I have always loved Valentine’s Day, in elementary school when you hand out dorky store-bought muppet-themed cards, or get to pass out chocolates to your friends, or more importantly when you got to eat chocolate. My dad would always leave chocolates or a card at the end of my bed for me to find when I woke up, and there would always be a bouquet of yellow roses on the table for my mom (her favourite). As I got older, my love for Valentine’s Day didn’t die out, in fact, I think I’ve just gotten more extravagant in my Valentine’s celebrations. For the four years that I had roommates I would always get them something nice, whether it be a blockbuster gift pack or homemade mason jar pies, and they would scurry out of the house and come back with something really nice (and thrown together, but still, nice) for me.  One of my roommates hated the idea of Valentine’s Day and insisted that it was an “early Easter present” – yeah, sure, whatever, ya big grump. For my bestie one year, I made her a delicious home-cooked meal. It was two pizzas, which I made in the shape of hearts, one was pesto-based, and the other was tomato-based, so we both got a half of each heart. In my final year of college I gave everyone in my program hand-made personalized Valentine’s Day cards and a heart shaped lollipop. Why? Because I freaking love Valentines.

Here are my Top 5 Suggestions for celebrating Valentine's Day with friends:

1. Baking. Hellooooo, chocolate is like, the best thing about Valentine's Day, why should you miss out? Plus, you can make things heart shaped! That's like, one of the best shapes! And there's so many healthy dessert recipes out there, way better than that store-bought crap. 2. Make an exquisite dinner. Ok, more cooking, but still, it's nice to come home to a fresh home-cooked meal, so follow my example and make a delicious gourmet feast for a friend. 3. Spa time. DIY face masks and at home mani-pedi's? Yes please. Plus, the more the merrier, make a girls' night out of it and have some of those delicious home-made desserts in between facials. Trashy gossip mags are a plus. 4. Fondue! Okay, more food, I know - but chocolate dipped strawberries? Come on, how much more perfect can that get? 5. Movie night. Going out to a movie and seeing tons of happy couples being couple-y may make you want to ralph, so have a movie marathon at home. It doesn't have to be love-themed, it can be anything you want, any holiday is a good excuse for a movie marathon in my opinion.   And yes, if I have ever been dating someone during Valentine’s season I’m sure we went out on a date or exchanged presents or what-not, but those aren’t the Valentine’s Days I remember – it’s the ones with my friends or my family, the real REAL loves of my life. For my more rambly version of this blog click here.