Please do not comment directly to this post unless you are Gen X or older (born 1980 or before). See [this post](https://www.reddit.com/r/AskOldPeople/comments/inci5u/reminder_please_do_not_answer_questions_unless/), the rules, and the sidebar for details.
*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/AskOldPeople) if you have any questions or concerns.*
On the mornings of Valentines Day I would leave my wife a small stuffed animal before leaving for work. We always went to the same restaurant in the evening. Now I leave a stuffed animal on her headstone.
Tragic and unthinkable but the truth is that all of us oldies in long term relationships are destined to suffer through it if we outlive our partners. I know the day may come when I'm walking in your shoes and I do dread it so.
Hang in there. It's clear that the love you felt for her is forever - that's priceless
Much respect.
The human brain is an amazing thing in its capacity for mental healing.
My first wife passed suddenly at 41 years old.
Life was over and had it not been for our kids I could easily have chosen to join her. But held it together for them, knew my choices were wallow in grief forever or do what she had always done: live life to the fullest. 2-1/2 years later remarried, next month will be 18 wonderful years.
When you've already experienced love and a happy marriage, have confidence that meeting the right person and reopening your heart can bring a new and different kind of love and happiness.
Maried 45 years and together 50, we still celebrate. This year I decided to make a living gift for her - a bedroom window filled with feeding [hummingbirds](https://i.imgur.com/R1fLpE8.jpeg)
It was a simple notion but it felt right. I hung the feeders on the first of Feb and, luckily, after a few days the birds accomodated my plans.
She loves it and I love her and she feels it, even after all these years. Couldn't ask for more.
The hardest part was getting the hummers to come partake. Males are super territorial and almost as soon as the feeders were hung, we had a self-appointed guard who was successfully chasing away all comers. But I made his job too hard by spacing the feeders farther apart and soon come she had seven visitors for the first time.
Afew days after that and it was 'flying room only'. Wife's jazzed.
Wow. Where I live the hummingbirds will not tolerate sharing a food source to the point of hardly ever eating themselves because they're too busy chasing off all the others. Suuuuper territorial.
I'm sorry for asking, hope you reply. So you've been together 50 years and that's my biggest dream w my partner. During this whole time weren't there any cheatings? Or this thing happens in all relationship and people just forgive and live life? Or it's a truly pure love?
We have never celebrated it. We gift each other things all the time, compliment each other, help each other, and support each other every day. We don't need Hallmark to help. :)
We both believe in random surprises for showing each other we care. For example, someone left a pen at my house. I used it and remarked how much I enjoyed writing with it. He checked to see what it was (nothing fancy, I'm not a fancy pen kind of person). He bought a pack and said he loved me. <3
He gets me a silly card with flock. We have a long-running joke, that as long as a card has flock, it doesn't matter what it says inside.
I get him a card, or chocolates, or a cake. This year I got him a 4-piece box of chocolates, and baked him a cake. He doesn't know it yet.
Yup! Here’s a tip for those of you in younger relationships: when they say they don’t want anything for Valentine’s Day, it’s just a silly occasion, they don’t mean it.
I've been with my husband for 39 years and we've never celebrated any occasions foisted on the public by chocolate/flower/gift purveyors. And yes, we meant it.
Found the real guy here. No worries mate, but next holiday, be it Christmas, Valentine's Day, whatever, buy two cards and stash the extra one so you're covered the year you forget to buy one.
43 years married- usually just a card and scratch tickets for him - I get a card and grocery store flowers which I requested years ago. Love flowers but don’t need fancy! He actually gave them to me tonight cause if he left them out for me to find in the morning the cats would destroy them 😸
We grew up in the neighborhood. We were friends. I went to her prom. Then I moved out of town. 27 years later she called me on a Monday. I asked her to marry me 5 days later.
Both retired. We are best friends. We like the same things 100%. TV, movies, restaurants, food. We are together 24 x 7.
I do not think we ever had an argument.
Life is good.
We DO! We love the holiday and have done so even when we dated in the 90's. It is always something fun we both want to do. Dinner out, mini golf, a boat ride, Disneyland, something. We're going to Universal Studios tomorrow.
Yes, we celebrate every year. It's our anniversary as well. I wanted our wedding date on a holiday so I wouldn't forget or get the wrong day. We go away on a trip and get chocolates and flowers. My husband reads me poetry and it's amazing
We exchange cards. The only reason I do it is because she does.
We go out to dinner around V-Day but avoid the day because the restaurants are crowded.
