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Valentine’s Day

Valentine’s Day is often thought of as a holiday to celebrate romantic love. However, Valentine’s Day can be a day to celebrate any kind of love, appreciation, or gratitude for the things that matter most in your life. In fact, in some Latin American cultures, Valentine’s Day is known as “Día del Amor y la Amistad” — or the Day of Love and Friendship.

Who Can I Celebrate On Valentine’s Day?

On Valentine’s Day, you can celebrate self-love, platonic love, and familial love too! Here are some ideas of the types of people (or things) you can celebrate: 

  • Family members 
  • Friends 
  • Acquaintances 
  • Coworkers 
  • Pets 
  • Places 
  • Yourself

How Can I Celebrate People Besides Romantic Partners?

There are several ways you can celebrate people (or things) during Valentine’s Day. Here are some examples:

  • Words of Affirmation or Appreciation 
  • Gift Giving 
  • Quality Time 
  • Acts of Service 
  • Physical Touch

Words of Affirmation or Appreciation

Words of affirmation or appreciation are a great way to communicate your love or gratitude to yourself and others. 

  • Send someone a text message 
  • Write someone a letter or send them a card 
  • Call someone 
  • Send someone a voice note 
  • Practice daily affirmations 
  • Start a gratitude journal

Gift Giving

Depending on your love language or the other person’s, giving gifts can be a great way to celebrate Valentine’s Day. This can include things like: 

  • Getting someone a cup of coffee 
  • Buying your pet a treat 
  • Buying yourself a treat or something you’ve been saving up for. 
  • Sending someone their favorite snack, food item, or flowers. 
  • Sending someone a picture of something that made you think of them.

Quality Time

Words of affirmation or appreciation are another great way to express gratitude, love, or appreciation with someone through spending time with them. 

  • Going on dates. Dates can be a great way to bond with friends, family, and yourself. 
  • Calling someone to talk. 
  • Doing an activity with another person (or alone), like going on walks, practicing a hobby, painting, or watching a movie.

Acts of Service

Helping someone out or doing something nice to make things a bit easier for them can greatly impact how they feel supported and loved. 

  • Helping out a family member or roommate with chores. 
  • Cleaning out your pets’ feeding bowls or litterbox. 
  • Helping a coworker with a task 
  • Doing something nice for yourself, like self-care.

Physical Touch

Though this might not feel as organic or appropriate as other types of relationships, many people in our lives have physical touch as their main love language. There are ways to do this with platonic relationships, but as always, consent is required.

  • Hugging your friends or loved ones 
  • Giving handshakes, shoulder pats, or fist bumps when greeting them. 
  • Holding hands with a friend 
  • Cheek kisses 
  • Petting your pets or cuddling with them 
  • Holding yourself

Take-Aways

However you choose to show the important people in your life love and appreciation, what is important is that it feels genuine and meets their love language(s). 

Platonic, familial, and self-love are equally important as romantic love, even if we do not celebrate that as much. 

How will you express love and appreciation to important people in your life?

While our physical offices are located in South Loop and Lakeview neighborhoods in Chicago, Illinois for in-person sessions, we also welcome and serve clients for online therapy from anywhere in Illinois and Washington, D.C. Clients from the Chicagoland area may choose in-office or online therapy and usually commute from surrounding areas such as River North, West Loop, Gold Coast, Old Town, Lincoln Park, Lake View, Rogers Park, Logan Square, Pilsen, Bridgeport, Little Village, Bronzeville, South Shore, Hyde Park, Back of the Yards, Wicker Park, Bucktown and many more.  

This page is also part of the Roamers Therapy Glossary; a collection of mental-health related definitions that are written by our therapists.

While our offices are currently located at the South Loop neighborhood of Downtown Chicago, Illinois, we also welcome and serve clients for online therapy from anywhere in Illinois and Washington, D.C. Clients from the Chicagoland area may choose in-office or online therapy and usually commute from surrounding areas such as River North, West Loop, Gold Coast, Old Town, Lincoln Park, Lake View, Rogers Park, Logan Square, Pilsen, Bridgeport, Little Village, Bronzeville, South Shore, Hyde Park, Back of the Yards, Wicker Park, Bucktown and many more. You can visit our contact page to access detailed information on our office location.