How to Treat Your Friends (and Yourself) on Valentine’s Day
Show your besties a little love this Valentine’s season. I know, I know — V-Day can be a drag, whether or not you have a partner. The pressure of the day can make it hard to actually enjoy it. And if you’re uncuffed, it feels like all you can do is throw a pity party and scroll miserably through dating apps while rewatching Bridgerton.
But haven’t we moved past this Bridget Jones-esque cliche? While I love a good rom-com, they taught us that being single was the worst possible affliction. And even more egregious, that the only kind of love is romantic love.
But it’s 2023! Valentine’s Day isn’t a death sentence for singletons. And frankly, it doesn’t have to be so cliché for people in relationships either.
That’s why I make a point to celebrate Galentine’s day. While the holiday might seem like a consolation prize for single girls, it’s a day to express your love for your besties and prioritize your friendships no matter your relationship status.
I find this comes at an opportune time. Winter makes socializing hard, January gets unbearably busy, and my seasonal depression means I’m pretty much in a perpetual state of hibernation until Spring. So by February, I always feel like I haven’t seen my friends in ages.
Enter: Galentine’s — the perfect excuse for a party. Par for the course, I’ve been sourcing tons of inspo from TikTok on what to do this year. From intimate home-cooked meals to potlucks and pajama parties, I can’t imagine why I’ve never thrown a Galentine’s Day gathering before.
From my extensive research — aka endless social media scrolling — I have deduced the key steps to throwing a fun get-together that doesn’t fall flat.
Lean Into The Theme
Light a ton of candles. Buy heart-shaped decor. Blow up dozens of red and pink balloons. Do extravagant make-up in the most dramatic hues. Commit to the theme in your decor and even your dress code. Embrace all the corny and saccharine elements of it — it’s camp.
Embrace Self Care
With all the love in the air, don’t forget self-love. Before you gather your girls for Galentines, take some time for yourself. Do a full self-care routine to the tune of your favorite guilty-pleasure anthems. Splurge on a little treat, too. You can’t pour from an empty cup, after all.
Get Some Gifts!
Splurge on your friends. They deserve a little token of your appreciation. Make some cute gift bags with little trinkets. Or plan to do a gift exchange. Think: Secret Santa in February. Secret Cupid? Secret Admirer? You get the point.
Here are some of the gifts I’ll be getting for my friends (or myself) for every type of person and every budget:
