Spicing Up Valentine’s Day
24 Valentine Ideas for 2024
Valentine’s Day is on a Tuesday this year, so the kids will be off to school to eat heart-shaped cookies while the parents head to work. A mid-week Valentine’s Day, however, can make it trickier to carve out time to celebrate our love for one another.
Of course, every day is a good time to share and spread love, so here are 24 ideas to get you started. While some suggestions are good for families and others are more appropriate for couples, most can be enjoyed throughout the year. And don’t forget Galentine’s Day on Feb. 13, when women are encouraged to celebrate their female friendships.
Just for Two
Create a playlist: Use any streaming service and create a good, old-fashioned mixtape. It’s a great way to share your feelings with your sweetie via song lyrics and he or she will think of you every time it plays.
Learn to dance at home: Need a few moves for the dance floor at an upcoming wedding or night out on the town? This program will teach you 11 basic couples dance moves in the privacy of your home where you and your sweetie can watch the instructions as many times as you need and laugh the night away. datenight.showheroff.com
Movie night: Make popcorn, root beer floats, milkshakes, and buy boxed candy like M&M’s or Good & Plenty. Romantic movie ideas include Serendipity, Sleepless in Seattle, Cutting Edge, About Time, When Harry met Sally and 27 Dresses. Mamma Mia! is a great movie for singing and dancing along during a girls’ night.
Take a quiz: Learn about the five love languages and find out whether you and your partner appreciate gifts, acts of service, physical touch, quality time or words of affirmation. www.5lovelanguages.com
Wine and chocolate pairing: Have a few friends over and choose three wines and three different kinds of chocolates. I’ve done this with a dry malbec, full-bodied cab and sweet dessert wine. Write a description of which combination you enjoy and why.
Virtual mixology class: Delve into creating unique specialty drinks like winter wonderland and warming cocktails at www.classbento.com. Or learn about making mocktails and spiced bubble tea at www.cozymeal.com.
A Night Out: Head to Bridge Park for a romantic stroll over the Dublin Link Bridge and try a super, specialty, sweetheart cocktail at Z Cucina called Love Drunk Punch.
Fine dining at …White Castle: This casual fast food restaurant transforms its dining room into a fine dining establishment for Valentine’s Day with hostess seating, tableside service and festive holiday decor. Make a reservation as they do fill up!
Family Activities
Start a tradition: We have a birthday tradition that would also be fun to wake up to on Valentine’s Day. We hang streamers in the bedroom doorways so the kids have a fun surprise when they open their door in the morning. You can also cover their bed or floor with balloons or create a maze with string that they follow through the house to a sweet gift.
Bake or cook together: As a mom of grown children, I miss baking with the kids and watching them develop important skills like measuring, pouring and stirring. I bought a heart-shaped baking pan years ago and we have produced many love-filled cakes.
Simple acts of kindness: Challenge everyone in the family to perform several good deeds. Ideas for kids include holding the door open for strangers, telling your principal how great your teacher is, making someone else’s bed (imagine how surprised they would be), creating a get-well card, giving a candy bar to the bus driver or bringing your neighbor’s trash cans back to their house. Adults could pay for someone else’s coffee, send dessert over to another table at a restaurant, or wash and vacuum someone’s car.
Craft together: Make valentine’s wreaths or signs that say Be Mine or Love. Trace kids’ little hands on pink paper and add some hearts. Now you can hang those up or laminate them on larger paper to use as place mats.
Winter tubing/sledding/skiing fun: Mad River Mountain and Snow Trails both provide tubing and skiing adventures for the whole family. Scioto Park on Riverside Drive is a great place to enjoy sledding before heading home for hot chocolate.
Fun with Friends
You can forget about your friends during this love filled holiday by hosting a Galentine Gallop. It’s like a bar hop with your girlfriends, where you order an appetizer and drink at every establishment and then call for an Uber ride home. I have another version of this called dessert and bubbles, where we visit three restaurants and order their most popular desserts along with champagne. It’s a great night out with the girls and always fun to create wonderful memories!
Fun for All
Valentine breakfast: Heart-shaped pancakes are always a winner, decorated with bright, red strawberries and whipped cream. I grew up on the East Coast where waffles and ice-cream are a treat, so we always made those for special occasions. Write the word LOVE out of chocolate chips and throw in some mini marshmallows for fun.
Family or couple photos: Dress in red and use props like red or pink balloons and big plastic kiss lips. Plant a lipstick kiss mark on your child’s cheek, and make the heart sign with both hands.
Take a scenic hike: Check out Indian Run Falls and Glacier Ridge Metro Park or check out www.traillink.com for a new nearby walk.
Try a new sport: Learn to play pickleball at Pickle Shack or the Olympic sport of curling, at Columbus Curling Club. Both of these activities and locations offer beginner lessons and would be great for couples or families.
Volunteering: Show your love for others by volunteering. Check www.volunteermatch.org for opportunities in your area like helping at the Dublin Food Pantry, providing animal care at Colony Cats (& dogs), or driving patients to their appointments for the American Cancer Society.
Play a game: Take the opportunity to deepen your relationship by asking and answering personal questions. Try board games like We’re Not Really Strangers, 36 Questions in Love and Uncommon Questions. A great game for families is Who Knows Me Better?
Table talk: Go around the table and say something that you love or admire about each person. If it is just you and your partner, recollect fun stories like the first time you saw each other or your first date. Remember a loved one who is no longer with you. Talk about why you enjoyed their company or share a humorous story with your family. It can be healing to remember our dear ones when talking about who and why we love.
Heart shaped pizza: Share a pizza your heart with this fun, romantic treat, available at several Columbus restaurants. Try Massey’s, Donatos, Flyers, Mr. T’s Pizza, Carlucci’s and Joseppi’s.
Colleen D’Angelo is a Dublin Life columnist and freelance writer. She and her husband, Tony, raised three children in Dublin. Colleen enjoys playing and teaching pickleball; walking her pup, Mason; and traveling internationally. You can reach her at colleendangelo1@gmail.com.