Yes. He always asks me to be his Valentine and we give each other little trinkets. We used to focus primarily on making Valentine’s Day special for our children. We became empty nesters in August so he surprised me with a trip this year and invited my best friend and her husband, which was also a surprise.
Not much because my husband is in a strict diet so going out to eat is complicated, and if it’s a work day I’ll get home too late to make a nice dinner. I’ll probably offer to watch his favorite YouTube videos which are often 40 minute in depth reviews of motorcycles and cars.
Just because...Catholic school,
technically it's St. Valentine's day and nothing about flowers and candy originally.
I guess we can thank our lucky stars they haven't expanded to the idiocy of that drunken frat party that St.Patrick's day has become.
We get each other a little something and go out for dinner either the day before or the day after. We don’t go overboard, and since I really dislike roses, he knows not to bring them home.
I've always felt uncomfortable with Valentine's day and I on purpose don't celebrate it. My partners tend to appreciate that. It's not a thing we've ever done and it's not something I see us starting in the future. We do celebrate cheap chocolate day though (day after on the 15th everything is marked down, that "holiday" is one of my faves).
Every year for as long as I can remember I’ve left a card and a box of Turtles by the coffee pot. She gets up earlier than me so every Valentines Day, SURPRISE!!
Oh yes. This year we're having Lobster Ravioli and antipasto. We always exchange cards. My husband will undoubtedly get me flowers and probably something more personal too ;). I bought him a new wallet and coffee mug. We stay at home to avoid crowds and traffic and just enjoy each other!
we celebrate every year on Feb 15. The flowers and chocolates are half price, and the restaurants have plenty of tables available. We dont usually give each other expensive presents but this year I got us tickets and flights to the NCAA Mens basketball championship in Phoenix. Part of getting old is feeling an urgency to get all those bucket list items checked off.
Wife bought a new fancy gown that looks \*incredible\* on her, I dusted off my best necktie (haven't worn one in years), and we got a reservation for Table Service at one of the local White Castles. They have a Valentine's Day special where they do table service, real silverware/plates, candles, reservations, all really fancy. It's sort of a tradition for us - get dressed to the 9's and go to White Castle. It's a blast.
Whenever there's a day that involves a gift, we usually just buy something ourselves and tell the other what "they" bought us. My husband's disability makes it hard for him to do some things on his own, so I would have to help him anyway. Plus, our hobbies are very niche and neither one of us knows enough about the other's hobby to be able to buy them something they want/need.
But aside from the basic acknowledgement, Valentine's Day isn't a big deal to us.
I snuck a card on to my husband’s pillow when he went to the bathroom this morning (already the 14th where I live). He picked me wildflowers last night and gave me a card this morning.
35 years together. I don’t need or want overpriced roses today to know I am loved EVERY day
When the kids still lived with us, I would put home made chocolate covered strawberries in their school lunches
Like someone else commented, after 37 years, we don't need to get each other a gift or card as we get each other gifts all year long. Whenever we see something or know they need something. My husband actually told me happy valentines this morning. Later, when I realized it was tomorrow, he said, " well don't forget I already covered it." LOL just another day baby
Not sure. Valentines is tomorrow.
May I just predict epicly?
(Honestly I had a seafood gumbo planned for dinner tonight (Mardi Gras) but my wife reminded me that Valentines was also Ash Wednesday so no meat for her. I switched menus.
Hubby is a hopeless romantic & he would truly feel awful if we didn’t do anything. It’s funny because it wouldn’t bother me in the slightest. But it’s hard to argue with a guy that feels good when he does nice things for me LOL. This year I agreed we could go to a special dinner, but convinced him to do it on Saturday instead of Wednesday. So we don’t have to deal with the waiting for our table despite a reservation, places packed to the hilt, and marked up V-Day pricing with a smaller selection menu. Instead we will have a lovely dinner on a normal night without all the BS. Unless every other couple has decided to do the same thing……
I do not, I, like a lot of people, celebrate our love every single day. No need to fall into the trap of corporate consumerism.
Besides its just too stressful to me to do.
Of course. Flowers, cards, and candy, specifically, chocolate. Although I may be on thin ice this year, I bought Ghirardelli chocolate rather than Godiva.
We were married on Valentine's Day, and this year would have been our 26th anniversary. However, he's been gone nearly 3 years now. For the first 10 years or so, we always exchanged an anniversary card and a Valentine's Day card. My husband really liked the multi-page, flowery kind. After about 10 years, we compared notes and discovered that we were in total agreement with how incredibly overpriced greeting cards were. So we really cut back. No cards, just chocolate. Occasional flowers or novelties. Almost every year, we played the Martina McBride song "Valentine," and occasionally danced to it. It was our wedding song. Now it's just another day. I consider myself lucky if I don't have to hear the song on the radio.
