Valentine’s Day can invoke a lot of different feelings for a lot of different people. Primarily, the argument against that I consistently hear, is something along the lines of, “I don’t need a holiday to love my wife, I should do that every day”.
Yes, you should. You should love and treat your partner special and let them know how much you care for them every single day.
But do you?
The unfortunate thing is that the day to day mediocrity of suburban life can really weigh on you. Holidays like Valentine’s Day is one of those pop-up reminders that shouts, “remind your husband of how much he means to you!”
Say it through crappy commercialize chocolate, through dinner, on a hike, or whatever it is that you and your partner enjoy – just do something to take a break from day to day life.
A few years ago, my husband and I revamped how we do Valentine’s Day. We’ve never been comfortably middle class, and the idea of two people going big for Valentine’s Day was just not in the budget. So we took a new approach. Every Valentine’s Day, one of us is The Princess.
The Princess gets treated to whatever plans the giver has in store. They are in charge of whatever meals, gifts, special treats The Princess gets. No more, “I don’t know, what do you want to do.”
I’m either completely in charge or absolutely not in charge.
We alternate every year, and honestly, it’s pretty fun being both the giver and the receiver. I’m a big time over planner so getting to create a special (usually week long) event for my husband is a really exciting challenge. Likewise, I like the surprise of being doted on when it is my turn to be The Princess.
If you’re the planner, shake it up – make it exciting and varied; Go to happy hour, a movie, dinner, outside, do the dishes because you never do them, let your husband have video game time or whatever he likes to do that you couldn’t care less about. Send him flowers, pamper him, get him a massage. Get him one of those weird variety meat boxes or beef jerky in a heart-shaped box. Put little notes in his lunch box, voluntarily change a diaper. Let him pick what to watch on Netflix.
Do something that will have meaning for you, and do it with love and intention.
If you’re The Princess, relax and enjoy what Valentine’s Day brings your way.
What does Valentine’s Day look like in your marriage?