7 Other Things You Can Do This Valentine’s Day That Aren’t Just About Valentine’s Day
It’s the 45th day of the year, the date that YouTube was launched and the day Jacqueline Kennedy gave a virtual tour of the White House.
We come with shocking news: February 14th isn’t only about celebrating the feast of St. Valentine’s – who’s not only the patron saint of couples, but also of beekeepers and epilepsy. Kinky.
So, we present you with some of the other less costly things and slightly stranger things you can celebrate on this day.
1. National Organ Donor Day
The aim of this day is to increase awareness about organ donation and the lives that can be saved; one organ donor can save up to eight lives.
In Malta, any person who has attained the age of sixteen may register their wish to donate or not donate their organs after death. The five different types of donations you can give include; organs, tissues, marrow, platelets, and blood donations.
Really give your heart out, and more, this National Organ Donor Day.
2. Parents’ Worship Day
This is called ‘Matri Pitri Pujan Diwas’ in Hindi and it was started by the Indian spiritual leader Asaram Bapu in 2007. It’s an alternative to Valentine’s Day, which Bapu saw as non-Indian.
If the pressure of Valentine’s Day romantics is getting to you, head on over to your parents’ abode and be treated to some home-made timpana and snuggle up between your creators.
You’ll also be embracing Indian tradition. So cultured.
3. International Quirkyalone Day
It’s an international grassroots movement. Keep that in mind as you read what’s coming next.
It’s a call to all the single pringles out there to celebrate all of the opportunities available to single people. Like the opportunity of throwing a dinner party for one; the opportunity to buy yourself new underwear; or the opportunity to go for a long walk (i.e. circa 20 minutes) without your phone.
On Quirkyalone Day, you just got to do you and create a great day for yourself while you do it.
4. Ballentine’s Day
We went through newspaper archives and saw that it was Ballentine’s Day every year throughout the 90s, and now we want to bring it back.
Instead of spending February 14 with a lover/partner, you spend it alone with a bottle of Ballantine’s scotch whiskey.
We think that more people should celebrate this important holiday.
5. Pet Theft Awareness Day
There’s nothing in the world that we love more than people. People suck. So naturally, humanity has done a top job of creating days to celebrate our four-legged friends.
Just as you wouldn’t leave a young child outside unsupervised, the same should go for your pet. In any case, they need us to keep them out of harm’s way.
6. National Call In Single Day
The concept is a simple one, but we’ve still broken it down for you.
Step 1: have a job. Step 2: call your boss. Step 3: call in single.
This is really a thing that’s been created that encourages people to call in work ‘single’ because the romance vibe in the office is too much to handle to be able to function well at work.
It’s the day to give yourself that ‘me time’ you deserve, spent well with some ice cream, Bridget Jones’s Diary, and all 12 of your cats.
7. Fredrick Douglas’s Birthday
February is Black History Month, so it makes the most sense to use this day to celebrate the birthday of one of the most famous figures in the history of U.S. civil rights.
Fredrick Douglas was born in 1818 and was a former slaved who had escaped bondage and taught himself how to read. His three autobiographies ended up being crucial to ending slavery in the United States.
If there’s anything that you want to celebrate instead of the candy-hearts feast day, then this is most certainly it.
BONUS: National Single Awareness Day
It’s National S.A.D on February 15th. The acronym says enough – lone wolves, it’s time to treat Valentine’s Day as any other day. Well, any other day loaded with chocolate and little red hearts.