# Do you do anything special on Valentine's day? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [February 14, 2015, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-do-anything-special-on-valentines-day/712645 "2015-02-14T15:51:58Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2015, 3:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-do-anything-special-on-valentines-day/712645/21 "2015-02-15T03:08:23Z")
What are “blizzards” and “snow”? 😕 But sure, we do something every year. It’s traditional in our home that the wife gets chocolates and I a bottle of cologne. Then we have a nice meal. Yesterday (it’s Sunday here now) we went to our favorite brunch in Bangkok, [Crepes and Co](https://www.facebook.com/crepesnco) (where we did have the excellent brunch and not the special Valentine’s Day dinner), followed by a few hours in a cat cafe near our home, playing with the kitties (yes, you play with them, not eat them). ---
**Author:** ![pullin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c57346/32.png) [@pullin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pullin)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2015, 11:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-do-anything-special-on-valentines-day/712645/22 "2015-02-16T11:10:32Z")
It seems to be “all or nothing” for us on Valentine’s day. We either take a nice trip to get away from the cold, or just exchange cards. This year we went to the lake and camped for four days, and enjoyed warm sunshine while listening to Jimmy B on the boat. I flew her to South Padre Island a few years ago, and we’ve driven there a few times. I guess it depends on our work schedule and kids’ stuff (and whether we can find any warm weather reasonably close). ---
**Author:** ![Wednesday\_Evening](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/b2d939/32.png) [@Wednesday\_Evening](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wednesday_Evening)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2015, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-do-anything-special-on-valentines-day/712645/23 "2015-02-16T17:33:50Z")
We (me, husband and two kids) keep it fairly low-key. I don’t like to go out for dinner because it’s too crowded. We don’t exchange valentines. I do usually make a special dessert for Valentine’s Day dinner, but that’s because I love baking and desserts so it’s a good excuse to make something tasty. Now if I could only get the kids’ school to stop doing Valentine’s Day card exchanges. Way too much effort required on my part. And then the kids come home with a bunch of candy and little cards that somehow end up scattered all over the house. ---
**Author:** ![Ms\_Boods](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5e9695/32.png) [@Ms\_Boods](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ms_Boods)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2015, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-do-anything-special-on-valentines-day/712645/24 "2015-02-16T18:13:53Z")
Valentine’s Day? Pah – the Luprical the day before is where it’s at. ---
**Author:** ![Cardboard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/49beb7/32.png) [@Cardboard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cardboard)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2015, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-do-anything-special-on-valentines-day/712645/25 "2015-02-16T18:24:11Z")
Valentine’s Day. The day we feel obligated by societal pressures to spend money on made-in-China trinkets with no intrinsic value, mediocre mass-produced chocolates and flimsy paper cards plastered with overused romantic platitudes to try to convince those that we supposedly love that we actually love them. ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2015, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-do-anything-special-on-valentines-day/712645/26 "2015-02-16T19:22:36Z")
I accept a “Dear Daughter” card and candy/treats\* from my father. Other than that, it would be just another day. \*This year, a box of Little Debbie chocolate heart cakes, and a big Reese’s heart. ---
**Author:** ![corkboard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e9bcb4/32.png) [@corkboard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/corkboard)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2015, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-do-anything-special-on-valentines-day/712645/27 "2015-02-18T19:49:12Z")
We basically ignore it other than exchanging “happy valentine’s day” greetings and a kiss after we’ve brushed our teeth in the morning. We usually use it as an excuse to have sex that night, and maybe have a glass of wine with dinner. We don’t do cards or candy or anything. ---
**Author:** ![madmonk28](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madmonk28/32/20811_2.png) [@madmonk28](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madmonk28)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2015, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-do-anything-special-on-valentines-day/712645/28 "2015-02-18T19:56:47Z")
My wife and I ignore it. This year, I accidentally bought her a valentine’s day gift. What happened was, I bought her something that I thought she’d like and coincidentally, it arrived on Valentine’s day. It was a new fly rod. She liked it. ---
**Author:** ![OneCentStamp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/13edae/32.png) [@OneCentStamp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OneCentStamp)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2015, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-do-anything-special-on-valentines-day/712645/29 "2015-02-18T19:58:32Z")
Nah, flowers and going out to candlelit dinner on Valentine’s Day is like going out drinking on St. Patrick’s day or New Year’s Eve: amateur hour. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2015, 4:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-do-anything-special-on-valentines-day/712645/30 "2015-02-19T04:01:54Z")
> [@Cardboard](#): > > … mediocre mass-produced chocolates … Au contraire! Some of the finest Belgian chocolates find their way to Bangkok, and that’s what the wife inevitably gets. ---
**Author:** ![Geek\_Mecha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ecae2f/32.png) [@Geek\_Mecha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Geek_Mecha)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2015, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-do-anything-special-on-valentines-day/712645/31 "2015-02-19T22:05:03Z")
We like to do stuff, but we also like to say that we shouldn’t make a big deal out of it. This year’s was our first as a married couple. I bought my husband a large Whitman’s chocolates sampler box – it’s cheesy, but I do know that he’s always wanted to receive one. (It turned out to be one of those things that’s better in concept than practice.) He came home with a card and a bouquet of flowers. We had lovely plans to have a romantic lunch, bring home more for dinner, and spend the evening on the sofa, clearing off the DVR, while doing our best impressions of boneless chickens, but those went out the window when we discovered our storage unit in the carport had been broken into and some items stolen. We spent the afternoon filing a police report instead. So despite our talk about not making too much of Valentine’s Day, I could tell my husband did want to treat me to a special day by how much he apologized for the day being lost to that. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2015, 10:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-do-anything-special-on-valentines-day/712645/32 "2015-02-19T22:29:52Z")
We went out to lunch at the local all-you-can-eat sushi place. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-do-anything-special-on-valentines-day/712645.md?page=1)