We will be in SF, having a belated Chinese New Year’s celebration with extended family at BIL’s home. It should be fun.
Thanks for the reminder. Reservations made. I guess Seattleites are not much into VD because OpenTable had many great options available. 
The following Monday is a holiday… so a Sunday dinner out sounds great!
@BunsenBurner Do the folks in Seattle understand that you can’t get VD by just eating out? 
I guess the folks in Seattle are just extra cautious. (Guess we date ourselves… They are no longer called VD, because transmission is not limited to contact with just one sex… 
)
“I do not know whether DS will do on Valentine’s day with his GF. But I think that if he does nothing, it will not go very well. (Just my gut feelings here.)”
Some people have the “love language” of gifting. Other people don’t. I don’t know that it really has much to do with where they grew up. Personally, we don’t do anything for Valentine’s Day. I don’t need the candy (it’s hardly as though candy is some amazing treat - if I wanted candy, I could go get it myself) and frankly it feels like a made-up holiday to me. If we want to go out to dinner, we’ll go out to dinner whenever we want. I am not really into receiving flowers - not that I object, but it’s not critical to me. That suits us. But it doesn’t suit other people. Some people simply like celebrating these holidays (Valentine’s, Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, etc.) and some people don’t.
It’s a big day for us - the anniversary of when H asked me to marry him, complete with roses, balloons AND an ad in the paper. D was born 9 months later…
We usually go out-H is a planner and makes reservations well in advance. I’m not sure if we’re going ON Valentine’s Day or the day before this year. Our lives still revolve around D, who has her all-school science fair on Saturday. We usually give each other gifts-they don’t have to be romantic, though. I’m looking at something H can wear to the spring Comic Con.
@Nrdsb4 , Valentine’s Day goes WAY back before Hallmark. My mom used to work in an antique shop and there were Valentine’s cards from the 1800’s. But I think it goes back even farther. Something to do with the actual St. Valentine.
Just saw that select Waffle Houses are accepting reservations for Valentine’s Day!
I guess our gift to one another is the trip we are having to the Bay Area and undoubtably we will have some very nice meals at various restaurants. We don’t really do much for holidays, but I do enjoy our trips and H does as well, once we have arrived (tho he frets about how he’s not doing the deferred maintenance while we’re away).
@HImom, I will be in SF for Chinese New Year. It should be lots of fun. Kung Hei Fat Choi!
I will in the bay area for both the real Chinese New Year as well as Valentine’s Day, the week later. It will be a bit crazy with the superbowl in Santa Clara, which has jacked up prices for cars and hotels.
We don’t do anything. We stopped trying to eat out years ago. Worst time ever to eat out, with the possible exception of Mothers Day lunch.
You guys are making me cry…wish I weren’t single…
Sorry to hear that.
I think DS has had exactly two Valentine’s days when he could celebrate with someone, and he is not that young.
Maybe next year, you will have someone to celebrate Valentine’s day.
It seems DS and his GF may plan to have a day trip to Portland, ME. I heard it is only 2 hours train ride away. But so far, it seems they are not 100% site that they could make it happen. I heard they actually prefer to have this trip one week prior to Valentine’s day, but they may not be able to do so. (It is not easy for them to control their own schedule these days, I think. But I do not know why.)
Is it true that on Valentine’s day, many popular vacation destinations could be packed with people?
This is very true for Valentine’s Day that falls on a weekend day, because the Prsidents’ Day often falls on the next Monday.
H will bring me flowers. I will give him candy. We also exchange cards. We’ll make dinner at home. We send S a card with a gift card for a restaurant. We deliver flowers to D. SIL gets a supply of snacks. And for our favorite pup… a big bag of Pup-Peroni and a few toys.
There are lots of individual differences between what people do for VD and how long couples date. This seems to be yet another thread to obsess about dating patterns and your son and his gf’s relationship. It must be really uncomfortable.
I don’t have a significant other to celebrate valentines with and I am completely ok with it.
For me it is a fun day to spoil dd. We bake cookies, or try out new recipes. I take her out to lunch or dinner wherever she wants to go during the weekend and I buy some inexpensive but beautiful flowers to decorate our home.
It is a chill weekend with no pressure. I have always picked out flowers of my choice and it has given me much happiness. (tulips, carnations, dafffodils) (love planting a balcony garden in spring) I get a cute card and some candy for dd and we watch the Valentines day movie. Just have fun mother and daughter and do whatever we please. When she was in middle/high school she would have a valentines themed party at home to celebrate with her friends. (sleepover)
We would make chocolate fondue for all the young girls, and have cupcakes and pizza. Every day of life is precious. We should enjoy a bit each day. If it was just me I would plan a fun day trip doing things that I enjoy like having a nice lunch or afternoon tea and just plan a day to treat myself special. It doesn’t have to be something expensive but idea is just to be happy and have fun.
I just bought my very first “happy Valentine’s Day to son and daughter in law” card! Oh happy day!!
DH and I do very little to ‘celebrate’ Vday. Just isn’t our thing.
Funny story. This happened a few years ago.We don’t eat out often but one night it just seemed like what we wanted to do and the stars aligned just right that we had no kids at home for dinner that night, so we decided to go to Moes. While we were there, I noticed that I there were only single guys or single dads with their children. We were the only couple there and I thought this was really odd. Then it suddenly dawned on me that it was V Day. We had a good chuckle over that.
For many years my husband and I have “double dated” on Valentine’s day with our best friends–another long-married couple. I think restaurants are amused by our reservation for a “table for four” on Valentine’s day, but it has become a fun tradition. DH and I also exchange cards (before the dinner), but not gifts.