So, Valentine’s Day is right around the corner (I know, I know…it seems like just yesterday we were celebrating the ever-important Groundhog’s Day!) and I don’t know about you, but outside of conversation hearts, I find it a pretty useless “Hallmark Holiday”, all dressed up in a doily.
It’s too bad because isn’t Valentine’s Day supposed to be about love? Expressing love for those in your life you hold most dear? Or at least appreciation? It seems this holiday is just not living up to its full potential.
Here are 7 ways to raise the bar for this holiday and make this year’s Valentine’s Day an opportunity to give from the heart for personal or professional reasons.
1) Buy a gift card from TisBest.org (or win one by reading this blog…read on!) Purchase a gift card from TisBest.org and the recipient of the your gift gets to decide to which charity the donation is directed. You can even customize the look of the gift card with your own photos or artwork and send giftcards via email or snail mail. The selection of 250 charities is ample and well-categorized. This gift is meaningful on a personal or professional level.
2) Parents, check this out. Instead of purchasing the typical Valentine’s Cards for your kids to bring to school, consider making a donation to Save the Children to receive this set of 25 Valentine’s Cards, created with artwork done by children. I like these cards because they’re a simple way to help you raise awareness with your own kids.
3) Kids will also enjoy creating hand
made “Love Letters” to send to Random
Cards of Kindness that get sent
to children with life-threatening illnesses.
4) Enjoy a great home-cooked meal
…at a soup kitchen. Many soup kitchens
offer opportunities for groups or individuals to come in and serve a meal. If you’ve not done this before, it’s an amazingly rewarding opportunity. Doing this with a group, employees and/or your kids is great fun. Check your local volunteer bank or Volunteer Match or 1-800-Volunteer.
5) Drop a note to the people in your life that you love and appreciate. A meaningful one. Remember all those people that don’t often get a “thank-you”…your favorite barista, professional vendor, childcare provider, co-worker, Sunday school teacher or blogger. In today’s technology-driven society, a hand-written note speaks volumes.
6) Go for a run with or on behalf of someone you love. Check out Active.com’s list of runs near you. Most race entry fees go toward a worthy cause.
7) If you must purchase a product, think sustainably. Elaine Gast has outlined a great list of Fair Trade Chocolates and other gift suggestions.
So this year, take a different approach to Valentine’s Day. Who knows? It just might become a favorite holiday after all.
To win a $25 gift card to give to your Valentine, submit a comment below with your favorite Valentine’s Day memory or an idea for a more heartfelt Valentine’s Day. I’ll pick one on February 4th and we’ll get the TisBest.org gift card sent directly to you!
I too find Valentines too commercial and single day minded. I hope that I remember everyday to tell someone I love them, or better yet show it with my actions. To keep my loved ones in my prayers in good and bad times. To say a prayer for someone that has no one to pray for them. To practice “Valentines Day” everyday.
Thanks for the great ideas Megan!
Best,
Belinda
My family loves this holiday and other holidays to give a meal away, albeit with a bit of mystery! We chose a local place to eat and during our meal, look around the place for a family or a couple or someone eating alone that we would like to surprise by picking up the tab. We have chosen an elderly gentleman eating alone to a family with 5 children! Once we decide on who should get our gift, we call the server over and explain we would like their check added to ours. Every wait staff person is surprised but charmed and eager to help. Instead of a bill, they get a friendly note that wishes them Happy Valentine’s Day, Happy Tuesday, etc. Our daughter often picks the message to pass along.
We are giddy when we leave watching the surprised response our gift always has. We love the mystery we create!
And the winner is….SHARON! Congrats, Sharon. You’ll be getting the TisBest gift card in the mail shortly. Thanks for your comment!
I LOVE this idea – it’s very “pay it forward”. Simple and easy to do yet packs a huge punch for the recipient (and probably for you, too). Cool. Thanks!
We started a new Valentine’s Day tradition this year for our family. We made felt fortune cookies (see Martha Stewart Living on-line for directions) and filled them with simple love notes from each other and from God. Everyone has 14 fortune cookies. One to open each day from Feb 1 – 14th. We have color-coded our fortune cookies, so that the fortune inside is special for the person opening it. It makes a really cute decoration too!
Hi, Megan.
Another way to help is with a Make-A-Wish certificate. You can honor your valentine and, at the same time, help in granting a wish for a child with a life-threatening medical condition.
http://bit.ly/bBEfwb
See you on Twitter!
@MakeAWish
My altruistic minded child has a new idea to put in place this year with Valentine’s Day. We have chosen 3-4 widows or widowers that live nearby (and know us) or attend our church. We are going to make up a valentine’s day package for each one and deliver it on Valentine’s Day- .
She wanted to make a valentine card for each person in a nearby retirement home. I wasn’t sure we could follow through with that on our own!
- A
First, I want to know where Sharon and her family are eating this Valentine’s Day!
Second, I’d like to share a story of one of my more memorable Valentine’s Day hijinx. I was a Sophomore in College and it was a foggy night that year on VD. I somehow got it in my mind to play the Valentine’s Day Fairy and asked my friend “D” if she wanted to join me. We cut up a ton of paper hearts and stuffed them into a pillow case. Then we donned the most-red outfits we could find. For me that was a red Union Suit (Complete with drop seat), and a red bandanna with eye holes cut out of it for a mask. I forget what “D” was wearing, but I’m sure it was comical, none-the-less. We pranced around campus dropping off valentines to unsuspecting coeds and their beau’s. Then we climbed up the front steps of Old Main (a building that was more than 100 years old) and threw paper valentines at passing folks.
And by the way, we were NOT drunk. . . I know, shocker, eh? We had fun and shared a little Valentine’s Day cheer! Thanks for asking. . .
Sean Harry
http://www.CareerAdvice4u.com/blog
I have a great memory of a valentines day party… A group of friends got together for great food, drinks and fun games… The newlywed game and a game where we had to draw our spouses picture with candy! Great fun, great memories!
Good morning, Happy Valentines Day!!