I’m not really one for Valentine’s Day. I don’t need a public day to remind me that I should be nice to Scott more, although a phone alarm would probably be a good shout, and I hate the fact that everywhere takes Valentine’s Day as an excuse to up the price, lower the quality and not give a rats arse about whether you like it or not. I hate the pressure to be overly ‘in love’, I am so not comfortable with episodes of PDA, and I hate the compulsory moaning of singletons, either the ‘I don’t need no man, I got ma bitches’ or the ‘I’m going to be alone forever, why does no one want me?’ type. Either way, just no.
Saying all that, I appreciate that in the modern day and age, its hard to put aside some time for your relationship – particularly if you’re living with your boyfriend as it can all get a bit samey samey, so this year I am celebrating Valentine’s Day (kinda, there’s no presents involved and Scott’s working on official Valentine’s but whatever), but instead of wasting a month’s worth of food shop money on a not that great meal, we’re going to have some fun at home. We can go out on nice dates any day of the year where it’s not an overpriced set menu and we’re not competing for space against hundreds of other couples, but actually using our days off to be young and in love is not that common (I blame you, blogging world).
If you’re also boycotting the outside world this Valentine’s, here are some uber fun things you can do instead.
Baking
Baking is such a fun way to spend the evening, and you get a yummy treat at the end! If you’re feeling the need to incorporate love hearts into your evening, get some heart shaped cookie cutters, some red icing pens, or love heart confetti and make some Valentine’s Day themed bakes. Most of my bakes turn out delicious but disastrous and end up creating a lot of mess, but that’s kind of the whole fun of baking, right? I got sent some Nakd* bars to try cooking with and made this tart last weekend which was nice (I ate it all, oops) so I think I’ll try my hand at another recipe and let Scott actually try some! You know, in the spirit of Valentines..
Getting food in
As much as I like cooking, sometimes it’s nice to just have food ready. I’ve had takeaways in the past but they tend to be so swamped on the night (we waited two hours for a Chinese once which left us hangry, bickering and worn out) that we’re getting food in advance. Most supermarkets do the takeaway in a bag thing, but as I obviously can’t eat the chicken/ meat anymore, we’ve got M&S’ Valentines Dine In* which gives a starter, main & side, dessert, wine and chocolates for £20. That sounds kind of expensive at first but when you think going out on a normal date costs around £50, Valentine’s it’ll probably cost you about £60-80. I’ve tried M&S food before and it’s nicer than some restaurants I’ve been to! They have way too many options for my to list, so check out the offer here.
Pampering session
Interpret this how you want, whether you and your boyfriend decide to give each other romantic massages, or share a face mask (because those sachets are always way too full). Scott is a bit of a girl and loves nose pore strips and the works, so it’s quite fun for us to have a little facial. It may not be quite as romantic as dolling up and going out but it’s guaranteed laughs and messy selfies.
Playing games
A few weeks ago we dusted off the Wii and played Rayman’s Raving Rabids for a few hours. It was immature, competitive, tiring and left us in stitches together, and such a fun way to spend the evening! If you’ve not got a gaming console, you could go old school and play some board games (Guess Who is always a winner for me). It’s so much nicer to actually actively do something together than just sit and watch films, especially when you’re not taking it too seriously and just having a laugh.
Making some cocktails
I’m not a fan of hammering the vodka when it’s just two people having a night in, but I love getting creative and making cocktails is so fun! You can pick up a few spirits from Aldi for a fiver each (including Cointreau!), grenadine from Asda is around £3, and juices are like 90p each so you can grab a few and get creative, not to mention being tipsy makes things like baking and playing games that bit more entertaining. I wouldn’t advise getting mega drunk though, passing out or drunk bickering is not romantic or fun!
You’ve probably noticed a theme here, me being totally unromantic and wanting the day to be about having fun. The thing is, despite living together a lot of our time is spent on our laptops or doing boring every day stuff so I’d much rather spend our dates together pissing around, eating good food and having a laugh. If you’re more of a romantic type but still want to stay at home, get food in and eat it by candle light, share a rose petal-filled bath together, give each other steamy massages with a happy ending (of making love, obviously as it’s Valentine’s Day and you’re being romantic) and finish the date eating chocolate off each other while watching a rom com.
What will you be getting up to this Valentines?
