If only Valentine’s Day was how it appears in the movies, right? Your one and only surprises you with a plan or present so perfect, so intimate, it completely surpasses anything you could have imagined. No cliché moves here — the holiday is brimming with old-school romance that goes way beyond a box of chocolates or a dozen roses. As it turns out, there is such a thing as Valentine’s Day success stories. Indeed, some couples do actually go above and beyond to make their one and only feel loved.
From botched dinner plans to mismatched gift exchanges and unrequited declarations of love, there are many ways that Valentine’s Day can go wrong. That said, there are also so many ways it can go right — and luckily, most peoples’ expectations for Valentine’s Day aren’t as extravagant as one might expect. According to a Groupon survey from 2017, a staggering 71 percent of people say it’s not about how much money is spent on Valentine’s Day, it’s about quality time spent with their partner.
In other words, planning the perfect Valentine’s Day may seem daunting, but it’s totally possible to crush it — with a little bit of preparation and plenty of thought.
Here are six stories that epitomize Valentine’s Day success.
My best Valentine's Day was when I was in college and had been dating a guy for a year or so at this point. I was a big musical theater geek and worked tech for my college. Well, it was tech week which means I was working my tail off crazy hours doing final run-throughs for our next show.
My BF (with the help of my roommates) went into my bedroom in my apartment cleaned the whole space, covered the bed in rose petals and gifts, and wrote me an original song. I burst into tears when I got home. Thankfully, he was hiding in one of my roommate's bedrooms and was able to stay the night for me to repay him.
Surprise trip to Santorini. (She had no idea — thought we were just out to dinner near the airport. I had our passports in my jacket.) Stayed at a little villa with a view of the caldera. After that we went to Delphi and the oracle told us we were meant to be together.
Last year, for our first Valentine's Day together, we drove to Montreal (From NYC) and stayed in a nice hotel in the old town. It was super freezing and snowy, though, and so we ended up ordering poutine and eating it in our hotel room. Sounds not romantic, but if you can't relax and be low key with your SO, then where even are you. This still holds vividly in my memory.
My wife painted a ceramic cookie jar, made a bunch of fortune cookies and put hand written fortunes in them. That was quite awesome.
— Dexley
The best one was two years ago, when we agreed to begin completely ignoring it, instead of lying to each other and saying we forgot. I came home and he had bought Mario Party and Mario Kart to play all night together, just us. So I went right back out and got all the accouterments to make his favorite meal and also his favorite liquor and mine, and we sat in under a big blanket and stole each other stars and sent blue shells all night and it was wonderful. Just the two of us, no pressure, enjoying each other's company while everyone else paid $200 for a mediocre meal and gave ridiculous gifts. And my lasagna actually came out palatable, which was pretty amazing.
Now it's a tradition.
I was a single college guy on Valentine's Day at the time and so was one of my good friends who was a girl. She and I had never really been single before at the same time, but I'd always been attracted to her.
So we decided, being the lame-Os that we were, to go to the Valentine's Day speed dating event on campus in an attempt to "fix" what was wrong with us. After two hours of acting like goofs and asking ridiculous questions to people I'd never met before, we left. Walking away from the event I told the girl "I had fun tonight, but it would've been better had I just spent time the whole time with you" She kissed me. We ended up dating for a little over two years.
What’s the takeaway here? First of all, romance lives (#hallelujah). Also, a successful Valentine’s Day doesn’t mean blowing a ton of money, or making some Hollywood-level grand romantic gesture. There are many ways to show your partner you love them, and there’s no one-size-fits-all plan that will sweep any person off their feet. What makes Valentine’s Day most memorable is spending it with the one you love — and doing so in a way that expresses your unique bond.