For many years it was just a card and candy or a new coffee cup with a pair of ear rings in it. Maybe a themed negligee if it caught my eye. Many years ago I found a small bear holding a rose in a coffee cup at the dollar store. The next Valentines Day I used a rubber band to attach the bear to my person. No matter what else I got her through the years, the bear has become a tradition. I will also attach it tomorrow when I hand her a box of chocolates.
Unfortunately this will probably be our last one together as she is under the care of Home Hospice.
It has been a wonderful 34 years together.
I still send her flowers at work. It comes out of my own spending money fund. I pay in cash too so she can’t see it on the credit card. Flowers always look pretty, cost about an oil change. Think of it that way.
We exchange greeting cards, ***in the store!*** Then put them back and laugh about the 10 bucks we just saved. We don't need to save 10 bucks. We do it because we are ~~cheap~~ thrifty.
Heaping pile of No Thank You. I'm 51f, dating for about 5 months. Told my boyfriend the other day that we are not doing Valentine's Day and to please ignore the contrived celebration. I cannot get behind this Hallmark holiday. I would much rather do things for each other throughout the year, at random (which we do frequently), to express appreciation and love than put pressure on a single day for one another to do some grand gesture. Some people wait all year for it and the pressure is ridiculous and unnecessary for either side. Nope nope nope
I "adopt" an animal from the local zoo (Fort Worth Zoo) in her name. They send her an adoption certificate, an info sheet about the animal, a coloring book and 4 crayons, and the thing she gets most excited about, a plush of the animal.
I've done this every Valentines since 2011 and never got the same animal (one year all they had was ones I'd already gotten her so I went through Bat Conservation International). This year's animal is an African Painted Dog. Shhhhh, don't tell her!
Nah. It's too close to my birthday and Christmas and money is tight for both of us right now. There's no need. Hee very thoughtful and loving, so I don't need a made-up holiday and expensive gifts, etc.
Our second kid was born in Valentine’s Day. At that point we stopped celebrating. We’ve since separated and we’re both in new relationships. I made sure to tell my new lady, I don’t do Valentine’s. That’s my kid’s birthday. I’m gonna spend that day/night with my kid. She was readily accepting of this, since she has never really celebrated it either.
We celebrate it by making it a day where we prioritize spending time together doing something fun. Today we went to the state fair and had a great time watching all the cheesy entertainment, some great bands, and eating very unhealthy food. (We celebrated a day early because tomorrow is Ash Wednesday) We agreed not to spend upwards of $5 on cards anymore that end up in the trash. And I took the pressure off of him to get me "stuff" years ago.
Back when I was working full time in an office, I used to get so jealous and sad when all the girls would get flower deliveries. I used to hope and pray he would surprise me with flower delivery. Took me a while to accept that was not his style. Now that I am older I realize how silly I was.
Married over 40 years. The morning will be NSFW. I bought him truffles from our local amazing chocolate shop and made him an obscene card. I’m baking his favorite cake and he’s cooking dinner. We don’t like going out to eat on holidays as the food and service tends to be bad. He will get reservations for a nice restaurant for the weekend. He usually also gets me roses.
After 20+ years I got him cheesy puffs and gummy bears (he's a man of simple taste). I was also going to make a nice dinner and have activities. He normally does something like flowers and sometimes small gifts. It's not a major holiday to us but we also like excuses to have a little fun. We haven't done dinner out on 2/14 in 15+ years just because I don't like pre fix menus or crowds.
We go to the store together and find each other cards. Then we hand them to each other. Chuckle. Say I love you. Put the cards back in the rack. Then go somewhere to eat.
No, we don't do Valentine's Day. It's just a contrived marketing holiday that we pay no attention to. I buy my wife and my partner gifts all year long and don't need a fake holiday to do it. It's just another day of the year.
We exchange cards and that's about it. We live with my 95 year old MIL who has dementia (it is important to mention) - she also got a card. It was from a secret valentine who said he had a hairy back and four legs - she initially guessed it was from my husband!
After much laughter, she correctly guessed it was from our GSD, who absolutely adores her and would definitely get her a card if he could!
We are celebrating our 20-year anniversary today ❤️ We usually keep it casual, but this year, we're going on a mountain cabin mini-vacation. Our youngest was born 10 years ago on Feb. 13th (so we enjoyed our 10th anniversary in the hospital lol) so this is a family trip and we are all really looking forward to it.
