Valentine's Day

[nightglow]

I liked it more when I was younger. It was nice to see decorations of something at school, the library, and the bank after Christmas passed and February starts while January had nothing going on. I don't go to those places anymore so I don't really see that. But paper decorations for multiple holidays were common in the 90s, where I was anyway. Even the hardware store where I lived would put stuff in their window.
I do like the idea of moving valentines day from purely romantic to friendships commercially. More emphasis needs to be on friendships. There would be less teasing at schools and less of a chance of someone being left out of the tiny cards, if schools still do tiny cards.
Valentines day is definitely a childhood thing for me, largely due to school. We'd make decorations, or the worksheets had some art on it that was related. Everyone would pass out tiny cards, sometimes someone or the teacher would bring in cookies or candy bags with graphic wood pencils for the class.
Mom use to give me candy and a little toy on Valentine's Day until I was about 10 or 12.
I do hate how stores handle holidays now. I was seeing valentines stuff out before Christmas Day this year at the dollar store.

 

[lana.]

i love valentines day!! mostly for all the cute things lol but i also always make my friends little baskets and flowers. it's a really cute holiday and i don't think it needs to be exclusively romantic!! i do love it for having a day for dates and such with my boyfriend too, but it's honestly like one of my favorite holidays even when i've been single during it. the vibe is so cute and you can still show appreciation for people unromantically!! i'm not a big christmas fan either, so valentines day is the winter holiday i look forward to seeing all the decorations for c:

 

[BetsySundrop]

Free candy! What's not to love? Haha.

I come from a family of "any excuse to have a party" type people. Valentines is usually cards/ candy. Sometimes decorations, sometimes not. I saw some cute valentines shower curtains, but that was a bit much, lol. I feel the same about valentines as any other holiday ig - celebrate what you wish, leave aside what you don't.

 

[Snap Crackle Pop]

I really liked Valentines Day when I was a kid because I loved having our valentines day party where we handed out valentines to our classmates. I loved going to the store and picking out valentines and picking out the candy.. I thought it was so fun.

As an adult I really don't care about the holiday honestly, I've been single for quite some time but even when I was in a relationship I never saw the excitement for the holiday. You can buy chocolate whenever you want same with gifts and flowers. I'll probably buy myself some chocolate just for fun though.

 

[daringred_]

i'm more neutral on valentines at the moment since i'm single for it this year, but i think it's a cute holiday, and i love the sentiment behind it. i post a fic for my ship every year on valentines. (i'm actually writing it right now.) there's a display of gifts/etc. in our local supermarket that had this really cute plushie of cuddling otters that goes in the microwave. i liked it so much that i might actually go and buy it as a gift to myself, even if i just use it for display lol.

 

[xSuperMario64x]

I love Valentines Day!! I think the aesthetic is so cute, I love seeing clothes and plushies and decorations with heart patterns in red, pink, purple, etc. I'm def gonna get all dolled up for it this year hehehe. it also gives me an excuse to give gifts to my friends and family, little plushies and chocolates and cards. I really like giving gifts to others to show my gratitude and love.

I'm actually demiromantic, and yet I'm also a hopeless romantic haha. but I don't really see Valentine's Day as inherently romantic, I think it can represent platonic love as well. that said, I'm excited to spend the day with my partner for the first time this year!

Spoiler: bonus: Valentines plushies

these are both Build-a-Bears! I got the first one right after New Years as it's a brand new one that they made, and the other one is older (2008) and I recently got it from someone online. I adore the doggo so much, it's so soft and adorable and I love it

the cat's name is Macie, and the dog's name is Herzchen (German for "sweetheart"). look at those spots aaa!!

 

[-Lumi-]

I love Valentines day! I definitely went through a period where I didn't, though. In younger elementary school I thought it was fun giving out Valentines and little treats.

One year though my mom helped me make the Valentines.... it was this kit with a bunch of stickers that had those common Valentines saying. And one way or another some of those mushy "be mine" type phrases ended up on a Valentines card for a guy. And he took great offense to it and him and his friends picked on me for it. That really soured my view for bit.

Flash forward a few years though and I love it. The aesthetic is totally up my alley (pink is my favourite colour) and I feel like we've moved towards it being a general love/appreciation holiday. I love seeing all the cute galentines/palentines posts of friends getting together and doing something fun!!

This year is going to be extra special because I get to spend it with Grace I'm super excited!

 

[JellyLu]

I don't mind it! It's not my favorite holiday though.

I like looking at the merchandise. This year I bought myself another gummy bear plush and two blankets (I have a "hoard comfy items" problem).

As for romance, my fiance and I have our anniversary on Feb 28 so I made him a deal where we don't have to fret over gifts for Valentines and instead mainly celebrate our special day. He still gets me something for both days though bless him :")

 

[LittleMissPanda]

The chocolates and candy hearts suck but the aesthetic of the holiday is always on point red and pink go wonderfully together, and it's just a great vibe overall stepping into a supermarket or pharmacy and seeing all the cute plush toys, roses, heart-shaped gifts and chocolate boxes. Plus, every Valentine's Day I'm reminded of this song, which is one of my favorites. It's tradition that I listen to it every year, and sometimes just any other day when the mood is just right for some love, heehee~

 

[SkyKnight03]

I was born on Valentine's Day, 2002, a little before 6 am. I've never been in a relationship, so Valentine's Day has just been my birthday. It's a day to celebrate becoming one year older, and that's it. I enjoy it when my parents get Valentine's Day chocolate as a birthday gift.

