The day of love and romance approaches! And while we adore heart-shaped boxes and bouquets of roses as much as the next person, we believe Valentine’s Day can be so much more!  

So as we touch on all the traditional elements of this pink-tinged holiday, we’ll also explore how to make Valentine’s Day truly special, by making it truly your own.  

1) Keep it real

Choosing your Valentine

When it comes down to it, Valentine’s Day is not really about the bows and frills that fill it, but the loved ones who fill our lives.

Many of us choose our life partner or love interest as our Valentine. But the perfect Valentine is whoever fills you up with love and inspires you to share that love! That may be a family member, your best friend(s), your cat, your two dogs, or even yourself. Just as love has no limitations, the day that celebrates love shouldn’t either.

So climb to the top of that fabled mountain. When you get there, whose name (or names) do you want to shout out, declaring your love for them? That’s your Valentine.

One Valentine does NOT fit all

Valentine’s Day should look different for every person. 

The beauty of the world is our individuality, our unique personalities, and our different expressions of love. The beauty of the world is also that love is love, no matter what it looks like! 

Valentine’s Day doesn’t have to be a day of mass consumerism. Make it personal and affordable. Not something you’re regretting the day after! No matter how you celebrate, which ideas you choose to take or leave, when thinking of Valentine’s or Galentine’s or even Palentine’s, it’s about keeping the ones you love in mind.

A deeper kind of Valentine’s 

This year we have to seek a deeper kind of Valentine’s. Many loved ones still can’t be together. So let’s not reserve expressions of love to just one day or in-person. Let it spill into the week and month, and across the miles. Send cards, flowers, gifts to arrive before and after. Avoid old expectations and seek new ideas, new possibilities. Plan, but also be open to where the day and those plans take you

2) Make it your own

Sentiments

Valentine’s Day is all about expressing our love, in many ways, but very often in words. There are countless cards filled with just the right sentiment. If you opt for a store-bought card, take your time picking out the perfect one. Or consider making your own, writing a poem, putting a message in a bottle, mailing friends and family cute children’s Valentine notes. Depending on who you’ve chosen as your Valentine this year, your sentiments may even be best expressed with a text! What’s most important is not how you express it but that you express it.

Flowers

There’s no doubt that deep red, velvety roses can take the breath away. But they’re only an apt reflection of love if they’re something your Valentine enjoys. Maybe they prefer flowers picked from the garden, or something they can plant and nurture after Cupid has flown. Maybe the way to their heart is through their stomach and they’d prefer an edible arrangement, or a bouquet of pastel cruelty-free nail polishes. Let your bouquets, from roses to daisies to chocolate covered strawberries, be inspired by your Valentine.

Sweets

Giving sweets has become synonymous with Valentine’s Day. Love is sweet and we want our Valentine to taste our love for them as well as hear and see it! If they’re a chocolate lover, create a personalized box of chocolates for them. Or find and support a chocolatier creating new, unusual concoctions. But if it’s not chocolate that your Valentine loves, make sure the sweet is something they’ll enjoy: homemade cookies, old-fashioned candy, a cheesecake, or an ice cream sundae party.  

Gifts

Gifts are not a requirement at Valentine’s Day. Love is. But when you love someone, you naturally want to give them tokens of your love! What’s most important is the intention that goes into the gift and the message received, one that says, “I was thinking of you and wanted to make you smile.” So what will make your Valentine smile? It can be anything from diamond earrings hidden in the freezer to every different type of Hostess snack in the store. (I can say from personal experience, one is as good as the other!) The best gifts are those that let your Valentine know that you love them and celebrate them! Needless to say, we think a photoshoot is the perfect way to capture all your love for years to come.

Dinner

A night out can often be a perfect gift in and of itself on Valentine's Day. For people who value experiential gifts, this is the way to go, to include dinner at a favorite restaurant. This year, choose what makes the most sense. If you can go out to your favorite spot, make it part of your evening. Or consider having that decadent, multi-course meal (or deep dish pizza) delivered. Or surprise your Valentine with a special home-cooked meal. Better yet, cook it together!

Entertainment

Movie marathons, playing games, reading together, streaming music, dancing together. And these are not just suggestions for couples. My mom always makes me dance to her favorite songs. And there’s nothing better than a dance party with your girlfriends while wearing mud masks and heart (or skull) jammies! Valentine’s Day is not a one-size-fits all. Yes, love is love is love...but we get to embrace it, breathe it and make it our own to fit all our shapes, sizes and interests. There is no rule about what you do on Valentine’s. What’s important is that you do what brings you and your Valentine closer.

Intimacy

Intimacy is closeness. If you live with your Valentine, this is no problem. You can throw your arms around each other, snuggle up on the sofa, or have a pillow fight. But even if your Valentine is far away or not in your current bubble, intimacy can still span the distance. Remember spending hours on the phone as a teenager? Pull up Zoom or FaceTime and forget everything else for a few hours. A specially made Spotify or Tidal playlist can evoke intimacy, knowing every song was chosen with them in mind. Even a stuffed teddy bear (or koala or sloth) can give hugs when you can’t.

3) Capture the love

Celebrating Valentine’s Day should be a piece of cake (literally and figuratively!). When it comes down to it, the day is another opportunity to express our love for the people and creatures who make our lives brighter.

However you choose to spend Valentine’s Day, we encourage you to capture that love and your memories together, forever. Book a photoshoot of you and your Valentine in a fave spot being completely yourselves. Not sure when or where you can do your photoshoot? We have gift cards and perfect flex packages that let you pay now and book whenever you’re ready.