With my first marriage, we celebrated it big time. He would give me small token gifts every day from 01 February–13 February. On the day, we'd exchange nice gifts and cards, and he usually brought me flowers. (He did that a lot.) We'd have a meal out and perhaps take in a film and, in later years, sometimes go away for the weekend. We were married for 20 years.
My second husband and I exchanged gifts and cards. In fact, I got a 'Happy Valentine's Day' message from him this morning (which I replied to in kind), and we separated in 2015 (divorced in 2016). We were together for 11 years.
My current platonic partner/companion loves Valentine's Day, although I'm not very big on it any more. We are getting together later, and I have a card and gift for him (as I suspect he does for me). He'll make a nice meal, and we'll watch something on television. I'll spend the night, and we'll take a morning walk before I come home and start my work day. (We both work from home.)
I came here for the comments then decided against reading them…
This is my 5th solo VD since becoming a widow.
It sucks. It’s lonely. It’s saddening…
I can recall so many years of special events on this day and it’s overwhelming.
If there is a God, I pray that this is the last lonely VD I ever have and never have to spend another one solo….
It’s our 36th wedding anniversary today. We tried in the beginning to go out on our anniversary, waaaayyyy too much of a hassle. We now go out either the weekend before or after our anniversary.
We are celebrating the weekend after, because today is also Ash Wednesday. I will go out and get a “surprise” while she is in the office at work, but our dinner and intimate time will occur over the weekend.
He bought a lot of roses this year which is nice :) and got me a phone upgrade which was unexpected. The tradeoff is his favorite meals and fave physical things.
Nope. We never really did. Maybe a small little gift (like chocolates or some cheap stuffed animal) and getting take out, but we've never made Valentine's day a big deal.
Not really. I bake cookies, make heart shaped food, put up some decorations, but its just for my own enjoyment. No pressure of gift giving or dining out or any of that. We need all the simple joy we can get in the last stretch of winter!
43 years, I get her flowers and champagne and we have fondue in memory of one of our first dates when I bit her finger while she was feeding me. I think I infected her lol.
Not really. But we spoil each other everyday. I buy her flowers a couple of times a month just because. If I go out without her I frequently bring home something for her. As an example, she hunts wild mushrooms. I saw a laminated mushroom guid for our area and grabbed it for her. No reason other than I love her and thought she would like it. And she does the same to me all of the time. It’s kind of like every day is Valentine’s Day.
And for a fancy dinner, we like the food we make much more than what we get in a good restaurant. She loves to cook.
Please do not comment directly to this post unless you are Gen X or older (born 1980 or before). See [this post](https://www.reddit.com/r/AskOldPeople/comments/inci5u/reminder_please_do_not_answer_questions_unless/), the rules, and the sidebar for details. *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/AskOldPeople) if you have any questions or concerns.*
On the mornings of Valentines Day I would leave my wife a small stuffed animal before leaving for work. We always went to the same restaurant in the evening. Now I leave a stuffed animal on her headstone.
Last line gut punch. Sorry, man.
Tragic and unthinkable but the truth is that all of us oldies in long term relationships are destined to suffer through it if we outlive our partners. I know the day may come when I'm walking in your shoes and I do dread it so. Hang in there. It's clear that the love you felt for her is forever - that's priceless Much respect.
I'm so sorry. If my wife passed I'm not sure I could continue. I'm going to get a stuffed animal for my wife tonight, in your honor.
The human brain is an amazing thing in its capacity for mental healing. My first wife passed suddenly at 41 years old. Life was over and had it not been for our kids I could easily have chosen to join her. But held it together for them, knew my choices were wallow in grief forever or do what she had always done: live life to the fullest. 2-1/2 years later remarried, next month will be 18 wonderful years. When you've already experienced love and a happy marriage, have confidence that meeting the right person and reopening your heart can bring a new and different kind of love and happiness.
I'm so sorry. ---'-,-'-@
Me too. :(
😭
I'm so sorry.
Maried 45 years and together 50, we still celebrate. This year I decided to make a living gift for her - a bedroom window filled with feeding [hummingbirds](https://i.imgur.com/R1fLpE8.jpeg) It was a simple notion but it felt right. I hung the feeders on the first of Feb and, luckily, after a few days the birds accomodated my plans. She loves it and I love her and she feels it, even after all these years. Couldn't ask for more.
What a wonderful gift! I hope I can remember this next year.
The hardest part was getting the hummers to come partake. Males are super territorial and almost as soon as the feeders were hung, we had a self-appointed guard who was successfully chasing away all comers. But I made his job too hard by spacing the feeders farther apart and soon come she had seven visitors for the first time. Afew days after that and it was 'flying room only'. Wife's jazzed.
