What are you looking for?
30 January 2015

valentine's day, schmalentine's day


pink champagne truffles c/o charbonnel et walker

you would think that a holiday that specialises in pink and love hearts and chocolates would be the one for me, right? sadly not. and not even because i am i am without a valentine date (so far..) of my own, no, because if you cast your minds back to this time last year, i was with valentine, and still without interest in celebrating with him.

it's kind of hard to ignore the holiday though, that's for sure. this year, rather than get sucked into the hype of the love and the kisses and the just no stop, i put my brain to work and came up with a couple of exxxcellent and alternate ideas of how to spend the holiday, without being forced to revel in other people's love and happiness. this list starts with taking advantage of all of the well-timed chocolate adverts adorning the internet, and treat yourself to something kind of fancy. because, if there's any time you deserve champagne truffles, it's valentine's day. 

you could even take said truffles on a day out, and try to recreate the awesomeness that is the girls only picnic with a couple of your best friends. i'm not sure what the rules about valentine's day are, but i'm pretty sure it's about spending time with the ones you love. i can't think of anyone i love more than my best friends, so spoiling them with luxury chocolate, or a jaunt down columbia road is like a game that no-one loses.
other fun things to do with your single lady (or single fella) friends in the lead up to valentine's day, are: speed hating in the capital. i have it on good authority (not mine, but i trust my source) that speed dating is in fact a lot of fun. speed hating is a bit of a ironic take on the concept, with guests encouraged to talk less about what makes them awesome, and more about what stuff they hate, with the hope of finding true love... if only for one night only.

there's also a couple of fun cinema experiences out there for that taking: you could always hit up the pillow cinema in shoreditch with your valentine, or... the premier of 50 shades with bae, if that's more your speed? better still, the prince charles cinema is showing breakfast at tiffany's, and every ticket sold gets free glass of bubbly! boom!

the candlelight club's valentine's day ball is sure to get you and your valentine in a 'flap' (funny, because it's 1920's themed), with a candle-lit night at the speakeasy complete with a totally bespoke cocktail menu, and live jazz band. and if you're lucky enough to have a date this valentine's day, to help get him in the spirit for your big night out, you could get him groomed by a specialist lad stylist; ky'cut wilson and frank glorified are a couple of london's finest, and sure to satisfy even the hairiest of lumbersexuals (or... so i'm told).

but here's what i'll be doing with my valentine's day this year; trawling through the archives at the vintage record fair in the old spitalfields market. on the second saturday of every month, the market comes alive with the music of hundreds of music traders. saturday's fairs bring a collection of specialist record traders together with vinyls to trade and sell from rock to pop, hip hop to country, and everything in between. it's my favourite day to head in to the market, so that's where you'll find me,

what are your plans this valentine's day; leave your alternative ideas below!

Add your comment

thank you for your comment, you lovely thing you.