By Julie Blair Riekse
It is understandable why so many people think of Valentine’s Day as a throwaway holiday. Unlike Christmas or Thanksgiving, there isn’t obvious historical significance—just the blurred sentiment articulated by grocers and gift shop owners that we should celebrate love. Not only should we send a valentine to those we admire (average cost: $4.99), but we should consider presenting them a wrapped box of chocolate covered in pink and red bows. If we want to show them we really care, we can add flowers.
Sure, this is exciting stuff if you’re a preschooler or a ninth grade girl. After all, at those ages, glitter and doilies are really, really important. But for the rest of us, well, it all seems a little silly.
Then again, maybe we should rethink it.
Is it really all that ridiculous to show our love and appreciation for others? Of course not. In fact, it is a wonderful sentiment to set aside a day to honor the special people in our lives. Moreover, the holiday lands at the perfect time: Mid-winter is dark and cold; spring break is far, far away.
In other words, we all need a little glitter come February 14.
The problem is that Valentine’s Day has become pat. But it doesn’t have to be. We’ve come up with fourteen unexpected ways to make your husband, girlfriend or kids feel cherished. Best of all, most of these gifts cost less than a bottle of wine.
· Do your husband’s most disliked chore for a whole week. Walk the dog at 6 a.m., clean the fridge, iron five work shirts, take out the trash.
· Detail your teenager’s car. Scrub the dashboard, vacuum the floor mats, place shiny quarters in the consol for tolls.
· Reserve a pile of books on a favorite hobby for a friend at the library—then pick up and deliver the materials.
· In lieu of a movie, read a short story out loud to your wife or listen to a book on tape together.
· Bring your child’s teacher a hot latte during recess.
· Bake homemade dog biscuits for your pup.
· Record the details of your courtship into a handheld tape recorder. Then, interview one another about the highs and lows in your relationship, discuss memorable moments, make predictions about the future.
· Plant early-blooming flower bulbs in your sister’s empty flower boxes without her knowing it.
· Give a colleague a good idea—and let her take the credit.
· Use a heart-shaped cookie cutter to slice your son’s PB&J.
· Copy five favorite recipes and send them to your mother.
· Volunteer to babysit your friend’s children one morning and have them make old-fashioned valentines with crepe paper.
· Telephone a former mentor and tell him exactly how he helped you.
· Eliminate your spouse’s pet peeve for a week. Take the time put the Diet Coke cans in the recycling bin, refold the newspaper after you’ve read it, turn off the lights when you leave the room.
Valentine’s Day should be a time to tell those who’ve made our lives richer that they’ve done so. Whether you package your tokens of affection to them in traditional pink and red ribbon is up to you.
Freelance writer Julie Blair Riekse will spend Valentine’s Day with her three-year-old twins and husband at their home in Dallas, Texas. She will wear pink while recycling her Diet Coke cans.
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