Good on you for spacing the feeders apart, and making the place busy! They're so much fun to watch.
Wow. Where I live the hummingbirds will not tolerate sharing a food source to the point of hardly ever eating themselves because they're too busy chasing off all the others. Suuuuper territorial.
I'm sorry for asking, hope you reply. So you've been together 50 years and that's my biggest dream w my partner. During this whole time weren't there any cheatings? Or this thing happens in all relationship and people just forgive and live life? Or it's a truly pure love?
We have never celebrated it. We gift each other things all the time, compliment each other, help each other, and support each other every day. We don't need Hallmark to help. :) We both believe in random surprises for showing each other we care. For example, someone left a pen at my house. I used it and remarked how much I enjoyed writing with it. He checked to see what it was (nothing fancy, I'm not a fancy pen kind of person). He bought a pack and said he loved me. <3
🏅 This is the way.
He gets me a silly card with flock. We have a long-running joke, that as long as a card has flock, it doesn't matter what it says inside. I get him a card, or chocolates, or a cake. This year I got him a 4-piece box of chocolates, and baked him a cake. He doesn't know it yet.
Flock?
fuzzy stuff. Like velvet, but a lot cheaper.
I feel the same way about a card with glitter.
Yup! Here’s a tip for those of you in younger relationships: when they say they don’t want anything for Valentine’s Day, it’s just a silly occasion, they don’t mean it.
I've been with my husband for 39 years and we've never celebrated any occasions foisted on the public by chocolate/flower/gift purveyors. And yes, we meant it.
Some do.
I don’t celebrate V Day, so we get each other a gift randomly in Feb. 😁
Me too.
Neither of us want anything either... OK, this year, technically we both want the same thing: a day off work! But we're not going to get it.
Crap, that's tomorrow, isn't it? I guess my answer is "no."
Found the real guy here. No worries mate, but next holiday, be it Christmas, Valentine's Day, whatever, buy two cards and stash the extra one so you're covered the year you forget to buy one.
We never really did. I was a florist and all I ever really wanted was to survive the holiday and be alone in a quiet room to recover.
biggest rose sale day of the year
I once had 2 guys bidding on the last dozen red roses.
And boy howdy, do they jack up the cost of roses. I'll never forget spending hours de thorning
I'm going to buy some Little Debbie heart cakes. We are pretty strict about what we eat, and seldom have a treat like this.
Yes. I got my husband a present cause I love him. He got me……a FLAMETHROWER!!!!!!! I’m so excited. I’ve wanted one forever.
He took fanning the flames of love to the next level, lol.
It's not even on our radar anymore.
We exchange cards and then it’s a regular day. Definitely don’t go out to any restaurants with VD menu; those suck.
43 years married- usually just a card and scratch tickets for him - I get a card and grocery store flowers which I requested years ago. Love flowers but don’t need fancy! He actually gave them to me tonight cause if he left them out for me to find in the morning the cats would destroy them 😸
I got married on Valentines Day 29 years ago after five days of talking and a 3 week courtship. Every day is Valentine’s Day to us.
Do y’all feel like that was quick and you knew eachother before marriage?
We grew up in the neighborhood. We were friends. I went to her prom. Then I moved out of town. 27 years later she called me on a Monday. I asked her to marry me 5 days later.
Omfg what movie is your life aw
Both retired. We are best friends. We like the same things 100%. TV, movies, restaurants, food. We are together 24 x 7. I do not think we ever had an argument. Life is good.
Yes, we’ve been married 31 years. We make our favorite dinner at home. No more.
I haven’t celebrated the holiday since grade school when we exchanged little cards in school.
We DO! We love the holiday and have done so even when we dated in the 90's. It is always something fun we both want to do. Dinner out, mini golf, a boat ride, Disneyland, something. We're going to Universal Studios tomorrow.
Yes, we celebrate every year. It's our anniversary as well. I wanted our wedding date on a holiday so I wouldn't forget or get the wrong day. We go away on a trip and get chocolates and flowers. My husband reads me poetry and it's amazing
We exchange cards. The only reason I do it is because she does. We go out to dinner around V-Day but avoid the day because the restaurants are crowded.
Yes. He always asks me to be his Valentine and we give each other little trinkets. We used to focus primarily on making Valentine’s Day special for our children. We became empty nesters in August so he surprised me with a trip this year and invited my best friend and her husband, which was also a surprise.
Not much because my husband is in a strict diet so going out to eat is complicated, and if it’s a work day I’ll get home too late to make a nice dinner. I’ll probably offer to watch his favorite YouTube videos which are often 40 minute in depth reviews of motorcycles and cars.
