Tag: Valentine’s day

Turn Valentine’s Day into Valentine’s Week!

The good thing about Valentine’s Day and other such occasions is that is gives us an opportunity to think about and do something nice for the people we love once a year. The not-so-good thing about it is that we often take that as an excuse for not being as nice on other days of the year! ( How many times have you done or said something terrible during an argument and thought,” I’ll make up for it on Valentine’s Day or our anniversary”?)
So this year, I was wondering, instead of saving up all your love and expressions of love( read gifts!) for Valentine’s Day – why not spread it out a little? Instead of Valentine’s Day, why not celebrate a Valentine’s Week? There are two benefits of celebrating this way – 1) It takes your spouse or that special person in your life completely by surprise when you start showing your love and appreciation a few days earlier than expected! 2) It extends the celebrations for both of you and when it comes to romance – who doesn’t like an extended stay?!
If you’re game for this route or are at least willing to give it a shot, here are a few of my suggestions for celebrating a beautiful Valentine’s Week –
1. Spread your budget- Instead of splurging on one huge, expensive gift, buy a few smaller, but nice gifts that your Valentine would really appreciate. Leave these around as surprises for him or her to find throughout the week – in her coat pocket, under his pillow, at the car’s dashboard, in her laptop case, in his grooming kit…
2. Tease a little – Why reveal your Valentine’s Day plans when you can send her on a treasure hunt instead? Create clues about where you’ll be going and place the clues strategically so your Valentine finds them in sequence and tries to guess your plans. Each clue that he or she cracks successfully is accompanied by a little present leading to the real Valentine’s Day gift on the final day.
3. Be nice – Isn’t it funny how simple, thoughtful gestures like making breakfast and giving a massage are relegated to special occasions such as Valentine’s Day or Mother’s day? This time, take the time to indulge in nice gestures throughout the week and beyond. Show your Valentine how much you care even when it’s not Valentine’s Day.
4. Spend time together – If you both lead busy lifestyles, work full time, have kids or simply have too much on your plate all the time, you probably don’t spend as much time together as you’d like. This year, make a change. Plan your work and chores in such a way that throughout Valentine’s week, you get off work on time, meet each other and spend time in the evenings doing something you love – be it a walk, watching movies, playing a sport, cooking together or just hanging out. Taking time to do the things you both enjoy is very essential to nurturing a healthy relationship.
5. Send free Valentine’s Day ecards. One for each day of the week leading up to Valentine’s Day. There are so many wonderful ecards to choose from, it just doesn’t make sense to send just one. So, on each day of the week, pick a Valentine’s Ecard you like and send it to the one you love. This way, you’ll have a chance to express all sides of your personality – from witty to funny to sentimental or serious – there are so many ways to say Happy Valentine’s Day. So, why say it just once?
How do you plan to spend your Valentine’s Week? Tell us!

The good thing about Valentine’s Day and other such occasions is that is gives us an opportunity to think about and do something nice for the people we love once a year. The not-so-good thing about it is that we often take that as an excuse for not being as nice on other days of the year! ( How many times have you done or said something terrible during an argument and thought,” I’ll make up for it on Valentine’s Day or our anniversary”?)

So this year, I was wondering, instead of saving up all your love and expressions of love( read gifts!) for Valentine’s Day – why not spread it out a little? Instead of Valentine’s Day, why not celebrate a Valentine’s Week? There are two benefits of celebrating this way – 1) It takes your spouse or that special person in your life completely by surprise when you start showing your love and appreciation a few days earlier than expected! 2) It extends the celebrations for both of you and when it comes to romance – who doesn’t like an extended stay?!

If you’re game for this route or are at least willing to give it a shot, here are a few of my suggestions for celebrating a beautiful Valentine’s Week –

1. Spread your budget- Instead of splurging on one huge, expensive gift, buy a few smaller, but nice gifts that your Valentine would really appreciate. Leave these around as surprises for him or her to find throughout the week – in her coat pocket, under his pillow, at the car’s dashboard, in her laptop case, in his grooming kit…

2. Tease a little – Why reveal your Valentine’s Day plans when you can send her on a treasure hunt instead? Create clues about where you’ll be going and place the clues strategically so your Valentine finds them in sequence and tries to guess your plans. Each clue that he or she cracks successfully is accompanied by a little present leading to the real Valentine’s Day gift on the final day.

3. Be nice – Isn’t it funny how simple, thoughtful gestures like making breakfast and giving a massage are relegated to special occasions such as Valentine’s Day or Mother’s day? This time, take the time to indulge in nice gestures throughout the week and beyond. Show your Valentine how much you care even when it’s not Valentine’s Day.

