I like Valentine's Day, but not the marketing gumpf that surrounds it. (Fortunately, I'm rarely in supermarkets or shopping malls, so I don't get bombarded.)
I love that there's a day in the year that's just for romance, and have a secret yearning for red roses. Having said that, I would never eat out on Valentine's day or expect a gift or a card. My boyfriend and I tend to cook a lovely dinner together and drink champagne. Maybe I'll word him up about the roses.
Please do not approach the short young woman with the glasses who is browsing alone and ask, "you look like you are about my wife's size - what size bra do you wear?" This has happened to me on so many occasions that I simply avoid Victoria's Secret.
Why me, I ask??? My friends say I look approachable. My husband says I have a nice rack. The problem is that I will lie to you and direct you to something awful. Or I will send you to Nordstrom and tell you to buy Spanx, which I love, but which will not get you the sort of reaction that lingerie is meant to get.
In other words - please do not approach random strangers in lingerie stores. It is better to buy the wrong size than ask a stranger. Also, get a gift receipt.
Sonja, thanks so much for your delicious goodies recipes. We've had our autistc son on a gluten-free/casein-free/sugar-free (white, brown, corn syrup free) diet for about four years. It seems that rice flour, in particular seems to impart a drier or crunchier texture to baked goods. I wonder if adding one or one and a half tablespoons of water to the creamed butter/sugar/egg mixture (as is done with some oatmeal cookie recipes, although they're not gluten-free, but have a similar brown and white sugar base), would help to approximate that special Toll House texture. I have enjoyed every one of your posts on Wisebread, and look forward to what you'll have for us next!
Having been married for almost 30 years, I have made just about every lingerie purchasing mistake in the book. Maybe I should write a post about how not to buy lingerie.
Treacle is right on target.
Now, looking in her lingerie drawer after Valentine's day, might get you in trouble.....
I have found writing your own poetry works pretty good too, if you are on a budget.
I like Valentine's Day -- partially because I have fond memories of the way we celebrated it when I was a child. We treated it as a day to celebrate love as a family, not a romantic type thing at all. Usually our celebration was to declare it a special "family night" with a special dinner, decorations, games, and so on. I'm trying to continue the tradition with my own family -- so far we haven't done any decorating, but I always plan a special dinner and usually there are some fresh flowers or cute little notes somewhere in the picture. Now that we are expanding our family to include children, I expect the celebration will get more elaborate. I find the commercialization of all holidays to be a little strange and unappealing, but I'm not going to let it ruin my fun.
If you want to ignore your own birthday, go for it. Others might be a bit baffled but they won't take it as a personal offense.
Personally, I'll drop everything to make my friends, family and even minor acquaintances feel special on their birthdays. Because I know how important it is to be considerate of those around you and to reach out to people on their birthdays to try to make them feel special.
How about that person who moved across country to get a job or go to school. They left their friends and family behind and started over. Maybe they've struggled to fit in or make friends. Maybe the town doesn't agree with them or they're a bit introverted. Take them out for some drinks. Get them a gift card. Show them that you give a damn.
How about people with hectic jobs or lives. Get a babysitter, make sure they get off of work on time, whatever. Give them an evening to breath and to relax. Again, show them that you care.
How about significant others and best friends? Just because these people are important to you doesn't mean that you spend every moment of your life making them feel great. That's impossible. But spending a day or an evening focusing on making them feel good is a great way to show how important they are to you.
Get the common theme I'm trying to build? Birthdays are about showing people you actually care about them.
Celebrating a birthday does not require a parade, petting zoo, hundreds of guests, lavish gifts, strippers, fireworks, the flying Elvi, a celebrity guest appearance, and a dance number.
But it does require a few hours of your time and at least a couple of bucks for a beer or dinner. That's all it takes to make someone feel special. If you are too cheap or lazy to do that, then there is something seriously wrong with you.
And what exactly is so wrong with spending money on someone you care about? A $3 card? A $25 gift certificate? Even a $150 necklace? Unless you're living hand-to-mouth is this really a great financial burden? And guess what, if you are in a financial hole, no one is going to fault you for not getting a gift for them.
Personally it sounds like anti-consumerism taken to a level of absurdity. Believe it or not, there is a huge difference between mortgaging your house to buy a Lexus for yourself and dropping a bills for gift card for someone else.
@Karen - Have you tried calling the credit card company up yet? Was it they who told you they thought you had too much credit? I always like to politely ask for the manager to escalate the issue if I don't get anywhere initially. Keep trying....cancelling four cards without notice and without reason seems odd.
absolutely. that is why the most I will spend is a $10 bottle wine, a nice dinner at home (which would probably have happened anyways) and a movie on the couch.
I like how much easier it's become to find lovely gf treats in the grocery stores. And to be able to make cereal-based treats and mixes, like Chex mix with gf cereal. It almost feels normal, sometimes! ;)
I think most holidays are too commercial, but Valentine's Day is one of the most commercial. From grade-school valentine exchanges to the restaurant dinners, flowers, chocolates and jewelry, Valentine's Day is big business. I don't appreciate the pressure to make a declaration of affection on a specific day, or to be expected to spend money to do so. I think day to day thoughtfulness and support say "I love you" better than anything else. Valentine's Day is just not that important in our family and I think my husband appreciates that.
Yes it is way over commercialized. They start putting out the candy, bears and jewelry right after Christmas. You can always tell the day the stores goes pink, the guys freak out. Relationships should not be like that. Plus who wants to go out on that day anyway and have to wait a hour to have a romantic dinner with 100's of other people!
V-day is way overmarketed and holds very little value for my fiancee and I. We are madly in love, but we could care less about funnelling money into someone else's excuse of a pocket. We try to show each other every day, in small and big ways, that we care about the other and refuse to let a marketing ploy rob us of funds we can use for our WEDDING! :)
Yes, Valentine's Day is getting out of hand. My husband and I do exchange cards but no gifts. Plus I read a lot of blogs and it seems like everyone uses the holiday for posting inspiration. It gets tiring.
Hey Beth, my wife is shorter then me. What we did was purchased a new shower head. One that had two shower heads that worked at the same time. That way you can hold one in you hand and one can stay stationary. You can also shut one off so you have full control as to where the water shoot... which can be kind of fun too... hope that helps
My credit card company just canceled 4 of my cards just because I called them and asked a question. I've been with them since 1994 and I have never been late or missed a payment. They just decided that after years of their increasing my credit now they think I have too much. My FICO score is near perfect and now it will go way down. I don't even have the choice of canceling myself and I did nothing to deserve this. What can I do?
On one hand, it is- because I get tired of seeing so many commercials for cheap, unattractive, mass produced jewelry. On the other hand, my husband and I never do anything for it, so maybe all that advertising hasn't sunk in enough.
I don't need an excuse to do something special for my sweetie, but it's nice that there is a day recognizing the beauty of romance. However, it seems that people have been sucked into the stereotypical roses-candlelight-dinner trap. It's not really that special if it is done out of obligation. I think that's where the commercialization comes into it.
As for me, my fiance and I keep it simple. A heartfelt note and a "Happy Valentine's Day" seems about right for us.
I agree that Valentine's Day has gotten way too commercial but my boyfriend and I still like to do something for each other during this time of the year. Instead of buying each other gifts, we make each other cards. Eat that Hallmark! ;)
My husband feels that Valentine's Day is just another "Hallmark Holiday." He also feels that way about Mother's Day. Since I'm not his mother, I let that one slide. And some years I let V-Day slide, too. Other years, like this one, when I'm feeling a little bit taken for granted, I loudly announce that I expect either a dinner out or a plant for Valentine's Day. And he complies without further comment. My husband's a keeper, even if I don't always get the romantic holiday stuff.
Valentine's Day is a day to celebrate each other....
That said, think fun, creative, innovatiative, and be passionate as you create a plan.
Run a bath and float flower petals on top
Have a simple chicken dinner ready and waiting
Think Pink, Red, Lavendar, White - use these colors in salads and desserts
Chocolate never fails for desserts
Write out 12 cards with date night suggestions for each month during the next year
Sprinkle flower petals over your turned down bed and be Pj ready when your honey comes home - candles and music playing softly can amp up the mood of course too :)
Make a handmade card - shows you care and have heart
Make a heart shaped dessert - cookies or cake or brownie
Ideas are endless - be yourself, be creative and put your heart into it!
HAPPY VALENTINE's DAY TO ALL :) ~Enjoy!
Don't agonize of this - just go with it - you may not think your creative, but believe me the other person will because it came from you and your heart - GO FOR IT!
What ever happened to the car battery safe? I saw one of those once and thought it was a great idea. It was heavy, large and something you can just leave in the garage. Who would take an old battery in the back of a dirty garage? On a further note, our hotel room was broken into in the VI. We had our money hidden in the fake shaving cream can. It was overlooked completely as well as the fake RC can (do they still make RC). Point being, those fake storage items can obviously work for amateur thieves.
My Grandma, she used to unroll toilet paper to a certain length and start wrapping it back up with twenty dollar bills every 10 inches or so; Looked great, wonderful idea.
Just make sure you buy the thick TP.
I like Valentine's Day, but not the marketing gumpf that surrounds it. (Fortunately, I'm rarely in supermarkets or shopping malls, so I don't get bombarded.)
I love that there's a day in the year that's just for romance, and have a secret yearning for red roses. Having said that, I would never eat out on Valentine's day or expect a gift or a card. My boyfriend and I tend to cook a lovely dinner together and drink champagne. Maybe I'll word him up about the roses.
Please do not approach the short young woman with the glasses who is browsing alone and ask, "you look like you are about my wife's size - what size bra do you wear?" This has happened to me on so many occasions that I simply avoid Victoria's Secret.
Why me, I ask??? My friends say I look approachable. My husband says I have a nice rack. The problem is that I will lie to you and direct you to something awful. Or I will send you to Nordstrom and tell you to buy Spanx, which I love, but which will not get you the sort of reaction that lingerie is meant to get.
In other words - please do not approach random strangers in lingerie stores. It is better to buy the wrong size than ask a stranger. Also, get a gift receipt.
Sonja, thanks so much for your delicious goodies recipes. We've had our autistc son on a gluten-free/casein-free/sugar-free (white, brown, corn syrup free) diet for about four years. It seems that rice flour, in particular seems to impart a drier or crunchier texture to baked goods. I wonder if adding one or one and a half tablespoons of water to the creamed butter/sugar/egg mixture (as is done with some oatmeal cookie recipes, although they're not gluten-free, but have a similar brown and white sugar base), would help to approximate that special Toll House texture. I have enjoyed every one of your posts on Wisebread, and look forward to what you'll have for us next!
Having been married for almost 30 years, I have made just about every lingerie purchasing mistake in the book. Maybe I should write a post about how not to buy lingerie.
Treacle is right on target.
Now, looking in her lingerie drawer after Valentine's day, might get you in trouble.....
I have found writing your own poetry works pretty good too, if you are on a budget.
I like Valentine's Day -- partially because I have fond memories of the way we celebrated it when I was a child. We treated it as a day to celebrate love as a family, not a romantic type thing at all. Usually our celebration was to declare it a special "family night" with a special dinner, decorations, games, and so on. I'm trying to continue the tradition with my own family -- so far we haven't done any decorating, but I always plan a special dinner and usually there are some fresh flowers or cute little notes somewhere in the picture. Now that we are expanding our family to include children, I expect the celebration will get more elaborate. I find the commercialization of all holidays to be a little strange and unappealing, but I'm not going to let it ruin my fun.
If you want to ignore your own birthday, go for it. Others might be a bit baffled but they won't take it as a personal offense.
Personally, I'll drop everything to make my friends, family and even minor acquaintances feel special on their birthdays. Because I know how important it is to be considerate of those around you and to reach out to people on their birthdays to try to make them feel special.
How about that person who moved across country to get a job or go to school. They left their friends and family behind and started over. Maybe they've struggled to fit in or make friends. Maybe the town doesn't agree with them or they're a bit introverted. Take them out for some drinks. Get them a gift card. Show them that you give a damn.
How about people with hectic jobs or lives. Get a babysitter, make sure they get off of work on time, whatever. Give them an evening to breath and to relax. Again, show them that you care.
How about significant others and best friends? Just because these people are important to you doesn't mean that you spend every moment of your life making them feel great. That's impossible. But spending a day or an evening focusing on making them feel good is a great way to show how important they are to you.
Get the common theme I'm trying to build? Birthdays are about showing people you actually care about them.
Celebrating a birthday does not require a parade, petting zoo, hundreds of guests, lavish gifts, strippers, fireworks, the flying Elvi, a celebrity guest appearance, and a dance number.
But it does require a few hours of your time and at least a couple of bucks for a beer or dinner. That's all it takes to make someone feel special. If you are too cheap or lazy to do that, then there is something seriously wrong with you.
And what exactly is so wrong with spending money on someone you care about? A $3 card? A $25 gift certificate? Even a $150 necklace? Unless you're living hand-to-mouth is this really a great financial burden? And guess what, if you are in a financial hole, no one is going to fault you for not getting a gift for them.
Personally it sounds like anti-consumerism taken to a level of absurdity. Believe it or not, there is a huge difference between mortgaging your house to buy a Lexus for yourself and dropping a bills for gift card for someone else.
It's amazing how some men totally stress over getting the PERFECT lingerie.
Guys, don't sweat it. Get something lacy, feminine (and in the right size) and you're golden.
V-day is about so much more than the lingerie.
It's really about the champagne. (hint hint)
Nice job, Treacle.
@Karen - Have you tried calling the credit card company up yet? Was it they who told you they thought you had too much credit? I always like to politely ask for the manager to escalate the issue if I don't get anywhere initially. Keep trying....cancelling four cards without notice and without reason seems odd.
absolutely. that is why the most I will spend is a $10 bottle wine, a nice dinner at home (which would probably have happened anyways) and a movie on the couch.
I think Valentine's Day is nice and it doesn't have to be expensive!
