Shop for each other — or yourselves!
This is pretty much the high holiday of treatyoself. If you know your bestie loves Laduree, pick up a box of macarons before lunch. Send each other flowers — for once you’ll be able to specify exactly what you want in the bouquet! Buy new outfits for a girls dinner. Check out that high end lingerie shop whose skivvies you covet in every ad you see. Indulge in all the things you’d normally do for a special date, but do them just for yourself: mani/pedi, waxing, blowout, whatever makes you feel confident and sexy.
Baking/DIY night
Even if you don’t feel like going out into the world of candlelight and canoodling, you might feel a bit peppier if you don’t succumb to the couch. Troll Pinterest #Valentines all day while your officemates gab about the rezzies their boyfs made, there are some awesome recipes to try out. Bake your guilty pleasure cupcakes with tons of sugary icing, like this squee-worthy Heart Filled Valentine’s Cupcake recipe or those expensive steaks you don’t usually want to splurge on. Pepper-Crusted Filet Mignon, please! If cooking isn’t your idea of a good time, find a fun fashion DIY to try. Make this awesome choker you’d never guess was made out of drinking straws or embellish a Prada-inspired clutch.
Date night
Look, your Facebook and Twitter are going to be full of “date ideas” anyway, you might as well take advantage of them and go with a buddy. Do the typical romantic date things if you want: dinner and a movie (check out an Oscar nominee so you won’t feel left out during the awards), do a tasting at a local winery or brewery. Most of the Huffington Post’s Valentine’s Day Date Ideas That Give Chocolates and Roses A Run For Their Money can be adapted for non-romantic partners.
Have a sleepover
Okay, maybe this isn’t the type of sleepover you were hoping your Valentine’s Day would culminate in, but if you have no desire to avoid the couch, at least cuddle up with a friend. Make gourmet popcorn, knock out some chick flicks on Netflix, give each other time-consuming manicures you’d never otherwise attempt. You know the drill, you’ve been having sleepovers your whole life. Bonus points for rounding up a friend who you shared this girlie rite of passage with the first time around.
Make each other mix tapes
A time-honored tradition of both platonic and romantic relationships, create personalized playlists for each other. If she’s a super awesome independent woman dating around and not even thinking about a relationship, maybe mix up some Riot Grrrl, 90s girl bands or female anthem pop. If she’s going through a breakup, you’re probably going to have to get a little more serious and pick songs to help pick her back up. If she’s totally into the cheese of the holiday, maybe her favorite boy-band ballads are called for.
image: IMAXtree
