February is the month that most people
associate with love. It’s all hearts, candy, flowers and romance. Or
disappointment, heartache and tons of ice cream or other comfort food to drown
your lack of love/romance in. Thanks Valentine’s Day.
I’m not going to go into how much I loathe
Valentine’s Day and the commercialism of this “pretend” holiday. Or even how
I’m bitter that Valentine’s Day overshadows and gets in the way of my birthday,
which happens to be February 14.
Instead, I’m going to highlight 10 ways to celebrate a Valentine’s
Birthday:
1.
Have pizza delivered to them
for lunch along with flowers. Everyone loves pizza and pizza, for most people,
was a childhood birthday food staple. As for the flowers, flowers just make
people happy. But stay away from roses…too “Valentine”.
2.
If you take them out for
dinner, try and go to a place that will have live music, like a piano player.
Arrange to have the musician(s) play “Happy Birthday” when they enter the
room. Everyone in the room will know someone’s
celebrating a birthday and that things besides Valentine’s Day happen on
February 14.
3.
Get them a really cool gift
that is in no way related to Valentine’s Day and/or love. I suggest the Beanie
Buddy octopus named Inky. It’s an octopus named INKY! A friend gave me this in
high school and I LOVE it. Especially the name.
4.
Throw them a surprise party.
Who doesn’t love a surprise party? The birthday person will be beyond touched
that so many people gave up celebrating Valentine’s Day to celebrate the day of
their birth instead.
5.
Bake a cake. This is a
thoughtful thing. One of my best birthdays involved my roommates making me a
chocolate cake with chocolate frosting and ‘Happy 19th Birthday
Melissa’ spelled out in licorice. It doesn’t have to be perfect…it really is
the thought that counts. I don't have a picture of that cake, but I do have a picture of this cake that a friend and her daughter made for me and surprised me with:
6.
Take them out. Blow off
work/school/responsibilities to take them to a bar and do birthday shots with
them mid-day (or right after work). Valentine’s Day hasn’t really kicked into
full gear yet, so they’ll be able to enjoy their birthday without a ton of
couples around celebrating Valentine’s Day. If things get a bit wild, that’s
ok. And let’s be honest…shots really do make things better.
7.
Spa day. Nothing says birthday
like being pampered. Even if you can’t afford a full spa day, send them for something…manicure,
pedicure, facial even a massage. This really is the best way to spend your
birthday.
8.
Dance party. Just make sure
there are no ‘love’ songs on the playlist. Many of my birthdays have included
impromptu dance parties and they are ALWAYS fun. Plus, this is so easy to do!
Turn on some music and start dancing.
9.
Do something they love but not
Valentine’s related. For example, if their favourite restaurant is having a
Valentine’s special, skip it. They like to bowl and the local bowling alley is doing
rock-and-bowl, this would be good. I
spent a lot of my birthdays at rinks watching hockey games.
10.
Remember their birthday. This
really is just basic. Year round so many people remember my birthday because
it’s on Valentine’s Day. But then, the actual day arrives and no one
remembers/cares because they are so busy and focused on Valentine’s Day. Try
and remember their birthday outside of Facebook- send them an e-mail, text
message or pick up the phone and call them- all are better than a Facebook message (which points out who’s
celebrating a birthday that day). And
for goodness sakes, do not give a combined Valentine/birthday gift and/or
card. Separate the two events.
If you know someone who is born on
Valentine’s Day, do something nice for them- forgo celebrating the fake “holiday”
that is Valentine’s Day and instead celebrate the day of their birth. They
really will appreciate it. Trust me.
