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Valentine’s day is fast approaching and with that comes the searching on Pinterest for romantic date night ideas! You want to create a creative and cute date night and thinking about what things to do on Valentine’s Day might not come naturally to you. You might be in a brand-new relationship, a long-distance relationship, or have been together more Valentine Day’s than you can count! Either way, you’re likely searching for date ideas and thoughtful ways to show your love to your person.
I get it, I’m 100% percent that person too! I’ve been with my other half for several years now and I always feel like Valentine’s Day sneaks upon us. Especially with buying a house and moving this winter, it’s felt like it’s been even sneakier than usual as our lives have been busier than usual. So, I started to make a list of different ideas for dates and gifts and thought I couldn’t be the only one trying to think of special romantic date ideas!
What to do on valentine’s day
Let’s start off super simple with some ideas of what to do on Valentine’s Day. These ideas can be for you and your partner, for yourself, or for friends/family to enjoy together. For myself, Valentine’s Day is one of the most important days to make time to spend with your loved one. Spending time together in my opinion trumps any fancy gifts, love songs, or chocolates. Those are always nice, and greatly appreciated to show love, but spending quality time either at home or out is incredible.
For some people right now with covid, you might be thinking of things to do on valentine’s day during a pandemic? Or for others where things are a bit more open, you might be thinking of places to go on valentine’s day? Either way, this post will cover fun and creative things to do for valentines day.
Dates for Home
Dates at home can be a great way to not only save money, but can be more intimate, romantic, and full of valentines fun! You might choose to keep your date night at home, or the pandemic might be making the choice for you to stay in for valentines day. Either way, here are some cute things to do on valentines day if you’re staying in your space.
Prepare a meal together
Find some time to make a meal together. Cooking together can be so much fun, and really it is an amazing feeling to enjoy a meal you two made together. You can take a cooking class online, or watch youtube videos if you need help. As well, if you’re someone who isn’t a natural cook you can order a Meal Kit (click this link to get $80 off your first order) and then you can already have all the ingredients delivered to your home and all you need to do is simply put dinner together.
Board Games
This one is personally one of my favorites, especially as a gift idea. Take some time to bust out some of your old favorites, or give a new board game a try. You can choose how competitive you want to be with your partner, and this can even be a way to get to know them more. If this is one of your first valentines’s as a couple, or even a first date board games are great as they’re a fantastic way to get to know each other and fun!
Make handmade valentines for each other
This is a great activity if you’re looking to get crafty! You can use different images, stickers, paper types, markers, and even glitter to make a romantic valentine card. This is a fab idea for a day date as this is something you can do early in the day. Crafts and art don’t come naturally to you? No problem, that’s half the fun! Just be as creative as you can and you’ll find it’s such a fun time with your partner you won’t even care how they turn out.
Have a Bake Off!
Now, this is built for those who love and thrive with competitions. For myself, I’m one of the least competitive people you’ll ever meet and I still enjoy this activity as it’s just fun to challenge yourself. This is one of the day date ideas that does require quite a bit of prep as you’ll need to go out and purchase any ingredients needed (that you don’t already have at home) and find a recipe for the competition. Then set up the rules and go! If you’re looking for a couple of ideas consider sugar cookies, brownies, red velvet cupcakes, or cake pops! Might I suggest having chocolate-covered strawberries set aside just in case your baked goods both don’t turn out as hope!
Going Out Things to do on Valentines Day
You might be searching for things to do on valentines day for you and your partner to go out and about! You might want to explore somewhere completely new, hit up your favorite restaurant or bakery near the shopping center, or just spend the day together outside. Unique date ideas can be challenging to think of – check out this post that is packed with cute winter date ideas. Either way, here are some great ideas of places to go on valentine’s day.
Visit a local Winery/Brewery
This is a great daytime date idea, and can even provide some unique gift ideas as well for any last-minute gifts needed. If you’re a couple who enjoys a nice glass of wine, or enjoying beers with friends then this date is perfect for you. You can learn about your favorite beverages, visit and learn more about the areas around you. Typically these places have packages you can buy with tours, wine/beer tastings, or both! It makes planning very easy and is a fantastic day gift to surprise your partner with! This is one of my top cute things to do for valentine’s day personally!
