How to Safely Celebrate Valentine’s Day with Your Friends This Year – February Blog Brew 2021

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Valentine’s Day is a holiday to celebrate those you love and show them just how much you care, whether it’s through a thoughtful card, delicious chocolates, or just spending time together. With the pandemic raging on and many areas of the world still under lockdown, this February 14 might be quite different for some of us. However, there are still many ways we can connect with loved ones and celebrate the holiday in a fun, engaging manner! So today, I’ll be going over several ideas on how to safely celebrate Valentine’s Day with family and friends!

Do a Valentine’s Day Themed Gift Exchange

I’ve participated in a few Secret Santa gift exchanges over the years, and they’re always so fun! I really enjoy shopping for other people and trying to guess who each participant ended up with as a giftee. I think this could make for a very fun Valentine’s Day activity as well. Even better, it can be done in a completely remote, safe way by using video chat and mailing services. Whoever’s in charge of matching people up can give out those matchups through text or email, then each participant sends their lucky Valentine’s Day buddy gifts through the mail. You could even open presents over a service like Zoom; that way, you get to see everyone’s reactions live, which is one of the best parts of a gift exchange!

Have a Watch Party Together

Another great Valentine’s Day activity would be to watch a movie together with your friends! With lockdown still being a thing, how exactly would you go about doing this remotely, though? Well, luckily, there are now a few streaming services you can set up Watch Parties for your friends and family with. In particular, Netflix and Amazon Prime have handy features like this that allow you to watch films and shows with others online. Because of this, you can also chat with each other and react live as you watch. So consider setting up a Watch Party for you and your friends to view a favorite movie as a group!

Make Valentine’s Day Cards for One Another

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One of the best ways to show a loved one you truly care, on Valentine’s Day or any day of the year, is to make them a thoughtful, handmade card. It’s typically the gifts that people take the time and effort to make themselves, that end up being the most treasured. And there are a couple ways you could go about this! If you’re not super crafty or just prefer digital media, you could use a service like Canva or Stencil to make the perfect digital card. I’ve used both services before, and they really are fantastic. Of course, another option is to make your own Valentine’s Day card with crayons, colored pencils, glitter, and whatever crafty materials you like. 

A really fun way to carry out this idea would be to agree to make digital cards as a group, then set a date to send them to one another all at the same time. Then, you can take a look at the cards each person made and gush over how amazing they are! And who doesn’t love receiving a beautiful, thoughtful card? 

Create a Graphic Listing All the Things You Love about Your Friends

This idea goes in line with the previous one in that it’s a very thoughtful, considerate way to show a friend you’re thinking of them on Valentine’s Day. Furthermore, if you want to change things up a bit from greeting cards, this is a wonderful option. That’s especially true if you’re tech savvy and dabble in graphic design. Instead of going with the usual card format, whip up a gorgeous graphic displaying all the points you love about your dearest friends! Make it vibrant, quirky, modern, whatever design your friends would enjoy! 

Play Co-op Video Games Together

Here we have one of my personal favorites from this list! I absolutely love video games, and over the years, I’ve found playing them with others is even more enjoyable. Co-op video games always make for a great time filled with jokes, laughs, competition, and just fun. Plus, most games of this type require genuine teamwork and cooperation. So playing alongside your best friends should make any in-game challenge a complete breeze! 

Some games perfect for a Valentine’s Day co-op gaming session are Resident Evil 5, A Way Out, and the Overcooked series. All of these titles rely heavily on teamwork to progress through and advance the story. Even Overcooked and Overcooked 2, which may seem fairly simple at first glance, require quite a bit of strategy and close teamwork to get a high score on each level. The excellent A Way Out is about two men who work together to break out of prison and make it back home to their previous lives. This game ranges from quiet, poignant moments of playing instruments together to evading the police in tense, fast-paced chase sequences. It operates heavily around looking out for one another and doing tasks to help both characters overcome certain obstacles, making it a fantastic choice to play with a close friend. 

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Do a Craft Together Over Video Chat

Fortunately, in today’s world we have access to an abundance of technology that makes this pandemic just a bit easier to weather. With the onset of video chat platforms like Zoom and Skype, it’s easier than ever to connect with others, which makes this next activity very doable even during a pandemic. If your friends are feeling crafty this Valentine’s Day, consider doing a craft themed around the holiday together. You could make drawings, create a heart out of perler beads, complete a festive diamond painting, or dowse a handmade card with glitter. The possibilities are truly endless here, so feel free to go wild and do whatever crafts you want!

