Philippine Hotels, Travel, Vacation, Real Estate and Maps, News

Happy Valentine’s Day. It’s a greeting that begs the question: To whom? And, with whom? Sadly for singles, the 2007 Valentine’s Day celebration is threatening extreme misery to anyone without a boyfriend or girlfriend, husband or wife.

Filipino men and Filipina women are raised to uphold both the sanctity and romance of marriage. It is common to find couples gunning for a Valentine’s Day wedding or engagement. Your parents, siblings, peers will likely be off reaffirming romantic love come February 14, leaving you to wallow in your own solitude.

If Valentine’s is a day especially reserved for a significant other, then the only question to ask is this: Who are your significant others? Every one of them is a reason to heart, not hate, V-Day if you are single.

Valentine’s Day Ideas for Single Men and Women

Friends are Valentines. The closest and truest of them are your significant others. All those Valentine gift ideas incubating in your head, put them to good use. Give them to friends.

Instead of spending a fortune to send the world’s hugest rose bouquet to one person, send flowers to each of your friends. If you live abroad, find an online flower shop and send flowers to the Philippines to friends you haven’t hung out with for a while. At online stores, find cheap rates and compare delivery times 24/7, from the comfort of your own home.

For friends you can in fact hang out with, throw a party. Prepare a Valentine gift basket of goodies – from the classic, like chocolates and candy, to the unique, like cell phone keychains and refrigerator magnet poetry. Plan activities around the gift basket so everyone takes home a Valentine gift by the end of the party.

Happy Valentine’s to Me. You think you don’t have a special someone but guess what? YOU are someone special. If there’s anything you’ve been wanting to treat yourself with, this is the day to do it. Guilt-free.

Buy those heart-shaped chocolates, or that red piece of lingerie. Spend a day at the spa or polo club. Give to a Philippine charity or support a Filipino artist. Plan a Valentine weekend of travel: places you find romantic, so that when an other half does come along, you’d know where to take them, or have them take you.

While everyone’s out having their wretched Valentine wedding or engagement or date, stay home and rejoice at the thought that you have spared yourself of the horrifying traffic and Valentine gift shopping rush. Call for fastfood delivery, bake a cake, watch your favorite horror movies.

Meet a Mystery Valentine. The best thing about being single is being free – to choose anyone at all to be your Valentine. Who says you can’t have a romantic dinner? Arrange one for four to six single men and women, and play matchmaker, including to yourself.

Don’t have your romantic dinner at popular Philippine restaurants frequented by couples lest you set yourself up for pressure and disappointment. Keep it casual: a young Filipina girl will dig a club or concert, an older Filipina woman would appreciate a museum or cafe.

Feeling really brave? Summon girl friends, or the boys, to chill at a singles bar or attend a singles party. For all you know, this is the day you meet the hunk of your dreams, or hot girl of your fantasies. To make it more fun, have an instant Valentine card or stuffed toy ready, and they’ll remember you the day after.

On Valentine’s Day, there will be as many singles as there are couples. The last thing you want is to spend it moping as to harp on the St. Valentine’s Day massacre. Even if you are the moping kind, you can always get creative on having an Anti-Valentine’s Day.

Gather equally jaded pals ’round to mock the most boring, predictable Valentine gifts and things Valentine dates do. Laugh hardest at the fact that, once you find the right guy or girl, you’ll want all those things, too.