Oh Sh*t Valentine’s Day is Coming Up…How to Handle The Dreaded Day

Just like most guys, I?m not a big fan of Valentine?s Day. To be clear, I f?ing hate it. It?s over commercialized, it?s expensive, I think flowers are a terrible gift, and going out to dinner on February 14 is a massive pain in the ass. When I have a girlfriend, which I do now, I pretty much avoid Valentine?s Day like the plague.

Here?s my strategy for dealing with V-Day. First off, I spend a lot of time mentioning I hate the concept of V-Day prior to the actual date, so that she doesn?t expect a typical V-Day date. I make it very clear that dinner-flowers-date isn?t happening.

Next, I look for activities we can do around Feb 14 that we both like to do. In this case, I found a badass EDM concert on Feb 10 for $20 per ticket?BAM sold! We both love electronic music so I picked up tickets and will present this as a V-Day present and activity. No matter that it doesn?t fall on the actual day, because I can?t control the concert date. The best part is it?s actually something I like to do. We?ll party before and during the show and it?s a lock we?ll both have a memorable time?unless we both get wasted. Which is fine also.

Next, a gift. You can?t skate past V-Day without gift buying, so in this case I purchased something that I KNOW she?d love and that I felt was morally defensible. I?m not talking about flowers, which suck ass and are not morally defensible, but rather I bought her a gift certificate for a sports massage. We?re both athletes so we appreciate the value of a sports massage. Gift acquired. This is something that I would present on V-Day.

Feb 14 falls on a Friday, and I have to work normal business hours on Friday, so I said that we can?t/won?t go out to dinner on that day because it?s too much of a pain in the ass. Which it is. Instead we?re having a night in.

I did schedule a night out and dinner with a group of friends at a popular Japanese restaurant for Saturday, so we can go out and party on Saturday. This guarantees a fun time and it’s way easier to get a table on the day after.

That?s my V-Day strategy. To be honest, it?s pretty much my entertainment strategy with my girlfriend any week, but it’s all how you market and package it.

Gents, don?t get caught in the trap. Do stuff you want to do and avoid buying flowers. Buy the right gifts and do cool activities. V-Day sucks for us all but you can still have a good time.