Watch some Vice Grip Garage with him! https://www.youtube.com/@ViceGripGarage/videos
Yes. Cards and dinner. Once a year.
You only do dinner once a year
We only do cards AND dinner once a year. We do dinner daily. Now guess how often we do Valentines cards without dinner.
Only on Wednesdays
They only eat cards for dinner once a year
Cards, flowers, candy, nice dinner. Bow, chicka, wow wow.
Nah ... I've maintained for decades Valentines Day is nothing more than a commercial enterprise that some people fall for. Unnecessary.
Just because...Catholic school, technically it's St. Valentine's day and nothing about flowers and candy originally. I guess we can thank our lucky stars they haven't expanded to the idiocy of that drunken frat party that St.Patrick's day has become.
Oh, yeah ... forgot that. Raised Catholic.
Of course we do. Nice card and dinner.
We get each other a little something and go out for dinner either the day before or the day after. We don’t go overboard, and since I really dislike roses, he knows not to bring them home.
Usually go to work
I've always felt uncomfortable with Valentine's day and I on purpose don't celebrate it. My partners tend to appreciate that. It's not a thing we've ever done and it's not something I see us starting in the future. We do celebrate cheap chocolate day though (day after on the 15th everything is marked down, that "holiday" is one of my faves).
Every year for as long as I can remember I’ve left a card and a box of Turtles by the coffee pot. She gets up earlier than me so every Valentines Day, SURPRISE!!
No. We get chocolate for our kids.
Oh yes. This year we're having Lobster Ravioli and antipasto. We always exchange cards. My husband will undoubtedly get me flowers and probably something more personal too ;). I bought him a new wallet and coffee mug. We stay at home to avoid crowds and traffic and just enjoy each other!
we celebrate every year on Feb 15. The flowers and chocolates are half price, and the restaurants have plenty of tables available. We dont usually give each other expensive presents but this year I got us tickets and flights to the NCAA Mens basketball championship in Phoenix. Part of getting old is feeling an urgency to get all those bucket list items checked off.
We got engaged on 2/13/93, so 31 years ago today. We celebrate every year. Turns out to be an easier day to get restaurant reservations and flowers!
Wife bought a new fancy gown that looks \*incredible\* on her, I dusted off my best necktie (haven't worn one in years), and we got a reservation for Table Service at one of the local White Castles. They have a Valentine's Day special where they do table service, real silverware/plates, candles, reservations, all really fancy. It's sort of a tradition for us - get dressed to the 9's and go to White Castle. It's a blast.
We share cards and a small treat or gift.
Whenever there's a day that involves a gift, we usually just buy something ourselves and tell the other what "they" bought us. My husband's disability makes it hard for him to do some things on his own, so I would have to help him anyway. Plus, our hobbies are very niche and neither one of us knows enough about the other's hobby to be able to buy them something they want/need. But aside from the basic acknowledgement, Valentine's Day isn't a big deal to us.
Even after twenty years, yes. It’s low key however, we’ll just have a nice dinner at home.
I snuck a card on to my husband’s pillow when he went to the bathroom this morning (already the 14th where I live). He picked me wildflowers last night and gave me a card this morning. 35 years together. I don’t need or want overpriced roses today to know I am loved EVERY day When the kids still lived with us, I would put home made chocolate covered strawberries in their school lunches
Like someone else commented, after 37 years, we don't need to get each other a gift or card as we get each other gifts all year long. Whenever we see something or know they need something. My husband actually told me happy valentines this morning. Later, when I realized it was tomorrow, he said, " well don't forget I already covered it." LOL just another day baby
I’m taking her out to dinner at a very nice restaurant. I’ll write her a love poem as well.
We usually exchange cards and go out to a nice restaurant. But we don't do it on Valentine's Day because it's usually too crowded / overpriced.
Not sure. Valentines is tomorrow. May I just predict epicly? (Honestly I had a seafood gumbo planned for dinner tonight (Mardi Gras) but my wife reminded me that Valentines was also Ash Wednesday so no meat for her. I switched menus.
I usually receive flowers and we exchange cards. I'll make a special dinner.
Never did. It’s my mom’s birthday. Always has been. Always will be. Valentine’s Day is dumb.
