it is an activity you can bring your friends along with to do together or start on your own. You may be able to find a group already started in your community through Trash Hero.
Find ways to spend time with people you love this Valentine’s Day, no matter what that looks like for you in your community, neighborhood, or with your family or friends. As long as you are doing something you love or for something you love, then you are doing the holiday right.