I like how much easier it's become to find lovely gf treats in the grocery stores. And to be able to make cereal-based treats and mixes, like Chex mix with gf cereal. It almost feels normal, sometimes! ;)
I think most holidays are too commercial, but Valentine's Day is one of the most commercial. From grade-school valentine exchanges to the restaurant dinners, flowers, chocolates and jewelry, Valentine's Day is big business. I don't appreciate the pressure to make a declaration of affection on a specific day, or to be expected to spend money to do so. I think day to day thoughtfulness and support say "I love you" better than anything else. Valentine's Day is just not that important in our family and I think my husband appreciates that.
Yes it is way over commercialized. They start putting out the candy, bears and jewelry right after Christmas. You can always tell the day the stores goes pink, the guys freak out. Relationships should not be like that. Plus who wants to go out on that day anyway and have to wait a hour to have a romantic dinner with 100's of other people!
V-day is way overmarketed and holds very little value for my fiancee and I. We are madly in love, but we could care less about funnelling money into someone else's excuse of a pocket. We try to show each other every day, in small and big ways, that we care about the other and refuse to let a marketing ploy rob us of funds we can use for our WEDDING! :)
Yes, Valentine's Day is getting out of hand. My husband and I do exchange cards but no gifts. Plus I read a lot of blogs and it seems like everyone uses the holiday for posting inspiration. It gets tiring.
I think so. I don't like the stuffed animals and tacky knick-knacks that come wiht this "holiday".
Hey Beth, my wife is shorter then me. What we did was purchased a new shower head. One that had two shower heads that worked at the same time. That way you can hold one in you hand and one can stay stationary. You can also shut one off so you have full control as to where the water shoot... which can be kind of fun too... hope that helps
My credit card company just canceled 4 of my cards just because I called them and asked a question. I've been with them since 1994 and I have never been late or missed a payment. They just decided that after years of their increasing my credit now they think I have too much. My FICO score is near perfect and now it will go way down. I don't even have the choice of canceling myself and I did nothing to deserve this. What can I do?
On one hand, it is- because I get tired of seeing so many commercials for cheap, unattractive, mass produced jewelry. On the other hand, my husband and I never do anything for it, so maybe all that advertising hasn't sunk in enough.
I don't need an excuse to do something special for my sweetie, but it's nice that there is a day recognizing the beauty of romance. However, it seems that people have been sucked into the stereotypical roses-candlelight-dinner trap. It's not really that special if it is done out of obligation. I think that's where the commercialization comes into it.
As for me, my fiance and I keep it simple. A heartfelt note and a "Happy Valentine's Day" seems about right for us.
Umm that's not gonna help!! You're addicted to the caffeine not drinking coffee. It's not psychological like cigarette smoking is!
I agree that Valentine's Day has gotten way too commercial but my boyfriend and I still like to do something for each other during this time of the year. Instead of buying each other gifts, we make each other cards. Eat that Hallmark! ;)
My husband feels that Valentine's Day is just another "Hallmark Holiday." He also feels that way about Mother's Day. Since I'm not his mother, I let that one slide. And some years I let V-Day slide, too. Other years, like this one, when I'm feeling a little bit taken for granted, I loudly announce that I expect either a dinner out or a plant for Valentine's Day. And he complies without further comment. My husband's a keeper, even if I don't always get the romantic holiday stuff.
Valentine's Day is a day to celebrate each other....
That said, think fun, creative, innovatiative, and be passionate as you create a plan.
Run a bath and float flower petals on top
Have a simple chicken dinner ready and waiting
Think Pink, Red, Lavendar, White - use these colors in salads and desserts
Chocolate never fails for desserts
Write out 12 cards with date night suggestions for each month during the next year
Sprinkle flower petals over your turned down bed and be Pj ready when your honey comes home - candles and music playing softly can amp up the mood of course too :)
Make a handmade card - shows you care and have heart
Make a heart shaped dessert - cookies or cake or brownie
Ideas are endless - be yourself, be creative and put your heart into it!
HAPPY VALENTINE's DAY TO ALL :) ~Enjoy!
Don't agonize of this - just go with it - you may not think your creative, but believe me the other person will because it came from you and your heart - GO FOR IT!
What ever happened to the car battery safe? I saw one of those once and thought it was a great idea. It was heavy, large and something you can just leave in the garage. Who would take an old battery in the back of a dirty garage? On a further note, our hotel room was broken into in the VI. We had our money hidden in the fake shaving cream can. It was overlooked completely as well as the fake RC can (do they still make RC). Point being, those fake storage items can obviously work for amateur thieves.
My Grandma, she used to unroll toilet paper to a certain length and start wrapping it back up with twenty dollar bills every 10 inches or so; Looked great, wonderful idea.
Just make sure you buy the thick TP.