How to Date Your Mate on Valentine’s Day

Whether you’ve just met or you’ve spent the last fifty years together, the pressure of Valentine’s Day can be daunting for even the most romantic couple. Feeling at adate10 loss for how to make your Valentine’s Day truly unique and special? Read on.

Keep it simple.

Forget the candy. Dump the flowers. Spend the day together doing something you both love. Go for a walk on the beach. Have a picnic lunch in the park. Light candles and dance a waltz in your living room. It doesn’t have to be expensive or outlandish. Simplicity and sincerity are the keys to true romance.

Turn up the heat.

Cook a romantic dinner together. Dim the lights and turn up the heat as you experiment with a new flambè recipe or rely on your favorite lasagna dish. Either way, the heat you generate from cooking together in the kitchen is sure to light a fire in your love life as well. Don’t forget to enjoy your feast by candlelight.

Take a trip down memory lane.

Reminisce about your most special shared memories. Take your loved one back to the place you first said, “I love you”. Pop a bowl of popcorn and watch your wedding video. Make a scrapbook of all your firsts as a couple. Reliving those memories will remind you of how much you mean to each other and how lucky you are to have found one another.

Whatever you do, do it together.

Whether its having a couples massage, going for a jog or even cleaning out the closet, it’s always more fun when you do it together. Spend the entire day – or just a few hours – exclusively focused on your partner. The rest of the word will wait; today is about your true love.

Make the love last.

Vow that the romance of Valentine’s Day won’t be just a flash in the pan. Instead of gifts, exchange IOUs for a weekly date night. Cut out 52 paper hearts and write an idea for a date night on each one. Toss them into a decorated box – like the ones we used to make in elementary school – and let your partner pick a new adventure every week.

Relieve the glory of your youth.

Share a milkshake with two straws. Ride on merry-go-round together. Visit the monkeys at the zoo. Go for a bike ride in the country. Neck in the backseat of your car. Whatever you do, be free and unfettered! This is especially important if your time is usually focused on the kids, your work, the laundry – anything and everything but being in love.

Put pen to paper.

Don’t just buy a valentine with a generic greeting. Write your own love song. Pen your own poem. Make a list of your loved one’s best qualities, from A to Z. Write something you love about your partner for every year – or week or month – you’ve been together. Even if you’re not a master poet, sharing your heart on paper – especially on some lovely scented stationary – will be a lifelong treasure.