Being born on a holiday the internet loves to dunk on is saddening. People like to say it's too commercialized, but so is every other major holiday in the West. You never hear people say Halloween is "too commercialized," even though it's just as commercialized as Valentine's Day. The shame and pressure recieve on Valentine's Day is saddening, though.

One must also consider the intent of each holiday.

The social stigmatization that would happen from not buying your family anything on Christmas would be higher than not buying anything on Halloween. This is why some consider the holiday season of Christmas to be stressful and the commercialism absolutely gets knocked when the music and decorations are pulled out early. There are some that have come to loathe that time of year all together.

There is definitely some of that pressure to spend that emerges on Valentine's Day. However, you also mix this with people who can't participate and begin to feel bitter when they see it commercialized. Although in my personal belief love is love and Valentine's Day is a good opportunity to do something for someone you appreciate in your life. It doesn't have to be romantic.

I find it challenging on Father's Day because my dad has passed away. I have to see marketing for a holiday that I can't celebrate with him. My alternative is to gift something to another male figure that I appreciate in my life or gift to my mother or simply visit his resting place. Instead of wallowing in self misery I try to make the most of it. (although to say Father's Day doesn't somewhat bother me would be false).

Also, I hope you have a good birthday!

 

[Dim]

Usually it's just like any other day to me but I wrote a Valentine's card for a coworker once. I was going to deliver it to her on the day of but she wasn't in. In fact, she just up and quit the store because of trouble with other coworkers, apparently. In the end I never sent it.

 

[Javocado]

it's cool, i like to watch all of the different valentines themed episodes of my favorite shows (i choo-choo-choose u ring any bells?? ) and i also love all the red and pink wave that hits the store shelves and businesses i think its cute

and with that in mind i be collecting sneakers these days and they usually come out with some red/pink shoes to coincide with the holiday and there's some jordan 3's comin out soon that i wanna get my hands on LOL

 

[Snowesque]

It's a whatever holiday for me. I mostly just use it to buy cute chocolates once a year.

 

[KittenNoir]

I LOVE Valentine's day!!!!!!!!!!!!! I always go out to celebrate with my husband

 

[Devicho]

As someone who really doesn't have any interest in romance or intimacy (despite ending up in sort of a relationship due to a series of odd circumstances), Valentine's Day barely strikes me as any different from any other day. I largely just use it as an excuse to snag some chocolates for myself when they go on sale, and as inspiration for fanart whenever I'm able to commit to a drawing.

 

[Captain Jigglypuff]

It’s just another reminder of how no one wants to be with me….

 

[-Raven-]

I used to make it a day to spoil myself when I was single. Tbh it never bothered me being single on valentine’s.

It does immensely bother me that I don’t get to spend it physically with anyone I care about. But at this point that’s the daily driver.

 

[S.J.]

I like Valentine's Day, and I enjoy celebrating it.

Outside of sending Valentine's Roses on TBT, I don't think I've ever celebrated it in a platonic way, but I imagine that would be fun! I enjoy celebrating it romantically. I know not everybody values it as a holiday, and I would never want it to feel like an obligation for anyone else, so obviously it's a more meaningful holiday if both people involved enjoy it!

The common critiques about Valentine's Day seem to be commercialization (what holiday hasn't been heavily commercialized?), and that you shouldn't need a specific day to show your partner that you care about them. As for the latter of those critiques, sure, we don't need a holiday to show the important people in our lives that we love and care about them, nor is it the only day we can/should show people those things, but life gets busy, so I think it's nice to have that reminder to take time to appreciate the people that we care about, and the people that care about us!

I know that people can experience a pressure to spend money or meet certain societal expectations, but to me, it doesn't have to be about gifts, cards, or material things (though there's nothing wrong with that, imo), but just a day to appreciate people. It can be with words, or an action, time spent together, or even just a thought for the people you care about.

Happy early Valentine's!

 

[. Rarity .]

I agree with you on how Platonic love is also love. I hope more people start to the word love in not just a romantic term, but with friendship too ♡

Im not in a relationship currently, so it would be nice if Valentines day could be about Platonic relationships too.

 

[lasagne_of_death]

I'm aro, so it's not something I personally celebrate, but I do enjoy the season and how excited some friends may be about it. Not so much the nagging of some others about how horrible the day is.

I think it's a really nice thing if you're in a relationship and want an excuse to do nice stuff with your partner. I see nothing wrong with it being a thing that loads of people enjoy going out on. I think it's quite nice, actually, that there's a day dedicated to showing love for someone.

I'm not all that pushed on making it about platonic love rather than romantic. Because it's literally a day dedicated to romantic love. But there's nothing wrong with celebrating and partaking with friends and family! I've always been in a situation where it's an every-kind-of-love day, and I've never been in very large communities so that's probably why I haven't seen the overly romantic aspect. I usually just buy the chocolate for myself and whoever wants it.

The commercialism doesn't bother me that much, because what hasn't been commercialised at this point. If you don't want to buy into it, don't. But don't get mad at other people for finding enjoyment in it.

I like the cards with the puns on them though. Those are funny. I remember once seeing this card and on the front it had this guy busting down a door and exclaiming "je t'adore!", and when you opened it the girl was saying "shut it yourself, ya lazy git". Speaking of, I should probably make some cards myself to give to friends.