Why I spent valentine’s day with my BFF – and why I’d be down to do it again

It’s that time of year again, bouquets are in short supply, Your Shop has put all its 50 shades of pink merchandise up front and societies are hosting events with paraphernalia such as cupids and hearts. Yes the ‘time for love’ or at least the commercialisation of love. For the smug couples walking hand in hand, it must be a most magical time. For the seemingly perpetually single, this period feels drawn out and involves multiple attempts at trying not to cringe/puke/cry while eating ice-cream sadly.

Last year, instead of staying in and watching the array of rom-coms on Netflix while eating ice-cream, I decided to celebrate ‘galantine’s day’ with my BFF. Our twist on Leslie Knope’s famous occasion was to celebrate it ala romantic style (not featuring waffles) and on the dreaded day itself. Inspired by the fact that friendship is forever and romantic relations are fleeting, we had a whole array of activities planned out. First stop of the evening was dinner for two at Hotel Du Vin, with wine paired according to our mains, we really were treating ourselves (another Parks and Rec philosophy).

The place where all the magic happened

The first test of the evening (I had a meltdown over this) was that I forgot to mention that my amiga was vegan (which she was cool about, I don’t think people on a romantic date would be so chill about it) so her options were minimal. After photographing the dishes as in true 21^st century style,  we tucked in. It was a great chance for us to take a trip down memory lane, recounting the dumb things we both did in our friendship and beyond. Best part is I didn’t have to worry about being judged (the antics and bad decisions are laughed off) we even made future plans for our friendship (it would be mildly creepy to tell your date that you decided on a summer destination wedding on Guam).

Swiftly moving on we had a movie to catch – 50 shades of grey for which I had the foresight to pick up the tickets in advance for. The queues to enter the hall went beyond the doors of the New Picture House, with old ladies celebrating Galentine’s day in gaggles. The scene was something I find hard processing even today – at this moment I was grateful to be with my amigas (another one of my BFFs joined us for what appeared to be the movie event of the spring season)  because we spent the entire movie making badly timed jokes and laughing till our abs had become defined.

I think a romantic interest would have been rather put off, all this cacophony distracting them from the enthralling plotline. I am pretty sure that after the unexpected ab workout, we headed to FS afterparty and unlocked a whole new level of dancing, but I might be mixing up our fun times – that’s what happens when you’re having a grand time. I would take galentine’s over a day filled with schmoozing and corniness. In the immortal words of Leslie Knope  “uteruses before duderuses, ovaries before brovaries.”