Escape Room as things to do on valentine’s day
If you’re someone who loves solving puzzles or challenges with your partner this is a fantastic idea for you two! You can search using Google for areas around where you live for either virtual or in-person escape rooms and then pick one that best suits you. For a lot of folks completing an escape room is actually on their bucket list, so if this is on yours you might be able to do 2 for 1! An escape room is perfect for valentine fun for all couples regardless of how long you’ve been together as it’s a great bonding experience and helps you with your communication skills as a couple.
See a Magic Show
There’s nothing quite like being shocked and amazed! Magic shows are wonderful at keeping us guessing and bringing us back to that childhood curiosity and wonder! Going to see a magic show with your partner will likely have you both laughing, sharing theories, and chatting for days if not weeks after about how those tricks were done! A magic show is a truly unique idea for what to do for valentines day and again for any type of couple, this is great for! My partner and I went to see a magic show not that long ago as a date night and it was absolutely fantastic to date one of my favorite dates together.
Discover a new resturant/cafe
You as an individual, or you two as a couple, likely you have a couple of favorite places that are you’re go-to for takeaway food or dining in. As an idea for valentine day, you can go to a completely new restaurant or cafe to experience a new menu and new food together! Now places for dining can become quite busy on Valentine’s Day. So if you’re thinking this is what you want to do for your valentines day fun then you’ll likely want to think ahead and make a reservation at the spot you’d like to eat at. You can even add another layer of fun things to do on valentines day by picking each other meals!
Long Distance things to do on Valentine’s Day
Being in a long-distance relationship is hard, and adds additional barriers to trying to spend time together. Especially on days that are so heavily focused on being together to celebrate your romance, being apart can feel even farther. Whether you’re in different time zones or just a couple of hours away but unable to be together, here is a list of things to do on Valentine’s Day.
Create Romantic Playlists for each other
Even if you’re apart you can still keep with the theme of a romantic valentine’s day by creating and sharing with each other a playlist full of romantic songs that make you think of them. This is by far one of the best valentines cute ideas for couples who can’t be together but want to express their love in a creative way. Think of it as a digital mixtape! Happy mixing.
Build a Snack Kit/ Meal Kit
If you’re unable to be together that shouldn’t stop you from sharing a meal with each other. You can either order matching meals to eat (if possible with locations) or make a meal together over a video call. As a unique gift idea, you can build them a snack kit to munch on during Valentine’s day full of romantic snacks such as chocolate covered strawberries, anything else chocolate covered, a cookie decorating kit, some of their favorite snacks, and some foods that remind you of them. Open your snack boxes together and enjoy your treats are you spend time together on the phone or over virtual video calls.
Happy Valentine’s Day!
I hope this post has provided you with some creative, unique, and cute ideas for how to spend your valentine’s day with your significant other. Honestly, thinking of things to do one valentine’s day was really fun for me and challenged me to get creative instead of falling into the pattern of whatever we’re used to doing with our celebrations. I hope this list did the same for you and especially with things being a bit more open than last year I hope you’re able to get out (safely) and enjoy your time together if possible.
Happy Valentine’s Day!
Talk soon,
Fadima Mooneira says
These are cute romantic things to do on V Day. I like the discover a new restaurant thingy. Thank you for sharing.
Lucy says
These are cute things to do on Valentines Day, I love the idea of going to a winery or discovering a new restaurant! x
Lucy | http://www.lucymary.co.uk
The Healthcare Hustle says
Love these ideas so much – it’s really great of you to also include suggestions for those in long-distance relationships!
GWT says
Valentines Day conjures up images of couples being together and doing this with each other. So I like your inclusion for those celebrating away from each other.
Nyxie says
My husband and I are making pizza together and I’m so excited! We have tried this once before and there were…well…failures but this time we’re going to boss it!
Fransic verso says
We will have long distance valentine’s and we are preparing some things to do.