4. Spend time together – If you both lead busy lifestyles, work full time, have kids or simply have too much on your plate all the time, you probably don’t spend as much time together as you’d like. This year, make a change. Plan your work and chores in such a way that throughout Valentine’s week, you get off work on time, meet each other and spend time in the evenings doing something you love – be it a walk, watching movies, playing a sport, cooking together or just hanging out. Taking time to do the things you both enjoy is very essential to nurturing a healthy relationship.

5. Send free Valentine’s Day ecards. One for each day of the week leading up to Valentine’s Day. There are so many wonderful ecards to choose from, it just doesn’t make sense to send just one. So, on each day of the week, pick a Valentine’s Ecard you like and send it to the one you love. This way, you’ll have a chance to express all sides of your personality – from witty to funny to sentimental or serious – there are so many ways to say Happy Valentine’s Day. So, why say it just once?

How do you plan to spend your Valentine’s Week? Tell us!

Who needs Valentine’s Day anyway?

Before you shoot me, let me explain. I am not against love or expressing love or any such thing. In fact, I look forward to Valentine’s day as much as anyone else. (Mostly because I like to catch all the mushy movies on TV, but that’s a different story!) But, think about it. Who really benefits the most from Valentine’s Day? 

It’s not the people who have been in love with each other for years. They already know how much they love one another. It’s not the newly weds. They are already in love and have just sealed it with wedding vows. The new lovers? Nope. They are too starry eyed to think about everlasting love and such things at the moment. 

You may not want to admit it to yourself, but the ones who benefit the most from Valentine’s Day are businesses, stores, greeting card companies. There, I said it. 

Well, let’s say Valentine’s Day is a day to express one’s love for a special someone – not that you need one specific day to do so, but that’s another subject, again. So where do cavity-forming chocolates, environment-unfriendly greeting cards and budget-breaking gifts come into play? Since when has love become a commodity? Why do we need material expression to reinforce the most intangible, powerful and life-giving force on earth? Love is after all, that which cannot be measured, quantified, defined, compared or forgotten, isn’t it? So, how come we have reduced it to something that can be expressed with a box of candies or a bottle of perfume, even if they are the finest?

I just don’t get it. To me, the most beautiful expressions of love are those that are known to and shared only between the two people concerned. Maybe an understanding smile, a meaningful glance,  a shoulder rub, a kiss, a timely hug, a hot cup of cocoa when it’s most needed, a concerned phone call, a tight embrace…

Maybe an occasional love note or greeting card would be nice. But to be honest, when I see aisles and aisles of the same stuff in every store – heart-shaped pillows and teddy bears and chocolates – and I realize that at least a thousand other women will be getting the very same thing from their ‘one’, I pretty much lose interest in those gifts. They hold no meaning, no special place in my heart.

What I value most is the unique way in which two people express their love for each other, to each other. Not just on Valentine’s Day but all through their lives. Those special moments, which like our free ecards are personal and unique. 

That’s what I call the perfect gift! 

So, this Valentine’s Day (and every day), don’t forget to personalize your expression of love. Buying a gift or a greeting card is easy.  But to make your expression special, make it your own. After all, isn’t that what you love about each other?

What is Valentine’s Day

 

When I met my husband, I was excited for February and our very first Valentine’s Day. I was also quite nervous as streams of questions traveled through my head. What should I get him? What will he get me? Does he know it is Valentine’s Day? Should I remind him? Do I make dinner reservations or does he? I decided the best way to handle my nerves was to talk about it openly with him and ask him what he wanted to do and what our budget was for gifts. So romantic, I know! His answer: “Oh, Valentine’s Day is my brother’s birthday, so we’ll have dinner at my parents’ house to celebrate.”

I was of course, devastated, and thought that if I became serious with this man, that the rest of my

Valentine Ecards
Valentine Ecards

Valentine’s Day dates would be spent with his parents! After a few years of Valentine’s dinners with my in-laws, I started to see the benefits and the joys to having a Valentine’s celebration with family. Not only did we never have to make dinner reservations at an overbooked and overpriced restaurant, we got to enjoy the company of loved ones at the same time and same place each year, to celebrate love and birthdays. Valentine’s Day shouldn’t be about the stress of what gift to get and what restaurant to eat at. It should be about simple things like love and good company. Don’t let your loved ones forget it, send them Free ecards from GotFreeCards.com for Valentine’s day, remind them what February 14th is all about.