Valentine’s Day can be a holiday we either love or loathe. For some, it’s a fun excuse to book a date night and treat your special someone to something a little bit fancy. But for others, it can be an annual date that just doesn’t feel right for us.
But the truth is that Valentine’s Day isn’t just an occasion for heart shaped choccies, red roses and boujee dinner dates. In fact, it’s an yearly reminder to celebrate love in all of its forms.
Whether you’re single, engaged, married, divorced, separated or anything in between, we want you to find your own way to take part in Valentine’s Day (whether you’ve got a partner or not).
So, we’ve pulled together a stack of fun activities and inclusive experiences you can do with your friends, kids, family and even yourself to feel the love this month. Ready? Let’s dive in.
How to celebrate love with your partner
Just because you had a partner to celebrate love with this Valentine’s Day doesn’t mean you need to spend tonnes money to show each other you care. Getting back to basics and focusing on quality time together can be one of the funniest things to do instead.
So, to make your date night extra special this month, here are three love-fuelled experiences and activities you can consider:
- Cook your favourite meal together: a quick trip to the grocery store and a delicious recipe that you both love is all you need for the ultimate at-home date night.
- Take a scenic drive to memorable spots in your local area: chances are you’ve both got plenty of happy memories together in your local area. So, plan a drive that stops off at a few locations you’ve been to together and test each other’s memory with a game of date night trivia along the drive.
- Recreate your favourite date: speaking of nostalgia, why not bring back your favourite date night this Valentine’s Day? This can be a fun way to relive your favourite memories together.
How to celebrate love with your friends
Ladies, it’s time to show the friends in your life how much you care. So, we’ve rounded up a stack of Galentine’s Day ideas for you to try this February.
- Take a fun exercise class together: whether it’s a yoga flow, Pilates class or a high-energy cardio session, book into a class you and your friends will enjoy and get ready to break a sweat together.
- Write a letter to your long-distance friends: even if you can’t be with your friends in person, a great way to share the love is going old school with a traditional handwritten letter. Share your latest news, relive some funny memories and touch base with them this February.
- Give a gift to a friend who needs a dose of sunshine: if you know a friend is going through a challenging time, this is a great opportunity to show you care with a thoughtful gift. Whether it’s a homemade meal for a new mum, a voucher to share an experience together or something you know they’ll love, use this as an opportunity to brighten someone’s day.
How to celebrate love with your kids or family
Life can feel relentlessly busy and spending quality with our kids and family can easily fall off our radar. So, use Valentine’s Day as the perfect excuse to reconnect with your loved ones and do something memorable together.
- Have a bake-off with your family: creating a delicious sweet treat is an easy way to get everyone together and have some fun.
- Share the love with a compliments jar: expressing how much we love each other isn’t something a lot of us do on a daily basis. So, create complement jars for each member of your family and share what you love anonymously with your loved ones for an instant mood boost.
- Volunteer or give back together: a great way to feel the love is to give back to causes and organisations that are close to your heart. So, rally your loved ones together and find a cause you can dive back to through donations or volunteering.
How to celebrate love with yourself
We can be our own worst critics. So, this Valentine’s Day, we challenge you to show love and kindness to yourself and carve out some time to take care of you this month.
- Write down 22 things you’re grateful for: one of the best ways to show kindness and compassion to ourselves is to create a gratitude practice. So, this Valentine’s Day, spend some time reflecting on what you’re grateful for (no matter how big or small).
- Book a solo date for yourself: as women, we’re always putting others before ourselves. So, make some time this February to do something you love, whether that’s a fitness class, a manicure, seeing a great film or anything in between.
- Celebrate your wins from the year gone by: plus, a practical way to show self love is to look back and reflect on your wins from 2021. Sometimes we don’t realise how far we’ve come in work and life at large until we pause and reflect.
We hope these Valentine’s Day ideas have given you some inspiration for how to celebrate love this month. We’d love to hear from you! How are you planning to celebrate love (in all its forms) in February? Let us know in the comments.
