As I’m sure you can tell by now, I love to have a good laugh. But I should preface that with the fact that the material needs to be funny. Back in my single days a guy gave me this card on Valentine’s Day. Now, granted I took some artistic liberties with the card itself because the original is still probably in police evidence “just in case”, but the sentiment is the same. He wasn’t funny, he was super creepy and he always looked like he needed a shower (not in the Ethan Hawke hot way, but more like Howard Hughes at the end when he was pissing in jars). He would have been better off if the card had said “Happy Valentine’s Day – Clearly you’re a low-shooter and I love that about you.” Ugh! Gross!! …OK, now back to our blog.
The true history of Valentine’s Day can differ depending on who you ask. While most historians agree that it’s actually St. Valentine that we celebrate on the 14th of February, the details tend to be a little sketchy. My favorite story is about an imprisoned Saint named Valentine who sent a love letter to the daughter of his jailer before his death and signed it “From Your Valentine”. That’s right baby…caged heat. While I’m sure Valentine’s Day in today’s prisons must be the butt of a lot of jokes, we have an imprisoned man condemned to death to thank for an abundance of greeting cards, chocolate, flowers and last minute shopping by forgetful husbands.
Now I’m sure that my husband’s version of the story would revolve around a celebration of the great St. Vagine, and we should spend the day on our knees pleasing it. Knowing him, this would yield a lot of empty wine bottles and me asking on Facebook for a good chiropractor the next day. Honestly we aren’t big gift givers in my house. Holidays and anniversaries are great excuses to turn off the rest of the world and spend time with the ones we love. Basically if we are wrapping up shit in the middle of the night when everyone else is asleep it’s because the dog took a dump in the living room and we are trying to destroy the evidence. But when we do need/want something we just get it and surprise the person even more because well…it’s a no-reason-Tuesday. More than anything we love giving the gift of experience (in the case of my two kids) or the gift of health for my hubby and me. But, hubby is only human, and there are certain landmark holidays where he starts hinting around about what sort of gift I would like.
So with February 14th fast approaching, here’s my Top 10 lists of eco-friendly Valentine’s Day gifts. The first list is gifts for the ladies. These can be from your fella or even better, a gift you get yourself on Black Saturday. But don’t worry fellas; I made a top 10 gift list for you too.
VALENTINE’S DAY TOP 10 GIFTS FOR WOMEN
1) Massage: My hubby and I both get monthly massages. It’s a great way to turn off and de-stress since we both sit in chairs for a gazillion hours a day. Your parenting skills could use the time for a quick recharge and your muscles will thank you. Neither of us get the “Happy Ending” kind but I guess that could relax you too, this is a judgment free blog.
2) Guided Meditation Class: My hu
bby encourages me to go twice a month. There’s a local place by me who donates part of the proceeds to a local animal shelter. I usually fall asleep half way through (last time I was even sitting up) but it’s relaxing and I love the meditation practice. It’s like sex, sure you can do it alone, but sometimes it’s nice to have someone there walking you through it.
3) Facials: I treat m
yself to a once a month facial (sigh, please don’t laugh). Every time I say “facial” in my house my hubby laughs uncontrollably. I just learned (after getting my first one) that it’s called a facial when a man treats your face like a sperm bank and he’s making a deposit. I love getting a facial (the spa kind) because it’s awesome for my poor dehydrated skin and I can’t believe how good it feels. Thankfully I never got the other facial because if a guy tried to leave his mess all over my face he’d end up with fewer balls than Lance Armstrong.
4) Buy One Organic Decadent Thing: Hub
by is going to laugh at this one and say something supportive like “Oh, if you wanted to treat yourself with organic corn you could have just asked”. Well, in this case I was thinking on a grander scale. This past year for the holidays I’ve been eyeing some VERY expensive Coyuchi organic towels. Doesn’t sound so glamorous at first, but you won’t hear me complain when I wrap myself up in one of these after a nice hot bath.
5) Take a Class: Do this as a 
couple or do it alone. Hell, when I was single and in my 20s I bought myself a gift every V-Day (still love these cool earrings I got one year, I know me so well) so I took a cooking class in Brooklyn and still use what I learned there every day. And if cooking isn’t your thing, try another class, a few years back I took a knitting class and this year I’m learning to sew.
6) Send Flowers: While certainly
not original, sending flowers is the “black iron skillet” of the gift giving world. It’s a simple phone call, nearly impossible to mess up and a timeless gift. If this is your choice, be sure to take advantage of the “tulips” (two-lips) jokes and also try sending eco-friendly flowers (www.organicbouquet.com) or even a plant.
7) Write a Heart Felt Letter: Back before texting, sexting, email and even AIM we used to write letters…you know, with a pen. Skip the stupid card, because you probably waited too long anyway and now all that’s left are the crappy cards with sad puppies or Batman on them. It’s WAY more touching if you just write how you feel and if you feel inclined you can draw a little picture too…you don’t even have to rhyme (but if you can, that’s nice)
8) Symbolically Find Your Valentine’s Ani
mal Match and Donate: You can go to: www.worldwildlife.org and pick what animal best describes your Valentine and symbolically adopt that animal. We love that we’re giving to one of our favorite charities, my kids love doing it and probably most important…our dogs love it because they hate competition.
9) Think Vintage: Gro
wing up we called jewelry and clothes like this “old” but now it’s “chic”. It looks like there’s a huge resurgence of what I like to call “the classics”, you know…like granny panties. Check out vintage stores, consignment shops or etsy for tons of repurposed items. What someone else doesn’t use is your treasure.
10) Make a Mix Tape: OK, 
technically I was thinking of a Mix-Playlist, but there’s something about Bonnie Tyler, Simply Red and Berlin that just screams Sony Walkman to me. Make her feel young again and make her a playlist on her I-Fillintheblank. Pick some of her favorite music from when she was young and fresh filled with hope that she can listen to now while she’s cleaning up after your kids and doing your laundry and making your dinner…sorry, a little projecting there. Be a mensch and play that playlist on your stereo, take her hand and ask her to dance.
If you continue to scroll down you will see the men’s list, hope this helps and have a great V-Day.
VALENTINE’S DAY TOP 10 GIFTS FOR MEN
- Sex
- Sex
- Bake him cookies
- Sex
- Blowjob
- Sex
- Sex
- Sex
- Sex
- Sex and then let him finish the cookies (may be substituted for Blowjob)
