Valentine's day comes so soon after Christmas, the longest month of the whole year is finally over then suddenly another little holiday is here to celebrate.
Photo by Brooke Lark on Unsplash.com
Personally I do not see it as a huge celebration, but it is a nice day to spend some time with my boyfriend. I also love the idea of Galentine's day, the concept seems to be quite big in retail now but more and more people seem to be taking the idea and spending valuable time with the girls on a day that used to be geared towards romance.
The classic Valentine's day would usually be a nice meal out, which is a lovely way to celebrate anything, but can be costly and what if you forget it's coming and now suddenly your left with days to go and everywhere is booked up?
Here's some alternative ideas for what to do if you want to spend Valentine's together, without the cost and effort of going out for food:
1. Go on a hike
A hike to me is a lovely way to spend a day, and it doesn't have to be too strenuous either. I think of a hike as just a wander somewhere nice, in Wales we are not short of options. Even just a woodland is a lovely place to start, you can see a lot of nature, perhaps some animals, see pretty skies. I use my time on a hike to take photos and gather inspiration too, being an artist I can't stop myself, but my boyfriend has also taken an interest in photography, so we loaded some film into an old film camera to take with us on our walks now, hoping to capture some wildlife and views.
You always just have to make sure that you are prepared for whatever you are planning, have a rough idea of the route and type of path, whether you need better footwear than just trainers, and whether you need to pack extra layers or food, depending on how long your going for. The deeper you go into a woodland for example, you may lose phone signal, so always plan well and be aware, and enjoy!
2. Do an activity together
Activity-based dates are fun, this could range from trampolining, a day at the beach, to doing a puzzle together, baking, candle-making! Try something you haven't done before, there's so many places where you can pick up these kits at the moment, for under a tenner, that means you can learn how to make something out of fabric, or wool, or wax.
Image by Rebecca Peterson-Hall on Unsplash.com
While some things may be solo activities, there are plenty that could be done by two, and if it's something new for both it could be a fun few hours, resulting in a new skill and a product at the end of it!
3. Cook a meal together at home
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This could be quite a simple one, maybe this is something that happens anyway on a regular night. But maybe trying something new or something more of a treat would be a nice idea.
Because of my eating disorder, I tend to eat very different and separate meals from my boyfriend, it's just easier and perhaps eventually we will eat more together, however something we do as a treat is make brownies together.
I say together, I'm not very good at baking, I tend to leave a lot of the heavy-lifting bake work to him, but I enjoy spending the time just doing that and eating it afterwards of course.
4. Play video games together
I suppose this one might not be for everyone, but both me and my boyfriend enjoy games and tend to play our favourites separately. Around Christmas when we had some spare time, we found some games that could be played together. One of them saw us both dashing around a variety of crazy kitchens trying to work together and get orders out, which we found enjoyable and funny, so I would definitely spend an evening doing that with snacks for Valentines as well.
Image by Sam Pak on Unsplash.com
If video games aren't your thing, what about board games? Time can fly playing board games, especially ones that involve some planning and thought, although stay away from monopoly if its going to cause arguments! 😂
5. Find somewhere to watch the sunset
Another personal favourite of mine, I think watching a sunset is one of the best evening activities at this time of year. While sunsets are getting fewer, when there is a good one it is gorgeous and well worth chasing to a lovely spot. It may have to be something planned last minute, weather-dependent, but still a great activity to do. Even a drive around is nice, see some nice spots, stop for lunch, its quite easy to build a plan off an activity.
Image by me, on a quick imprompu walk at sunset in Llandeilo, Wales
So there we go, five ideas of something else to do this Valetines without having to book a meal if you fancy a change. Pretty much all of these are also ideas to do with the girls if that is how the day would rather be spent too!