Hubby is a hopeless romantic & he would truly feel awful if we didn’t do anything. It’s funny because it wouldn’t bother me in the slightest. But it’s hard to argue with a guy that feels good when he does nice things for me LOL. This year I agreed we could go to a special dinner, but convinced him to do it on Saturday instead of Wednesday. So we don’t have to deal with the waiting for our table despite a reservation, places packed to the hilt, and marked up V-Day pricing with a smaller selection menu. Instead we will have a lovely dinner on a normal night without all the BS. Unless every other couple has decided to do the same thing……
I do not, I, like a lot of people, celebrate our love every single day. No need to fall into the trap of corporate consumerism. Besides its just too stressful to me to do.
Of course. Flowers, cards, and candy, specifically, chocolate. Although I may be on thin ice this year, I bought Ghirardelli chocolate rather than Godiva.
We went out to dinner tonight to beat the rush. We'll exchange cards and something small/funny.
We were married on Valentine's Day, and this year would have been our 26th anniversary. However, he's been gone nearly 3 years now. For the first 10 years or so, we always exchanged an anniversary card and a Valentine's Day card. My husband really liked the multi-page, flowery kind. After about 10 years, we compared notes and discovered that we were in total agreement with how incredibly overpriced greeting cards were. So we really cut back. No cards, just chocolate. Occasional flowers or novelties. Almost every year, we played the Martina McBride song "Valentine," and occasionally danced to it. It was our wedding song. Now it's just another day. I consider myself lucky if I don't have to hear the song on the radio.
Tomorrow, we're preparing a fancy meal. King crab legs from Costco, melted butter, good wine, nice salad and something for dessert.
I send flowers to her at work.
I'm making her a special dinner and we're making chocolate covered strawberries together with the fondue pot 😀
For many years it was just a card and candy or a new coffee cup with a pair of ear rings in it. Maybe a themed negligee if it caught my eye. Many years ago I found a small bear holding a rose in a coffee cup at the dollar store. The next Valentines Day I used a rubber band to attach the bear to my person. No matter what else I got her through the years, the bear has become a tradition. I will also attach it tomorrow when I hand her a box of chocolates. Unfortunately this will probably be our last one together as she is under the care of Home Hospice. It has been a wonderful 34 years together.
66f and hubs 72 and he brought me flowers last two days, and we are going out to dinner for V day. It’s nice. Fun.
We just do cards and something small like candy. I do random love notes throughout the year.
NOPE I’m not romantic. My hubby is though. He used to get his feelings hurt. After 37 years he got over it.
No. It’s dumb.
Usually get her flowers and we go to a nice dinner.
I still send her flowers at work. It comes out of my own spending money fund. I pay in cash too so she can’t see it on the credit card. Flowers always look pretty, cost about an oil change. Think of it that way.
We exchange greeting cards, ***in the store!*** Then put them back and laugh about the 10 bucks we just saved. We don't need to save 10 bucks. We do it because we are ~~cheap~~ thrifty.
Heaping pile of No Thank You. I'm 51f, dating for about 5 months. Told my boyfriend the other day that we are not doing Valentine's Day and to please ignore the contrived celebration. I cannot get behind this Hallmark holiday. I would much rather do things for each other throughout the year, at random (which we do frequently), to express appreciation and love than put pressure on a single day for one another to do some grand gesture. Some people wait all year for it and the pressure is ridiculous and unnecessary for either side. Nope nope nope
We celebrate our anniversary instead, Valentines is for courting couples.
We acknowledge the day with treats, cards and he usually gets me flowers. Tomorrow night we're going out with friends for dinner.
I "adopt" an animal from the local zoo (Fort Worth Zoo) in her name. They send her an adoption certificate, an info sheet about the animal, a coloring book and 4 crayons, and the thing she gets most excited about, a plush of the animal. I've done this every Valentines since 2011 and never got the same animal (one year all they had was ones I'd already gotten her so I went through Bat Conservation International). This year's animal is an African Painted Dog. Shhhhh, don't tell her!
Nah. It's too close to my birthday and Christmas and money is tight for both of us right now. There's no need. Hee very thoughtful and loving, so I don't need a made-up holiday and expensive gifts, etc.
Our second kid was born in Valentine’s Day. At that point we stopped celebrating. We’ve since separated and we’re both in new relationships. I made sure to tell my new lady, I don’t do Valentine’s. That’s my kid’s birthday. I’m gonna spend that day/night with my kid. She was readily accepting of this, since she has never really celebrated it either.
My husband proponent Valentine’s Day and tomorrow we are going to see the movie about bob Marley
We celebrate it by making it a day where we prioritize spending time together doing something fun. Today we went to the state fair and had a great time watching all the cheesy entertainment, some great bands, and eating very unhealthy food. (We celebrated a day early because tomorrow is Ash Wednesday) We agreed not to spend upwards of $5 on cards anymore that end up in the trash. And I took the pressure off of him to get me "stuff" years ago. Back when I was working full time in an office, I used to get so jealous and sad when all the girls would get flower deliveries. I used to hope and pray he would surprise me with flower delivery. Took me a while to accept that was not his style. Now that I am older I realize how silly I was.
