Ah. Valentine’s Day, am I right? Exchanging chocolates, browsing through (and probably stressing out) ideas for gifts for the significant other, passing by a bakery and seeing the display of fancy cakes decorated in red, pink and heart shapes.
Really, anywhere and almost everywhere, offline and online, it’s the season of love.
Like every year, of course, spending for this season of love, Valentine’s Day in February is the month to budget, to spend and to splurge on not only ourselves but for our beloved. That would also include romantic getaways, movie tickets for two and booking the couple (alternatively: twin-seat) seat, cuddling and appreciating each other’s presence while watching a movie on the big screen.
Of course, not to forget what past two years ago around the time when worldwide lockdowns happened and restricted movement control with very tight SOPs including social distancing and encouraging more online purchases and fewer offline purchases to curb the spread of the virus, dating ideas and Valentine’s Day special purchases have been slightly unconventional.
Maybe not for many as long-distance relationships continue to be quite common and ideas for online dating, including matchmaking through dating apps have also become reasonably common.
So dating ideas such as streaming Netflix together, watching a webinar and an online documentary (Not kidding, I did this and quite fun in its way) and going on video calls together to eat together or co-working. Someone I knew had a great time just being on a video call with their significant other and then spending the entire time live cooking together.
This Valentine’s Day for the year, as we are slowly getting accustomed to the norm from years ago, it’s not surprising to see the usual rush of people going to malls, markets and shops to plan for the special day; with others already booked plans to have romantic getaways or Valentine’s Day special dinners. Going the extra fancy? Wouldn’t just settle just for the V-day dinner, why not go for an afternoon tea set AND dinner? Fancy with love.
But with all that being said, while the tangible gifts for the special day are one way to express love and to spend that time rekindling romance and such, here are some ideas for the intangible gifts to consider because love is priceless, isn’t it?
So here are some ideas that don’t require you to stress over the price of your romantic gifts and enjoy them together, pricelessly.
Live Journal Together
As much as the idea would seem a bit odd and one might be thinking: How is this considered romantic for a date idea?
When it comes to journaling, it does not always have to be a solo journey between the writer, their thoughts and their heart put on pen and paper as the art of journaling mainly focuses on jotting down events of the day and life as it goes on. It sounds really like intimate and private moments.
However, just like dating is in which you get to know one another for some to more aspects of the other person’s life that they are willing to share with you, the idea of journaling together can be done quite the same.
If it’s physical, make a time and place to sit down together, notebooks and some pens ready; talk about what topics to write about, perhaps exchange ideas and brainstorm together.
To have closer bonds and to get to know each other with topics related to values and with the effort to initiate deep conversations, there are prompt cards to help you get started.
Write Poems or Exchange Poems
Back in the day, poetry was considered (still is) one of the most romantic ways to express love in form of words that move hearts, minds and souls. Sometimes a direct and honest confession feels quite pressuring and that is when love poetry brings out the right set of moods and allows true feelings to flow through.
Take famous poets in the old ages like Emily Dickinson and William Shakespeare, to name a few.
You don’t need to be a poet to know how to write poetry or to attend to some 30-days crash course on poetry – although I would also encourage it because it’s always good to learn something new – to want to write a simple haiku or sonnet to your loved one.
To get started, the prompt could be as simple but as lovely as remembering what makes the person you love so special to you and what do they do that makes you smile.
Here’s just a short example:
When they reach for the sky with a glimmer of hope in their eyes,
it made me believe in the precious little things in life;
How far can we stay together, to dream together
That I must know, I will know now as time flows like water
Well, you can give it a try and as a date idea, come up with a poem together! Or even analyse your favourite poems together.
Arrange Your Own Reading Club
Rather than a reading club to analyse and have a book discussion of a few people who are interested in the same book as it also highly depends on the niche, this time it can just be the two of you!
If you are both bookworms at heart, why not share that love for the books and the written words in them between the two of you? It isn’t much called a book discussion if you’re only gushing or agonizing over the same book alone.
This is also one of the best ways to get to know each other’s interests and get to know what other genres they would be into (Hint: Maybe a good way to get more ideas on the books that are on their wishlist).
As the saying goes: To know a person is to have a look at their bookshelf.
Arranging your own time for the reading club together would open to many opportunities to connect and interact, through a book and with each other.
Other ideas include:
- Taking walks together, exploring the neighbourhood as time goes by
- Watching a livestream concert together online
- Co-op on a game together for game night
Aside from staying safe and trying to follow SOPs, the possibilities are close to endless because that’s also the meaningful beauty of love – it does not have to cost a cent as the time spent together and the experiences shared are what becomes most valuable and most cherished. Why not give these ideas a try to be romantic and would not hurt your budget?
Stay safe and this year, spend a romantic Valentine’s Day full of love and appreciation!
Jasmine RCK is a content writer under Headliner by Newswav, a programme where content creators get to tell their unique stories through articles and at the same time monetize their content within the Newswav app.
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