Gift Your Friend a Special Delivery of Yummy Treats or Flowers

If you’re going for a more traditional Valentine’s Day present, then flowers and sugary goodies are always safe bets. Plus, with all the edible creations and flower delivery services that exist today, it’s easier than ever to surprise a loved one with a special Valentine’s Day treat. And it’s safe, too! There are many options to explore here, especially in the food department, but a few notable services are GiftTree, Edible Arrangements, and Cheryl’s Cookies. Searching for various desserts on Etsy brings up numerous results as well, and allows you to support much deserving small businesses.

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As for flowers, there are also several noteworthy services you can use to bless a beloved friend with their favorite bouquet. Just to name a few, 1-800-Flowers, Teleflora, and FTD all offer floral deliveries as a main service. Many brick and mortar retailers also offer this service, so it’s worth looking into your local stores for flower deliveries, too. Whichever option you choose, this is sure to be a hit with your friends, and a fantastic way to commemorate Valentine’s Day with them!

Play Board Games Online as a Group

Did your friends get together for a weekly board game night before the pandemic hit? Do you spend hours playing board games and trying out new ones with friends? If so, then playing a round of board games online might be a great way to pass Valentine’s Day with your friends! Board Game Arena is an online board game service that allows you to play with your friends and against others remotely. It also happens to have a huge range of available titles, including 7 Wonders, Libertalia, and Yahtzee (all of which are amazing games). 

Another service similar to Board Game Arena is Tabletopia. Much like the former, Tabletopia has an impressive selection of titles to pick from, with Love Letter, Terra Mystica, and different iterations of Pandemic being notable options. It even has board games divided into various categories, so if your group is made up of beginners, you can easily find simple to learn and play games. Overall, there are thousands of board games to try across these two sites, so what are you waiting for? Get your group together (remotely and safely) for a fun, relaxing game night this Valentine’s Day! 

Make Each Other Valentine’s Day Music Playlists

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Without a doubt, this is another favorite idea of mine! I think making music playlists for other people is already fun enough as it is, but making one specifically for Valentine’s Day sounds even more enjoyable. You could fill it with songs that remind you of the holiday, have themes of love and romance, or whatever you want, really! As long as the playlist ties into the Valentine’s Day holiday somehow, anything goes. Another option is to add your favorite songs to the playlist, so whenever your friend listens to it, they’ll think of you! 

I truly think this is such a cute idea, perfect to commemorate Valentine’s Day with a friend! And luckily, there are many music related services you can use to build your special playlist. Amazon Music includes the option to create playlists, so as long as you’ve purchased the tracks you want on Amazon, it should be easy to Do this activity. In addition, Spotify makes it incredibly simple and easy to find your favorite songs, then add them to a created playlist. Even better, it has a free basic subscription, which ensures you can Do this entirely for free. If you want your friend to have a physical copy of your playlist, you could even burn the songs onto a blank disc and send that to them!

Text or Call a Friend to Let Them Know You’re Thinking of Them

Last but certainly not least, here’s one of my favorite ideas for Valentine’s Day! In my opinion, it’s also one of the simplest and easiest to do, but it blatantly shows your love for the other person. Every time I receive a text from a friend or family member, especially one that asks how I’m doing, I immediately feel so much love from that person. I feel cared for and thought of, which is one of the most wonderful feelings in the world. When people do this for you, you know that they’re looking out for you and truly care about your well-being.

On an occasion like Valentine’s Day, it would mean even more to receive a kind text like this from a friend. And like I said before, it’s very easy to do. The text could be just a couple lines or a complete paragraph; however long, it’ll let the other person know you’re thinking of them with love and care in your heart. Just let your friends and family know you really care about them. That’s all it takes to make another person smile and have a better day. 

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Well, those are all my ideas for how to remotely celebrate Valentine’s Day with friends! I hope you enjoyed this post and that it gave you some inspiration for how to arrange your own fun, safe celebration this February 14. Happy Valentine’s Day (even though it’s a bit early)! Take care, stay safe, and let your loved ones know how much you care! 💗 

This post is part of the Blog Brew, a monthly collaboration between seven other amazing bloggers and myself where we cover various topics each month. With the arrival of February, our theme for this month is ‘Valentine’s Day’. Accordingly, we all have wonderful posts about celebrating Valentine’s Day, the holiday of love! Be sure to follow along with the other bloggers in this collab below! They’ve written fantastic posts about this heartfelt occasion and how to enjoy it to the fullest. So go ahead and see what tips and tricks they have in store for you! 

Day 1 – Rhiannon over at Mrssleejones
Day 2 – Karalee over at talesofbelle
Day 3 – N/A
Day 4 – Kim over at chimmyville
Day 5 – Jessie over at wandererandtraveller
Day 6 – Haley over at introvertedcreativity (This was my post! Thanks so much for reading!)
Day 7 – Luce over at perselem
Day 8 – Beth over at thoughtsofarealredhead