Jen says
Some great ideas! We don’t buy each other anything but we do have a nice meal in. Board games are a favourite of ours also 🙂
Andrea Hunt says
Such cute ideas! I like the stay at home one and why not? restaurants are hard to get into on that day, why not make a special evening at home? Great article!
Katie says
I LOVE the idea of an escape room or magic show – so creative!
Pastor Natalie says
These are some fun and creative suggestions not only for Valentine’s Day. A bake off sounds like a lot of fun. Thank you for sharing this post.🤗
Pastor Natalie
Letstakeamoment.com
Mind Beauty Simplicity says
these are such great valentines day ideas! love that you included long distance ideas as well. 🙂
Cristina Rosano says
These are all amazing ideas and so glad to see some different ideas than getting a bunch of flowers and chocolate! The bake off idea is amazing and also the playlist, love them x
Jaya Avendel says
I love that you have suggestions for long-distance relationships here as I never really see any ideas for what people can do for each other when not in person. I love the idea of a romantic playlist or sending a fun snack kit. 🙂
simplyalexjean says
Thanks, Fadima – I’m so glad you enjoyed this post and that you enjoyed the ideas shared.
simplyalexjean says
Thanks, Lucy! Both are such great ideas for a date night, or even just for fun with others in your life. Thanks for reading and commenting.
simplyalexjean says
Thanks so much – I’m glad you enjoyed this post! 🙂
simplyalexjean says
I’m so glad you enjoyed the LDR section – you’re totally right that couples being together is typically what people think and that’s not what all couples/relationships look like! Thanks for reading.
simplyalexjean says
Oh, good luck! We make pizza from scratch quite often in our house but it definitely took us a couple of tries before we got good! Wishing you the best of luck for some yummy pizza.
simplyalexjean says
I wish you a happy valentine’s day and it’s great to hear you’re preparing for some distanced activities – I hope this post gave 2 possible ideas for you.
simplyalexjean says
Great to hear – time together is so wonderful and it sounds like you have an incredible time planned together for valentines.
simplyalexjean says
Thanks, Andrea – we’re definitely staying at home people too! I’m glad you enjoyed reading this post and I hope you have a lovely valentines day.
simplyalexjean says
They’re amazing, and really are experiences you can talk about for years after! I hope you get to do one of them soon with a loved one, friend or family member 🙂
simplyalexjean says
Exactly – they’re so much fun any time of year! Bake-offs can be incredible, and usually end in copious amounts of laughter for us! Thanks for reading and I’m glad you enjoyed it.
simplyalexjean says
Thanks, B! I had so much fun creating it and I’m glad you enjoyed the long-distance ideas as well.
simplyalexjean says
Thanks, Cristina – we like to do things a bit less traditional with spending the day on experiences so I was so happy to share those ideas. So glad to hear you liked them and I hope you can enjoy a couple of them yourself!
simplyalexjean says
Thanks Jaya – I’m so glad this blog was helpful and gave some new ideas! Playlists can be so fun and creative and really are so easy to make and build with hours and hours of entertainment that can go past Valentine’s Day! Thanks for reading.
Sarah says
Super cute ideas! I love doing date night at home. The bake off idea sounds like a lot of fun!
Jamieadstories says
Lovely suggestions. I miss playing board games. Maybe I will buy one.
Rupali - Mom Kid Life says
These are such cute romantic ideas. In fact some of which can be enjoyed by whole family. Thanks
Melina says
This is such a good list of things to do! Me & my boyfriend said we were going to keep things lowkey for Valentine’s day, and then celebrate the weekend afterwards. I think I’m going to do what you said make a handmade card, and then ask him if he wants to make a meal together! Great post 🙂 xxx
Melina |
simplyalexjean says
Thanks – they’re great for even date nights outside of Valentine’s Day! Glad you enjoyed the list and it sparked some ideas 🙂
simplyalexjean says
Board games are wonderful, so simple and so much fun! If you do get one I hope you enjoy it 🙂
simplyalexjean says
Thanks – yes they’re definitely can be for the whole family as well! 🙂
simplyalexjean says
Amazing to hear and it’s a great list for a low-key Valentine’s day. I hope he enjoys the handmade card and the meal together! 🙂