WHAT YOU DO IF YOUR BOYFRIEND
ANTI-VALENTINE IS
A huge bouquet of pastel pink roses is delivered to the office, from your love. And when you want to close your laptop for a cozy night at home in front of the TV, you receive instructions on calligraphed paper for a date night. An intimate, intensely good little treat where you eat oysters and drink champagne, topped off with a super deluxe suite including rose petals to spend the night. Well, and then exactly that not. Does this never really happen to you because your boyfriend Koos is Romance-less? You are not alone.
Men have little to do with Valentine’s Day. This is not my own interpretation, but it has indeed been shown by research. Or well, it falls under the category of obligation. But when they meet the obligation, they do it well and spend more euros on gifts than we ladies do. So let’s say seventy-seven euros, the wow. That’s quite a nice bottle of Flowerbomb by Viktor & Rolf (my absolute favorite). And are you going out to dinner with your love? Score, because only a mere one percent of the ladies pays for her own dinner.
I suspect that my boyfriend performs under duress on Valentine’s Day. And okay, sometimes we also deliberately let it pass quietly. The rose-scent-and-moonlight day always falls in the carnival month and then his priorities lie on a slightly different level. If I manage to pull off a dinner, it’s because I make the reservation myself. Or I receive carnival-themed gifts, which by the way I am totally thrilled about during this festive time.
But we sober folks actually don’t care at all. About eighty-six percent of the Dutch can’t be bothered by Valentine’s Day, according to a study by Groupon. Hats off or something, right? But if you are a hopeless romantic and you’re hooked to a not-so-romantic specimen, then these are your options.
1. Just make the reservation yourself. Love goes through the stomach, you know? Even with him.
2. Buy something nice for yourself. If no one else does it, then this is the best idea.
3. Take a day off and go to a spa with your best friend. Something with a lot of love for yourself.
4. Oh, and if you want to play the Cruella, then you’ve been terrorizing him with reminders for that fourteenth of February for at least three weeks.
5. This can also be sweet by the way, just ask if he wants to do something really nice with you that day. Bet he can’t resist that?
6. And have no expectations then, because then it will be disappointing and you don’t want that.
By the way, did you know that many singles arrange a first date for Valentine’s Day? Or that they randomly send a message to the ex? But they prefer to go out with the girls squad. And that seems to me, in the absence of romance, just a really great plan.
And, do you have any plans to pamper yourself on the day?