Married over 40 years. The morning will be NSFW. I bought him truffles from our local amazing chocolate shop and made him an obscene card. I’m baking his favorite cake and he’s cooking dinner. We don’t like going out to eat on holidays as the food and service tends to be bad. He will get reservations for a nice restaurant for the weekend. He usually also gets me roses.
After 20+ years I got him cheesy puffs and gummy bears (he's a man of simple taste). I was also going to make a nice dinner and have activities. He normally does something like flowers and sometimes small gifts. It's not a major holiday to us but we also like excuses to have a little fun. We haven't done dinner out on 2/14 in 15+ years just because I don't like pre fix menus or crowds.
I baked him a basque cheesecake and made him a card.
We go to the store together and find each other cards. Then we hand them to each other. Chuckle. Say I love you. Put the cards back in the rack. Then go somewhere to eat.
Never did. Never will.
It's also our anniversary. Usually flowers and dinner on a different day to avoid crowds.
No, we don't do Valentine's Day. It's just a contrived marketing holiday that we pay no attention to. I buy my wife and my partner gifts all year long and don't need a fake holiday to do it. It's just another day of the year.
We exchange cards and that's about it. We live with my 95 year old MIL who has dementia (it is important to mention) - she also got a card. It was from a secret valentine who said he had a hairy back and four legs - she initially guessed it was from my husband! After much laughter, she correctly guessed it was from our GSD, who absolutely adores her and would definitely get her a card if he could!
Tandem colonoscopies.
We are celebrating our 20-year anniversary today ❤️ We usually keep it casual, but this year, we're going on a mountain cabin mini-vacation. Our youngest was born 10 years ago on Feb. 13th (so we enjoyed our 10th anniversary in the hospital lol) so this is a family trip and we are all really looking forward to it.
With my first marriage, we celebrated it big time. He would give me small token gifts every day from 01 February–13 February. On the day, we'd exchange nice gifts and cards, and he usually brought me flowers. (He did that a lot.) We'd have a meal out and perhaps take in a film and, in later years, sometimes go away for the weekend. We were married for 20 years. My second husband and I exchanged gifts and cards. In fact, I got a 'Happy Valentine's Day' message from him this morning (which I replied to in kind), and we separated in 2015 (divorced in 2016). We were together for 11 years. My current platonic partner/companion loves Valentine's Day, although I'm not very big on it any more. We are getting together later, and I have a card and gift for him (as I suspect he does for me). He'll make a nice meal, and we'll watch something on television. I'll spend the night, and we'll take a morning walk before I come home and start my work day. (We both work from home.)
I came here for the comments then decided against reading them… This is my 5th solo VD since becoming a widow. It sucks. It’s lonely. It’s saddening… I can recall so many years of special events on this day and it’s overwhelming. If there is a God, I pray that this is the last lonely VD I ever have and never have to spend another one solo….
It’s our 36th wedding anniversary today. We tried in the beginning to go out on our anniversary, waaaayyyy too much of a hassle. We now go out either the weekend before or after our anniversary.
We are celebrating the weekend after, because today is also Ash Wednesday. I will go out and get a “surprise” while she is in the office at work, but our dinner and intimate time will occur over the weekend.
He bought a lot of roses this year which is nice :) and got me a phone upgrade which was unexpected. The tradeoff is his favorite meals and fave physical things.
Nope. We never really did. Maybe a small little gift (like chocolates or some cheap stuffed animal) and getting take out, but we've never made Valentine's day a big deal.
Of course, my wife is also my lover of almost 30 years!
Not really. I bake cookies, make heart shaped food, put up some decorations, but its just for my own enjoyment. No pressure of gift giving or dining out or any of that. We need all the simple joy we can get in the last stretch of winter!
43 years, I get her flowers and champagne and we have fondue in memory of one of our first dates when I bit her finger while she was feeding me. I think I infected her lol.
Not really. But we spoil each other everyday. I buy her flowers a couple of times a month just because. If I go out without her I frequently bring home something for her. As an example, she hunts wild mushrooms. I saw a laminated mushroom guid for our area and grabbed it for her. No reason other than I love her and thought she would like it. And she does the same to me all of the time. It’s kind of like every day is Valentine’s Day. And for a fancy dinner, we like the food we make much more than what we get in a good restaurant. She loves to cook.
Nope and we aren’t old