15 Valentine’s Day Gifts for Every Type of Relationship

My husband and I usually ignore Valentine’s Day, other than cooking a nice meal at home, but one day I surprised him with a gag gift-a syphillis plushie! It sat on his desk until we finally gave it to our puppy.

When I was in a relationship, my partner made a point of not getting me anything for Valentine’s day (what I had in mind was a hot chocolate in bed). Now I’m single and would like to treat myself. Any ideas? x

I’m now officially obsessed with Captain Whidbey! Any chance you know of some Michigan/east coast island places similar to this for someone from the east coast? This is totally my type of place!

I ordered some of that oil and some other stuff from that site. Now how early can I convince my kid to go to bed?

Valentine’s Day is a family affair in my house as it was in my house growing up. We have heart-shaped waffles (in our special heart-shaped waffle iron), I decorate the whole dining room in red and pink with foil chocolates on the table, everyone gets to drink their orange juice out of champagne flutes, and the kids get little gifts. They LOVE it, and so do we. So fun to carry on a tradition celebrating love from my childhood, and was a particular bright spot during the height of the pandemic.

Ever since I devoured the CoJ post ‘What’s the Most Beautiful Thing You’ve Ever Read’ and accompanying comments, I haven’t been able to stop going back to reread again and again. I woke up this morning with a lovely idea in my head- I’m a librarian and make many of our displays, and today I made a basket full of ‘Literary Valentines’ for people to take: envelopes with a variety of different quotes inside. Anyway, I just wanted to say an early Happy Valentine’s Day to you all, as you all inspired me!

Couldn’t think of a gift for my husband! But we have a 5 month old and haven’t had sex since a I’ve been pregnant, much to his chagrin. I think the massage oil will be the perfect pick me up for the both of us :)

Our V-day tradition is Taco Bell, champagne and Ben and Jerry’s. Always has been, always will be. Who needs a gift when you have chalupas and a full pint of half baked??

Did anyone watch Sunday’s finale of And Just Like That? The whole reboot has been an awful ordeal that I don’t recommend to anyone…but those last ten minutes felt like the old show, complete with a vibe-y song playing in the background and Carrie pondering life and love on her podcast.

And just like that…I enjoyed it for a few minutes.

After years of feeling awkward or sad around Valentine’s Day because I’m perpetually single (or the one year I was dating someone who very awkwardly avoided the topic altogether! fun!), last year I decided to fully lean into cheesy V-Day stuff just for me. My favorite neighborhood restaurant was offering heart-shaped pizzas, I also got myself a classic heart-shaped box of chocolates, flowers, and a ticket to a virtual live storytelling show. It was nice! I’m excited to do something similar for myself again this year.

Each day from Feb. 1 – Valentine’s Day I’m putting a heart on my nine year old son’s door with something I love about him (an idea I saw on the internet a while back!). Yesterday’s heart note was “Awesome Hugs,” and now he keeps coming up to me to say, “Do you want one of my awesome hugs, Mom?!” then wraps me in a giant bear hug. I love it so much!!!

I love that these suggestions aren’t just “for him”. I’m bi and in a relationship with a man but it makes me feel included to think that I could look at this and pick something regardless of the gender I’m dating. Thanks COJ. Just another way you guys are being inclusive and it is appreciated! ♥️

Looking for an early Valentine’s gift this year, I noodled around on Etsy and found a couple decades-old cookbooks from the church my husband’s family has attended forever. It’s so fun to see the names next to the family recipes, especially from such a close-knit community. A chicken casserole from my husband’s late grandmother! Cookies from the dentist! We can’t wait to make some of these dishes together and celebrate all the love that went into them.

Often my mom sends a big bag of red, pink and white jelly beans. I reeeeeally hope she does it again this year because it’s my favorite thing!

I usually channel my second-grade self when it comes to Valentine’s Day:

Sappy love notes? Check.
Candy? Check.
A theme LOVE shirt or funny heart socks? Checkity freaking check!

We get our kids Whitman samplers (FANCY!) splurge on a nice bottle of wine for us, and then make heart-shaped pizza while I make my family listen to Ella Fitzgerald. There is something so fun about leaning into the cheese on V-day – literally and metaphorically!

The first year our daughter was away for college, we made a video to send her. We went around asking different people to say happy Valentines Day to her. Some were goofy and some were serious, but the whole process was fun for us and for her.

I just want flowers from my guy, and I usually wash his car, a real act of love, let me tell you!! That’s all, and it makes us both happy!

Just have to sing the praises of my sister, who sends Valentine’s cards instead of holiday cards as a way to stay in touch with friends. She finds the weirdest ones she can or hand makes them and writes off-the-wall notes inside. There’s something so funny to me about a grown adult sending other grown adults elementary-school-vibes Valentines.

This year she made a book of the highlights – or lowlights, rather – of her travails in 21st century app-based dating (which she chronicles via snapchat) to include for some friends. She’s done a beautiful cover with anthuriums all over and called it “Men I Did Not Date”…ha!

One of my favorite Valentines when my kids were tweens/teens—I cut out HUNDREDS of construction paper hearts with a die cutter (only took a few minutes!) and my husband helped distribute them everywhere while the kids were asleep—stuck to the walls and doors, in the silverware drawer, stuck to the milk carton and cereal boxes, stuck in their socks, backpacks, coat pockets and laundry baskets… They laughed at their silly mom and I still smile when I find a stray a couple of years later.

We’re (have been) celebrating gift free holidays since we’re living in the Climate Crisis times. The best gift for all our loved ones would be to leave behind a livable Earth.

This year, we are preparing three ideas per person to pick up two and make that happens.
Mine are: 1. touching game: list of body parts and separately list of verbs to mix and match.
2. Going on a date like it is our second or third date. Even when leaving the house, we need to get there separately.
3. Cooking together all of the “red” dishes and celebrate eating together with red vine.

Instead of sending winter holiday cards, we send Valentine cards! It is a favorite tradition and people always comment on how happy they are to get a card after the rush of the winter cards.

Not to mess up the 69 comments (nice) when I write this but… I’m looking forward to celebrating Singles Awareness Day aka half price candy day on Feb 15th!

But what about fun Valentine treats to get for your kids? That’s the category I really wanted to see!

A few years ago my partner and I decided that since we don’t really do much for valentine’s day, we’d volunteer to be the place all of our friends can drop their kids. Kids are welcome from 4-9 pm, we watch movies and eat pizza. Hanging with all of our youngest friends is one of the things we’ve missed most during covid.